After a couple of remixes in the past, the Indian-origin U.S.-based artist and Mumbai singer-producer team up for their first original song together
Indo-U.S. artist Subhi and Mumbai-based singer-producer Kanishk Seth team up for "Laapata." Photos: Courtesy of the artist
Chicago-based, Indian-origin singer-songwriter Subhi sings about the constant tussle between feeling inspired and feeling lost at times on her latest Hindi track “Laapata,” bringing in go-to producer and singer Kanishk Seth.
Anchored in starry guitar flourishes and folksy arrangements alike, the warm song comes on the back of two previous collaborations between Subhi and Seth. In 2020, Seth crafted a dreamy reprise of Subhi’s song “Aagosh” and they returned in 2021 with a “dark remix” of her English song “Wake Me Up.”
With “Laapata,” Seth comes in with vocals in the latter half of the song, strengthening Subhi’s resolute vocal melodies about journeying and not necessarily thinking about the destination. Subhi said about the song’s inspiration in a statement, “I am grateful for the freedom I have to do what I love the most and at the same time, I realize how unpredictable and unknown this journey is. As I am getting older, wiser, I am realizing life is bittersweet. ‘Laapata’ is about finding solace in feeling lost on a crossroad you’ve been on before.”
Outside of the remixes, the song marks the first time the duo have collaborated on a new, original song. Initially created by Subhi, who then reached out to Seth to come aboard as a producer, the pair recount that they both had “different ideas” for the song at the outset, but began reaching common ground soon enough. Subhi says, “Kanishk had his own ideas regarding how the track should sound. We started off with discussing ideas and with a lot of back and forth, landed at a sweet spot where we both fell in love with the track. I feel Kanishk did a fantastic job of producing the track and helped me complete the vision of the song.” Seth adds in his statement, “Subhi had certain ideas that you will have to make it a momentable-istic [sic] yet a bit modern sounding track. When I was listening while producing I could just hear a lot of live instruments, especially a lot of ukulele and guitars towards the end because we wanted to make it a bit grand.”
They sent it over to sound engineer Prathamesh Dudhane (known for his work on the soundtrack for the film Gehraiyaan) for mixing and mastering and emerged with a bright song that is, according to both artists, apt for travels. “Whenever I listen to the song, I always imagine going for a road trip or just feeling lost at the same time very irrespective about life, just like the lines of the song,” Seth adds.
“Laapata” follows Subhi’s previous singles “Better” (featuring singer-songwriter Natania) and “Water Raft” featuring British artist Ed Geater. Seth, for his part, recently released an experimental electronic EP called Motion Emotion.
Listen to “Laapata” below. Stream on more platforms here.
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