If intimacy is portable, singer-songwriter Prateek Kuhad has been plugging it in our lives for more than a decade now. There’s a song for everyone in his repertoire. For those in search of love for a long time, his song ‘With You/ For You’ is a wistful ode to being emotionally tethered to someone.
For those in love for the first time, the single ‘Tum Jab Paas’ arouses a sensation resembling that initial spark of romance. But love is not always lovely. Kuhad is wary of both its fantasies and complexities. His intense heartbreak album Cold/Mess became viral in 2018 for evoking a relationship at its most raw and turbulent — the pain of letting a loved one go.
Kuhad is on a roll with a big 48-city Silhouettes Tour that promotes his 2022 album The Way That Lovers Do. After covering North America, the UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the UAE, and Nepal, he mesmerised Indian audiences in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad and is coming to Delhi-NCR today.
Life in songs
Kuhad’s songs usually pendulate between universal themes of romance, heartbreak, solitude and melancholy. Many of them are borrowed from different phases of his life — from a Jaipur boy embracing the newness and cultural shock of New York at New York University to planning to quit his regular job for a full-fledged music career in Delhi.
For instance, his 2011 eponymous debut album had a song ‘There’s Something Wrong With The Way I Think’ which is a reflection of how life falls apart when you don’t pursue the work you’re passionate about. It marked his official entry into the indie music scene. Later albums like In Tokens and Charms and Cold/Mess — which later catapulted into a 6-track EP echoed the trials and tribulations of being in love.
He tells TMS, “What inspires my songs is life itself and the multiple interactions with people, at different points of time in myriad circumstances. Further, musicians like American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, American vocalist and guitarist Kurt Kobain, Canadian-American musician Joni Mitchell, and Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas, and Sahir Ludhianvi along with my own experiences with love and loss help in the making.”
For those who feel it’s the weight of emotions that he releases in his career spanning five EPs and two albums he corrects one, saying, “Songwriting doesn’t feel cathartic in fact it’s very mechanical for me. However, it’s the love for songs, and the drive to create something good, and remembering why I started doing this in the first place that keeps me going.”
A cult following
For his fans, his songs are a tender hug, played on the soft tunes of an acoustic guitar. “I think people connect with him because he conveys universal feelings — love, heartbreak, and self-discovery — in a way that feels intimate yet relatable.
His music feels like a quiet moment of reflection in a disorderly world,” says Tisha Ahuja, a public relations officer in Delhi. For Prerna Kampani, a senior accounts manager who has attended Kuhad’s concerts in 2019 and 2022, and will be attending the Silhouettes Tour in Delhi, she says excitedly: “I want my friends to be introduced to the magic he creates through his music and to relive that special feeling once again.
His songs were my anchor during my student days in London. His music felt like a ray of sunshine in the often gloomy weather there. On days I felt low, his songs brought me a sense of peace, and on the good days, it uplifted my mood even more.”
For Shivani Chaturvedi, an associate with a management firm, who is attending the Tour, this is her second time seeing Kuhad live. “The first time was during my college years before the pandemic — a completely different phase of life when my understanding of love and connection was much simpler. Now, as I return to hear him again, I’m curious to rediscover those emotions and see how much I’ve changed — or stayed the same.”
Kuhad’s songs are widely shared as they let people express unspoken emotions. “The song ‘Tune Kaha’ is the kind I’d love to listen to with my partner someday — or better yet, hear them sing to me. It’s not about grand declarations of beauty or love but a quiet reassurance: ‘I’m here, and I’m listening.’ That simplicity, paired with its soothing melody, makes it unforgettable,” Chaturvedi says, adding she once sent it to someone, hoping they would understand her feelings for them through the music. “They loved the song, and while I’m not sure they caught the hint, it brought me great joy to share it with them,” she says.
For Anshuma Sharma, an assistant manager at a communications firm of Noida, it was album Cold/Mess that still resonates with her on a personal level. “It beautifully captures the bittersweetness of relationships and moments of vulnerability, reminding me of my experiences. It’s a song that makes me pause, reflect, and feel less alone in my thoughts.”
Shining in his own light
Despite a massive fan following, Kuhad finds seeking validation immaterial as an artist. “The idea of validation is an endless treadmill that you keep running on without satisfaction so it’s pointless to seek it,” he says.
He speaks to the point, as if sinking his heart into his songs almost drains him out, leaving little to no space for social interactions. “I really dislike being in the limelight. But I love my profession, work and making music along with so many other things that it’s a price I’m willing to pay,” he adds.
Despite years of performing in India and abroad, the shy musician still experiences stage fright. “Early on it used to happen more, now it’s a little less. I think the years of experience have helped.
Once during a small show in Hyderabad, there was a power cut so I asked everyone to turn on their phone torches. It ended up being a really sweet moment. You adapt, and learn,” he says, adding how “time and repetition” have helped him be comfortable to being in the spotlight.
Prateek Kuhad Silhouettes Tour is on today at Airia Mall, Sector 68, Gurugram, 6 pm onwards.