ARMAAN MALIK: THE MAKING OF A POP STAR

THE SINGER-SONGWRITER ON HIS COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP WITH BOLLYWOOD, LOVE FOR K-POP AND HOW HE’S GEARING UP FOR THE GLOBAL STAGE

- RIDDHI CHAKRABORTY

Solid round neck T-shirt by Bhaane; Jacket by The Source; Denim by American Eagle; Sneakers by Prada

Phone: OPPO F17 Pro

Armaan Malik believes in manifestation. “Have you read this book, The Secret?” he asks me when we connect over video call one afternoon. I tell him indeed I have and he smiles. “That is what I believe. The more you think about what you want, that’s what you get.” In the bestselling book, author Rhonda Byrne advocates that if you focus on something enough, have faith in yourself and in the universe, you can achieve your biggest dreams. And Malik certainly isn’t afraid of dreaming big.

The 25-year-old singer-songwriter’s career in Indian music is like no other. He’s been deeply involved in the industry since he was 10 years old, starting out as a playback singer for several iconic films, including Taare Zameen Par (2007), Bhoothnath (2008) and 2.0 (2018). He’s sung for films in over a dozen Indian languages, including Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Assamese. In January this year, his track “Buttabomma” from the Telugu film Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, blew up across the Internet, clocking in 360 million views on YouTube and over 13 million Spotify plays, cementing his nation-wide fame. He’s a household name at this point, having performed more than 200 shows around the globe— including one at SSR, Wembley when he was just 20. He has also the youngest Indian singer to be a coach on