Scene and heard

Sound check. Indie music is growing up. Artists are pivoting from old themes, singing in regional languages, taking new risks. It’s scary. Scary good

- Christalle Fernandes

It’s a good time to be an indie musician.

Spotify’s Indie India playlist has just 75 songs, but it's been saved over 8,87,000 times. Last year, the majority of nominations at the IRAA (Indian Recording Arts Academy) Awards came from independent artists. Lollapalooza India’s 2026 lineup features Gini, Pho, Nate08, and the bands Excise Dept, Pacifist, and Still in Therapy. Indie sounds are emerging in hip-hop, rap, pop and Urdu rock. In a country that’s hung up on Bollywood tunes, this is wonderful news for the little guys on the fringe.

“We're in a phase where Bollywood music is starting to sound the same. So, listeners are hungry for something different,” says musician Viepsa Arora. There are new collabs, new collectives, and exciting new hustles on the scene. Tune in.

Kayan, aka Ambika Nayak, 28, Mumbai

In indie music, Kayan is something of a celebrity. The singer-songwriter-DJ opened for Ed Sheeran in Shillong in February. She was part of Lollapalooza India’s inaugural lineup in 2023 and featured on Forbes India’s 30 Under 30 list that year. She's built a rep for fierce, soulful music. Oh, and fans can’t get enough of her glittery bodysuits, rhinestone corsets and bodycon outfits.

Kayan started writing and performing original music with her band, Kimochi Youkai, in 2017. In the pandemic, she wrote and produced her first song, Please, under her Kayan persona. It’s a lo-fi R&B track about heartbreak - “music tailored to the mood of the moment,” she says. It didn’t go immediately viral, but when her next few singles were released — Cool Kids, Be Alright, On My Own, DFWM — she had thousands of streams. By the end of 2021, she was one of the most-streamed artists on Spotify India, had a VHI feature for Be Alright, and was collabing with artists such as OAFF.