ERIC NAM BRINGS HIS SOUND TO INDIA

"I'm very excited. I've been looking forward to this." Nam opens up ahead of performing in India and talks more about his journey, his songs, and how impacting people remains at the core of what he does

- DEBASHREE DUTTA

On an oddly cold and rainy day in my city last week, I was tearing my hair over an unstable network shortly before this interview. That night, at 10:30 p.m. IST, Eric Nam was joining me on Zoom to go over his impending gig in India at Lollapalooza 2024. And there he was, just in time; only the anticipatory anxiety in me came true thanks to awful weather and spotty internet. We got off to a shaky start, and Nam was like, “Sorry, I didn’t catch the second part of your question” and “Could you please repeat? It’s choppy” a couple of times while I whistled in the dark, to keep it cool. However, and thankfully, better along the way, we had roughly a 40-minute conversation—unfolding a freewheeling artist. One wearing his heart on his sleeves through music, who creates what he feels, is willing to challenge himself persistently, explore unchartered territories, and loves India—he is “so stoked” to finally return to India.

How does connecting with an Indian audience [live] make you feel ahead of the concert? I ask, “I’m very, very excited. I have been looking forward to this,” he says. Anecdotally, he hasn’t been back to India since 2011. “I imagine there’s a lot that has changed in 13 years, and I’ve never performed in India either. So, I’m very curious, I’m very excited, and it’s with a lot of anticipation to know what the crowd in India will be like. But more than anything, I think that for the fans who are there to see me, I’m going to bring out a lot of the old hits but also some of the new ones, and we’re going to have a good time and dance, hopefully like no one’s watching,” he adds.