INTERVIEW: nikhil
nikhil has earned a name for himself as one of the most exciting producers working within the London alternative R&B realm, stacking up releases with artists including muva of Earth, Yiigaa, Finn Foxell, Meron T, and more. In recent months, he’s come into his own as an artist in his own right, with a string of singles exploring spirituality, self, and the world. We chatted to nikhil in celebration of his new single, ‘The Artist Life’.
Interview by PORTIA BRAJKOVIC
Hey NIKHIL, how are you?
I’m good. Things feel nice. Well… I was talking to a therapist yesterday, and I was like, “I can't actually remember why I'm here.” And they said, “Oh, yeah. This is a very typical thing for people with ADHD, because you're just in the moment, that's all you can experience.” So currently, as far as I'm concerned, nothing bad has ever happened to me and nothing ever will!
why music?
There's not really an answer for that. It just is, you know. I was just born loving music.
My family loves music. In a different generation, my dad might have been a musician himself. Every single person in my family has a very personal connection to music. Music was everywhere, it wasn't weird. My dad said he played the piano, and he could play one thing, he played it over and over again, but he played that one thing with a lot of passion. He loved it. You could feel the heart. My maternal grandad played tabla and the accordion. He learned to play them all by ear. No one was classically trained or anything like that, but everyone just felt it.
Can you describe the NIKHIL universe and sound in three words?
I hate this so much. I’m not concise. Can I say chaotic? No, chaos implies the wrong thing,that it’s not thought out. Well-thunk! That’s one. Journey. Soul. Well-thunk soul journey, there you go.
Sometimes, inspiration comes to you, and sometimes you have to go looking. What inspires you?
Well there’s my influences and inspirations, and then there’s just life, innit. I'm very obsessive about things. If I like something, I'll listen to it over and over and over again, and I won't listen to anything else. At one point, all I listened to was Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis, jazz stuff. Then, Arctic Monkeys, when I went through my indie phase. I was obsessed with Tupac for a while. So, I’ll go through different obsessions and listen to an artist’s entire discography.
Otherwise, I talk a lot about my life. I’m very, very open and introspective in my lyrics. It comes out in a very poetic, metaphorical way; I’m not super direct but there’s a lot coming out, because I'm experiencing so much life all the time.
What is the story behind ‘The Artist Life’? What did you learn through creating the song?
I produced and made ‘The Artist Life’ on my own. At the time, I was talking a lot about how it feels to be an artist. It's not a choice. My partner chose her job. She loves her job, she goes to work, and when she comes home, she’s not at work. That's not what I have. Music isn’t a career that I do; it's just something that I am.
From that perspective, I think everyone is an artist, and I feel like people would be better off if they knew that. It's not about doing what is stereotypically seen as creative. My girlfriend is an incredible artist. She is such a creative person. Even just the way she lives; she lives like an artist. I don't think you need to necessarily be one of the categories of dancer, painter, musician, actor, or photographer to be an artist. It's about the art of living. Just me catching the bus to go and get a coffee or whatever, I like to do it in my own creative way, to make life fun. When I walk into a place, I smile and chat to people. I enjoy the art of conversation and other people’s energy. That's what I mean about being an artist.
What does your creative process usually look like?
Largely, it's not intentional. If I'm writing for myself, there will be a feeling or something I want to express. It could even just be that I've heard a sound, or found a song that I really like. And I'll start by saying, “I want to make something like that”, but then it will go off into this whole new world. If I'm writing for other people, it depends on what they want or need on the day. That person might just need to create freely. They might want a particular style of song for a project. From my perspective, as the outsider, it’s about helping. I'm directed by them.
For both of them, I'm just free flowing creatively. It doesn't matter where I am, which country I’m in, who I'm sitting next to; it's just the same thing, I'm just making music in that flow state. It's about the different things that trigger the flow state. If I'm on my own, I can get into that vulnerable place quite easily. It's a lot more emotional, and more based on how I myself am feeling. When I'm with other people, I might hear a lyric or a reference that I love, and that gets me in my own little world.
You’ve been producing for a hot minute, and you’ve released music before, but you’ve recently really delved into your own artist project. Why now?
I used to be like a producer artist, whatever that is, and I’ve released a lot of music over the years as an artist as well. Now, releasing as a singing artist, maybe that’s kind of what I've always wanted to do. I'm finding a lot more freedom. Now I know very clearly who I am as an artist, I feel very confident and secure to do whatever I want. There's just no limitations with that now. Before, there was the hesitation of ‘How is it going to come across? Is it going to confuse people?’
What have you learned through the process of focusing on your own project?
We all know it, but just be yourself. I'm still struggling with that. I keep thinking, ‘With this release, I'm gonna suddenly believe it.’ With every release, I'm being more authentically me. Eventually, I'm gonna realize that, actually, people like me for me. I don't know how many releases I need to have to feel that. I still feel like I haven't actually done enough yet for people to really know me.
You’re a part of the team behind Juubi, a new event series in London. Tell me about the project.
We started as a group of 20-something people in this group chat. The one thing tying us all together was that we all loved music. Other than that, there were a few connections, but no one really knew each other. We would post in the chat about events: soul, jungle, drum and bass, big parties, if there was an artist coming over that we all love. It was certain that at least one or two other people from this chat is going to be there. We were just ‘going-out friends’, but so much deeper than that because there was the love of music. It wasn't just a love of drugs and drinking. There was something quite profound in some way, quite beautiful.
Over time, we became genuinely, really good friends. We’d always spoken about events - a lot of us work in creative fields, there’s a couple of DJs in the group. There’s some people who are really great at marketing and great photographers… anyway, to cut a long story short: we started Juubi. The premise of it was just for people to experience what we've experienced: a genuine love of music, a genuine love of this community. Ultimately, we just wanted people to come and enjoy music in a safe environment. Our first event sold out, and we have a second one on the 14th December!
What would we find on your Spotify playlist?
I don’t listen to that much stuff. My playlist would be quite dead, to be honest. I downloaded three projects recently, but haven’t listened to them yet: Tyler, The Creator, BINA., and Bawo.
What do you do for peace?
I love a hot bath with candles. I also love food. Okay, my two happy places: a hot bath with candles, and then after that, a ridiculous amount of food, like enough food for probably four or five people. Then, there's leftovers for tomorrow.
What’s next for you?
I’m really focused on dropping these singles building up to a project. I want to welcome people into the world I'm creating. I feel like I've only recently understood it myself, so I'm building it and hopefully people get on board.