A night at Quake Arena in Kondapur was all it took for a concert to turn into a city-wide singalong. What began as a live set soon slipped into something far more unguarded, as Sahiba, Paro, Tu Rehti Hai and Kya Karein flowed easily between the stage and the crowd. At the centre of it all stood singer-songwriter Aditya Rikhari, watching his songs transform the arena into a space of shared emotion rather than spectacle
Despite long hours of travel, he insisted that stepping on stage changes everything. Explaining how he keeps his energy high, he noted, “Before getting on the stage, the whole tiredness and everything is there. After I get on the stage, everything just goes away. Looking at all the people standing there, singing along; the music, the lights, everything fills me up with energy. I close my eyes and the high energy just happens naturally.”
For Aditya, songwriting begins with emotion rather than structure. Reflecting on his creative process, he expressed, “There is no particular moment. When I start the song, there is an emotion inside me that I want to bring into it, so I try to mix it as a story. As the song starts, the story starts too. Along with the song, the story also ends or stays open ended, but it should convey what I want to say, what the emotions are. As soon as it is done, I feel the song is ready to be released.”
When asked to sum up his journey in a lyric, he quoted a line close to his heart. “There is this song Faasle that has a line that says, ‘Aa gayi yeh shaam jo, Toh kal subah ka koi intezaar kyun kare? Dooriyaan khatam huyi, Khatam huye hain saare faasle… and it pretty much summarises what I feel, because we have things that we never expected would come. I just feel grateful for them, being in the moment, enjoying it, because the night itself is so pleasant,” he added.
Success, for him, is not a destination but a beginning. “Success is telling me there is a long way to go, I would say. Because people start listening to the songs they like, and there is no end to this. You cannot sit and say people liked five or ten songs, so now it is done and I am successful and my job is done; because the real journey starts after this. I have come this far, people have helped me and God has given me time to come this far, so after this the journey will start and it is getting better and we cannot stop right now. I think the idea of success should not be greater than the sense of being grateful, because once you are satisfied, what would you do, would you stop, and there is turmoil inside all of us, so I want to be satisfied in making a song, not after it,” Aditya reflected.
Away from music, his routine is surprisingly simple. “I like sleeping and I try to keep my mind calm and composed so that when I go to the studio, I have a clear mind,” he laughed, admitting that once he slept for ‘15 to 16 hours’ in a single stretch.
One of his most cherished live moments comes during Sahiba. Describing the visual, he said, “I ask my team to turn off all the lights and ask people to turn on their flashlights. There’s no single light apart from the flashlights. It looks so beautiful. You just get absorbed into it.”
With a Coke Studio Bharat collaboration on the horizon and fresh tracks ready to find their way into playlists, Aditya Rikhari is clearly moving into an exciting phase. But beyond the releases and milestones, what stands out is his quiet gratitude and hunger to keep creating. For him, this is not about chasing a peak. It is about staying present, staying honest and letting the music grow with him.