Prateek Kuhad

The smooth melodicism of singer/songwriter Prateek Kuhad spans graceful indie folk and tender adult pop songs largely concerned with matters of heart. Recording some of his songs in Hindi and some in English, Kuhad followed his earliest EPs with the debut album In Tokens & Charms in 2015. Already a star in his native India, his popularity surged internationally as his 2016 single "cold/mess" made its way across the continents; by the time the cold/mess EP saw release in 2019, he was selling out club tours in the U.S. He committed to a sophisticated soft rock sound on his second album, 2022's all English-language The Way That Lovers Do.

After taking up the guitar at age 16, the Jaipur-born singer was inspired by artists including Elliott Smith and Bob Dylan to try his hand at writing songs while in college. He studied economics at New York University before relocating to Delhi to try to launch a career in music. After following a three-track, English-language eponymous EP in 2011 with the Hindi EP Raat Raazi in 2013, he presented his first full-length release, In Tokens & Charms, in 2015. A deluxe edition followed two years later. In the meantime, Kuhad collected tens of millions of streams with "Kho Gaye Hum Kahan," an intimate acoustic duet with Jasleen Royal for the movie Baar Baar Dekho; enjoyed an international breakthrough with the song "cold/mess" that included a growing fan base in the U.S.; and he took home an MTV Europe music Award for Best India Act.

Stateside, Kuhad recorded a five-song session for Audiotree Live in 2018 that featured only his voice and acoustic guitar, and he appeared at the following year's SXSW festival. He had played a sold-out North American club tour by the time the title track from his 2019 EP, cold/mess, appeared alongside artists like Beyoncé and Bruce Springsteen on Barack Obama's year-end list of favorite music. In 2020, Kuhad became the first Indian artist to sign with Elektra Records. That year, he released singles including "Kahaan Ho Tum," from the soundtrack to the Netflix series Mismatched, and a haunting cover of Elliott Smith's "The Biggest Lie." Another EP, Shehron Ke Raaz, appeared in 2021 before Kuhad delivered his sophomore album, The Way That Lovers Do, in 2022. ~ Marcy Donelson, Rovi