New Delhi Singer-Songwriter Tyesha Kohli Rebukes Her ‘Midnight Lover’ on Heartfelt Debut

If you saw several notifications every time you were on Instagram about singer-songwriters going live, know that one of the reasons was probably to find inspiration. New Delhi artist Tyesha Kohli’s debut single “Midnight Lover,” for example, was born out of prompts she gleaned from her Instagram followers.

Kohli – who has been known for her covers as well as featured on songs by artists like MojoJojo and Hanita Bhambri – says it was sometime in July 2020 that she decided to reach out to her followers on a whim. She adds in her statement, “I remember having had a few particularly exhausting weeks, creatively drained out even, all in one go. [I] asked them to throw random prompts at me, and so they did. The words that came my way had absolutely nothing to do with each other, ‘Cat,’ ‘Snowflake,’ ‘Heaven’ being just some of them.”

Among the prompts that Kohli was drawn to was one which read ‘Midnight Love.’ She adds, “Inspiration struck like a truck and within the next two days, I put up a self-produced demo of the song with only a verse, pre-chorus and chorus, and to my surprise, people liked it for real.” After several months of work, “Midnight Lover” became an affectionate, emotional R&B/pop track laced with guitars by Mukul Jiwnani, keys and bass guitar by Divij Kapoor and drums by Dan Thomas. Mumbai-based go-to sound engineer and guitarist Keshav Dhar took on mixing and mastering the moody track.

In the video made by Mumbai-based cinematographer Priya Mishra and director Akash Gupta, Kohli is seen in pensive states of celebration as well as sadness. The vocalist adds, “I always felt like it’s a story for everyone, either it could remind you of your ‘Midnight Lover’ or simply make you feel like one. It’s about someone in your life who refuses to go all in and yet, convinces you to stay put. It shows you a situation where you feel like you want to leave, but it feels near impossible to do so because they keep coming back to you when the day ends, which stands for lack of commitment. It’s more of a reminder that our hearts deserve better than just a midnight lover.”

Kohli is currently enrolled at Berklee College of Music and continues to work on new solo material and collaborations. Her second single will be out by the end of June.

Watch the video for “Midnight Lover” below. Stream the song here.