If late-night thoughts ever learnt how to sing, they would sound a lot like Anuv Jain. For over a decade, the indie singer-songwriter has shaped love, loss, longing and letting go into soft melodies that live in listeners’ headphones, late-night playlists and half-written notes.
This year, Jain is fully booked as he kicks off his much-awaited debut Dastakhat World Tour. The India leg of the 23-city tour opens in Delhi on January 16, before travelling to ten cities across the country — including Hyderabad, Mumbai and Jaipur — and concluding in Bengaluru in February. The international leg begins in July in Australia, followed by shows across Europe, the UAE and Canada.
For Jain, starting the tour in Delhi feels natural. Calling it his “number one city”, he says the capital has been a constant since the early days of his career. “It has my biggest audience", and hopes the opening night will be one to remember. "It feels like being with my family, literally.”
The Dastakhat tour also marks a shift in how audiences will experience Jain’s music live. After performing largely solo with just a guitar for the past five years, he is excited to bring a fuller sound to the stage with his band. “It will be about singing original music, maybe some unreleased stuff, and just showing my audience how far I’ve come as an artist,” he says.
Inside ‘Inaam’
In December 2025, soon after announcing the world tour, Jain released his latest single, 'Inaam'. At first listen, the track feels familiar — a gentle, intimate Anuv Jain love song. But beneath its calm melody lies a deeper reflection. 'Inaam', Jain explains, is about shifting perspectives — about constantly chasing things in life and forgetting to pause and appreciate what one already has.
“It reflects on how even the dreams we once held close can lose their shine once they become ours,” he says candidly. The song emerged from a moment when Jain consciously decided to step back. “It’s okay to chase things,” he adds, “but you should always take a moment and be happy with what you have, instead of saying, ‘This isn’t enough, we need more.’”
Beyond the streams
With over three million followers, more than 1.44 billion YouTube views, and a listener base of nearly 20 million, Jain has built a formidable following. Viral hits such as 'Husn', 'Alag Aasmaan', and 'Jo Tum Mere Ho' have taken on lives of their own, but he feels little pressure to outdo himself commercially.
“Success always feels incomplete,” he reflects. “You’re constantly focusing on the next thing.” For Jain, each song exists as its own chapter, shaped by where he was emotionally at the time. “I just want to become a better artist. That’s the only pressure I take. Numbers don’t really matter to me as long as my core audience is still enjoying the music,” he says. “You can reach fewer people and still be far more impactful than reaching everyone and having the song disappear from their minds the next second.”
Maturing with the music
Looking back on his journey — from the widely loved ‘Baarishein’, written when he was just 16, to releasing ‘Inaam’ nearly a decade later — Jain says it feels like he has “lived an entire lifetime”. In the early years, music was about survival; today, it has become a space for learning and curiosity.
“I’ve become a student once again,” he says. He has consciously slowed down to be more receptive, taking vocal lessons, learning more about production, and mapping out the kind of stories he wants his music to tell.
From writing songs as emotional release to now capturing unfiltered thoughts of melancholy, nostalgia, vulnerability and growth, Jain says his relationship with music has deepened with time. “As you grow older, your relationship with love and heartbreak changes,” he reflects. “Things felt very extreme when we were younger. Now they feel more mature, with a lot more nuance — and that really comes into my writing. It’s more layered, the way life itself is."
Anuv Jain is set to open his Dastakhat tour in Delhi on January 16, performing at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Pragati Vihar, from 6 pm onwards