Vineet Juggles Country, House and R&B on His Latest Trio of Songs

Success is a relative term for New Delhi multi-genre artist Vineet Singh Hukmani (who goes by his first name). He credits coupling music with “global intelligence” around the trade as one of the ways he’s succeeded with songs and his recent album Nine hitting the radio charts in the U.S. and Europe as well as clearing its way into being considered for Grammy nominations by the Recording Academy.

Hukmani uses the term “satisfied” to talk about his “creative and commercial growth” in the global music space. “My definition of success is this journey and not really some utopian destination of fame and riches,” he says. For all the philosophizing and insightful thoughts the artist provides through the course of our email interview, it’s still fair to say that Vineet – the artist – makes music that’s the most accessible and lightweight for the mind and certainly latches on to what’s trending in the music world.

In that process over the last two years, there have been 12 songs across genres, the album Nine and its accompanying book of short stories. Between June and July this year, the most recent among them were “Dee Da Da Da (Love Is your Game),” an electro-pop/house-informed song, “City Roads” which dug into modern country styles, and “Light of the World,” which borrowed gospel elements while catering to what Hukmani terms as “positive radio” in the U.S., for people who seek only positive messaging in the music they hear. “Each genre is so unique, it is like a country, a cuisine, a people that help you grow out of your music comfort zone,” Hukmani says about flipping genres regularly.

In the process of creating a wide variety of songs that were specifically targeting radio and music markets, the artist says he discovered two types of confidence – firstly, a sense of conviction in what he creates and puts out and secondly, the chain reaction it causes in instilling confidence in the people who manage his music and promote it. That’s taken him as far as submitting his pro-vaccine rock song “Jab The World” in one of the latest categories at the Grammy Awards – Best Song for Social Change. Hukmani says about the category, “[It] has such a warm feeling about it. It allows entries from across genres and styles as long as the song speaks about problems of today and how to come together and solve them.”

Is it a big deal at all that Indian artists can claim that their songs have been submitted to the Grammys, when it means that they’re officially in contention with thousands of other artists to earn a place among the (mainly) single-digit number of nominees in each category? Hukmani sees it as an opportunity to create music of a certain quality that’s “accepted by your global peers” once it makes it to the Grammys. “The second opportunity that presents itself is if you are nominated or you win. This can fuel your music ambitions endlessly as the recognition is immense,” he adds.

Only a handful of India-based artists have won Grammys, and it still feels like a long way before an Indian independent artist will find themselves there. Hukmani, however, feels that for those who create music in English in India or even “global music with a touch of Indian culture,” it’s important to submit to the Grammys. “[It will] make a positive noise of our aspirations as a country on a renowned global platform.”

With these ongoing aspirations, Hukmani is also turning his focus to his foundation GreatSong.World, to support other musicians. There may be more global collaborations considering pandemic-related restrictions have eased. “I am also evaluating ‘performance opportunity’ from next year and only if it makes full commercial sense, will I venture into it. 2023 is an open book,” he adds.