Prateek Kuhad didn’t follow the Bollywood route. Instead, he built a global career through English-language songwriting, intimate acoustic production, and a breakthrough hit that reached audiences far beyond India. Here’s how he reshaped the indie music landscape.
Prateek Kuhad grew up in Jaipur and later moved to the United States for college, where he studied mathematics and economics at NYU. It was during this period that he began writing and recording his own songs, leaning heavily into acoustic guitar, diary-like lyrics, and a hushed vocal tone.
In 2013, he independently released his debut album In Tokens & Charms. It didn’t arrive with massive promotional backing. It traveled slowly — through word of mouth, streaming playlists, and the emerging global indie circuit. The album earned him the MTV Europe Music Award for Best India Act in 2016, which quietly positioned him as an international-facing Indian artist.
This early phase is important. He wasn’t coming through film playback, reality TV, or a label-manufactured idol system. He was coming through songwriting.
The Breakthrough: “Cold/Mess”
His real inflection point came with the 2018 EP Cold/Mess.
The title track became a generational anthem for urban Indian youth — and, eventually, a cross-border hit. The song’s stripped-down production and emotionally unguarded lyrics resonated far beyond India’s diaspora. In 2019, former U.S. President Barack Obama included “Cold/Mess” on his annual favorite music list, a cultural co-sign that dramatically expanded Kuhad’s global visibility.
That Validated English-language indie songwriting from India on a mainstream global stage and it introduced him to audiences who had never previously engaged with contemporary Indian independent music.
From there, Kuhad began touring internationally, selling out venues across the U.S., U.K., and Asia — something that would have been far less common for a non-Bollywood Indian singer a decade earlier.
Creative Footprint
While India has a vast English-speaking population, mainstream music remains largely Hindi or regional-language driven. Kuhad writes primarily in English, but not in a Westernized imitation style. His phrasing reflects lived experience — diaspora identity, emotional restraint, urban solitude.
Combine this with his gentle voice, almost fragile. There’s no vocal acrobatics or dramatic belting. The delivery feels confessional, like you’re overhearing a private conversation.
The intimacy also helps. Acoustic guitar sits at the center of most of his work. Even when production expands, it never overwhelms the songwriting. His arrangements leave space — and that restraint is intentional.
Lyrically, Kuhad gravitates toward longing, distance, unrequited affection, memory, and emotional ambiguity. His songs feel like they belong to transitional life phases: moving cities, losing touch, growing apart.
Here are 5 songs to get you started with Prateek.
