When Rauhan Malik sings, he carries traces of his home — Kashmir — with him: in his melodies, his lyrics, and his sense of longing. Best known for the 2025 breakout hit 'Ishq', the singer is now gearing up for the release of his upcoming EP Karvaan, a project that traces his emotional and artistic journey.
Growing up in Sopore, music was central to Malik’s life. “Our prayers were in Kashmiri. We sang Kashmiri songs in school. At home, elders would sing folklores,” he recalls. Influenced by Kashmiri poets, folk traditions, and classical instruments such as the rabab and santur, he developed a deep connection with his cultural roots.
“I see a lot of potential in our land and our mother tongue. Kashmir has some of the most beautiful melodies, many of which are still unexplored. My dream has always been to take them to the world,” he tells TMS.
Now living in Noida, distance, he admits, has only strengthened that bond. After spending the first 20 years of his life in Kashmir, the 25-year-old moved out in search of work and new musical horizons.
“I always have this weight on my chest that I have to go back home. That’s where I feel sane. That’s where I make the best music. There’s something in the air there that connects me to the place,” he says.
Coming from the Valley, Malik says he carries a responsibility to represent his homeland on stage. “It is a proud moment for me to perform on bigger platforms and represent my mother tongue and my roots.”
Behind Karvaan
Malik’s upcoming EP Karvaan reflects this journey — a conversation about love, loss, resilience, and self-discovery. Set to release on February 13, the three-track project is a collaboration with his childhood friend and poet-lyricist Saqib Nabi, with whom he has previously worked on his 2024 tracks 'Kya Kahu', 'Azar', and 'Bezubaan'.
“The EP is about a journey everyone goes through,” he explains. “It begins with denial — that heartbreaking phase where you want something and don’t get it — and you’re not ready to accept it.”
The first track, ‘Alvida’, speaks of loss and longing. It is followed by ‘Karvaan’, the title track, which explores realisation and reckoning. A Sufi pop-rock composition featuring additional vocals by Raag Stereo, the song samples Bulleh Shah’s poem Bullah Ki Jaana, reflecting on destiny and the human search for meaning.
The EP concludes with ‘Zindagi’, a peppy, upbeat pop track that celebrates life. “It’s about focusing on the positives,” Malik says. “Life is actually beautiful — we just forget that.”
For him, poetry lies at the heart of meaningful music. “Poets speak for the voiceless. When poetry meets melody, it becomes powerful,” he says. He credits his school mentors for nurturing this sensitivity, often watching them compose tunes to verses during morning prayers.
Learning the hard way
Like many independent artists, Malik’s journey has been shaped by trial and error. His first original track, ‘Raasta’ (2019), was produced on a friend’s laptop with minimal equipment. “It was complete jugaad,” he says. But it worked.
At 18, he co-founded Stalwart Music Factory with his friend Zian, driven purely by passion. “We didn’t know anything about the industry — how money was made or how things worked. We just wanted to make good music,” he says. While the duo later parted ways due to personal reasons, the experience proved formative. Limited resources and lack of professionalism often led to missteps, but they also taught him valuable lessons about financial discipline and creative independence.
Life After ‘Ishq’
Malik rose to national prominence in 2025 with 'Ishq', a collaboration with Faheem Abdullah from the album Lost;Found. The song is an adaptation of poetry by Amir Ameer, a poet from Rahim Yar Khan in Pakistan’s Punjab province, brought to life through Abdullah and Malik’s evocative vocals.
The Urdu track went viral across South Asia, garnering over 360 million views on YouTube and more than 490 million streams on Spotify. Despite its massive success, Malik says he does not feel burdened by expectations. “After 'Ishq', I’ve had more opportunities, not more pressure.”
Success is not measured by charts alone. He points to his independent Kashmiri song ‘Jaan Wandiyo’, released in 2022 without a label or distribution strategy. The song unexpectedly reached a wide audience.
“People wrote in the comments about how it helped them in their worst phases,” he says. “That is success for me — when your music becomes someone’s support system.”