One of the city’s biggest breakout musical sensations, Ambika Nayak chats with us about her musical and fashion sensibilities
Ambika Nayak
Like sourdough bread, Dalgona coffee, or (more recently) Wordle, singer-songwriter Ambika Nayak too was a lockdown discovery for many. Bursting onto social media feeds across the country with her pastel-hued, mellow-sounding Be alright during the throes of the first lockdown in 2021, she caught viewers’ attention with her aesthetic social media feed and her feel-good head-bopping songwriting. Akin to most of her online audience, at first, we too found it difficult to take our eyes off from the slick streetwear looks, the Gen Z-approved photo dumps and the snippets of her raucous DJ sets (like most contemporary artistes, Nayak too is a multi-hyphenate) dotting her Instagram feed to uncover Kayan the artist. But when we did, we were in for a treat.
The singer is partial to vintage fits
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As a solo act, the 24-year-old is one of 2021’s most listened to female indie artistes on Spotify, has a number of residencies under her belt and was handpicked with Ritviz for Levi’s Indian edition of its music enablement project. “Music has always been a part of my life. My mother is a Hindustani classical musician, my grandmother was a Kathak dancer, and so my family always, and naturally, encouraged the arts. I attended The True School of Music, where I met a lot of like-minded people, was introduced to new music and began performing at live gigs. That was roughly four or five years ago. There’s been no looking back since,” she tells us.
Going solo
Before Kayan, Nayak was a member of two bands, Nothing Anonymous and Kimochi Youkai. “Unfortunately, both bands became a tad inactive in the pandemic. With the lockdown, we moved to different cities and it was tough to collaborate. But it also gave me time and space to focus and make my own music as Kayan [her surname, flipped]. I’ve put out about five or six singles, and like many other artistes, the pandemic has influenced my music-writing. While Heavy headed and So good were about going through and coming out of hard times in my life, Be Alright was inspired by what I saw around me — things were really bad with cases rising, people losing their loved ones and being terrified about the uncertainty. I wanted to share something that felt like a ray of sunshine, reminding people that things will be okay,” she shares. Also like a ray of sunshine is her effervescent presence during her DJ sets. Which leads us to question, when did Ambika the artiste evolve into Ambika the DJ?
An unlikely happenstance
“DJing actually came from listening to a lot of music and electronica artiste Sandunes [Sanaya Ardeshir, another Mumbai native] offering to teach me the ropes while she was doing her residency at Bonobo. Of course, learning to mix and play sets is a long process, but to her credit, she let me open her set for her. It was terrible, but I also had a lot of fun. I took it up as a challenge and kept practising to get better. My friends and I would chip in to rent a DJ console and kept at it. Then, I started playing gigs and that’s where my real learning happened, as I played before a live audience,” Nayak says. As a singer and a DJ, the kinds of music she plays are completely different — while her singing has elements of R&B, soul and pop, her DJ sets have a lot of electronic music like techno. “My sets are a mix of different genres. I believe that if a song can make you dance, the genre doesn’t matter. However, there are also certain similarities between the two — when you create a set list for a live performance, there’s an element of storytelling to it. That’s what draws people in. It’s the same with DJing,” she clarifies.
Keeping it social
Commanding influencer-like numbers on social media brings a fair share of detractors. As naysayers often do, there are those that ascribe her soaring popularity to her online persona rather than her music career. Nayak, however, shrugs it off. “For me, social media is a means to express myself and stay connected with my audience. I don’t care about the haters — no matter what you do, as a woman especially, some people will try to bring you down. I also model and act, and use my online presence for influencer opportunities. However, what people don’t see is that my Instagram following grew with my music — it is the most prominent way for people to engage with my music,” she signs off.
Indie love
“My clothes are quite mood-driven; I don’t believe in genres. But I love fashion, follow many fashion pages online and am surrounded by people who are passionate about fashion,” Nayak says. Much of her wardrobe is inspired by indie designers and thrift stores. She had thrifted her own clothes too: “Kayan’s Closet Sale was a hit; I hope to take it forward on a larger scale. I’m currently working on a website to encourage thrifting, and also sell my own stuff.”
>> Days For Clothing (for denim)
>> Jaywalking
>> Old Times Sake (tee shirts)
Ambika’s essentials:
>> Baguette bags
>> Oversized tee-shirt
>> Tie-dye denims
>> Basic crop tanks with joggers
>> Jewellery, especially rings and necklaces
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