Some songs stay with us because they put feelings into words we couldn't quite find ourselves. For singer and musician Kushagra Thakur, that connection between music and emotion lies at the heart of his work. From the success of Finding Her to his latest release, Jiyara, he continues to explore not just the experience of falling in love but also what happens when things don't work out. In conversation with TMM, Kushagra opens up about the childhood memory that first drew him to music, the process of finding his own voice and why, sometimes, learning to let go can be just as meaningful as holding on.
The Childhood Concert That First Made Kushagra Dream of the Stage
Kushagra was just six when he first experienced the magic of music in a way that stayed with him. His mother had taken him to a KK concert at the college where his father worked, and he was fascinated by the sight of a crowd gathered for one person. When KK stepped onto the stage and people began cheering, a curious Kushagra turned to his mother and asked what was happening and why everyone was so excited. She told him that he was a singer, and something clicked for the young boy. He, too, wanted to be someone people would come to see and cheer for. It might have seemed like a passing childhood wish, but Kushagra carried it with him as he grew up.
He began listening to singers like Sonu Nigam, Shaan and Arijit Singh, trying to imitate their styles as he practised and found his own way with music. Without any formal singing lessons, he started performing at school, gradually turning his fascination into something more serious. By classes 9 and 10, he had begun to see music not just as something he loved but as the career he wanted to pursue.
Why Kushagra Believes Every Song Should Find Its Own Way
For Kushagra, songwriting doesn't follow a fixed pattern. Sometimes it begins with an emotion, sometimes with a composition, and sometimes a beat is enough to spark an entire story. He believes creativity cannot be confined to a set of rules, because every song finds its own way of coming together. As he puts it, “We are creative souls, and we don't have a rulebook or a pattern.”
That instinct shaped Jiyara, too. The beat came first, bringing with it the emotion that would eventually become the song. He wanted to capture the regret that follows losing someone from your life, when the realisation hits that perhaps things could have been different and the person could have been kept close. The rest of the process, he explains, unfolds gradually. As he listens, writes and composes, he begins to understand what the track needs, whether a particular instrument could deepen its emotion or whether something more needs to be added. Rather than forcing a song into a predetermined structure, he lets it guide him towards what it wants to become.
After 500 Million Streams, Kushagra Is Still Learning and Growing
With over 500 million streams on Spotify, Finding Her has become a defining milestone in Kushagra's journey. The song's success, including reaching the number-one spot in India, is something he remains deeply grateful for. But has it changed the way he makes music? Not quite. Kushagra is candid about the importance of numbers, admitting that he would be lying if he said they didn't matter to him. For him, streams are a way of understanding how far his music has travelled and how many people have connected with it. Reaching such a milestone is an achievement he holds close, but it hasn't changed his creative process.
“I'm still making music the way I am,” he says. For Kushagra, growth comes from constantly learning, whether from the people he meets, the world around him or the emotions he discovers he can express through his music. He is always looking for ways to improve his songwriting and his voice, treating growth as an ongoing process rather than something that comes with a hit song.
How Trust and Creative Freedom Helped Kushagra Find His Own Voice
Kushagra's growth as a musician has also been shaped by the people who believed in his potential, sometimes even before he fully explored it himself. When he began working with EYP Creations, the team behind UR Debut, in 2023, he was still finding his footing as an artist. His first EP with the label, Love 19, came when he was 19. Back then, he relied on others for his music, but the encouragement he received from his team pushed him to start writing and composing his own tracks. That trust has stayed with him. Kushagra says his team has always supported his creative instincts, allowing him to follow his gut rather than feel pressured into making particular musical choices. For him, having that freedom has been an important part of growing as an artist.
The Beat, the Feeling and the Night That Brought Jiyara to Life
Sometimes, a song begins with a feeling you can't quite put into words. For Kushagra, Jiyara began with a beat. When Himanshu, better known as Vampire, played it for him, something about the composition stayed with him. He listened to it two or three times before asking for the beat, then took it back to his hotel room in Delhi, where he spent the night listening, writing and composing until the lines and melody began to take shape.
As the song came together, so did the emotion behind it. Jiyara explores the regret of realising your mistakes when it may already be too late to make things right. Sometimes, you understand what someone meant to you only after they're gone, when you know things may never return to the way they were. Yet, the memories remain, along with the need to accept what happened and make peace with your own choices. For Kushagra, that's what lies at the heart of the song: learning to accept your mistakes, cherish the memories and find peace in the knowledge that some things cannot be undone.
The Little Fights, Lasting Memories and Quiet Regret Behind Jiyara's Video
For Kushagra, the music video for Jiyara was never meant to rely on complicated visuals or symbolism. He wanted to tell a story that felt familiar to anyone who has been in a relationship. From eating together and waking up beside each other to admiring your partner, the video captures the little moments that make up a relationship before showing how things can slowly fall apart.
The turning point comes after a fight. The man leaves the house, only to realise later that he has made a mistake. He returns with a gift for his partner, hoping to make things right, but finds that she has already left. As Kushagra explains, it isn't one argument that ends the relationship. It is the build-up of smaller fights, frustrations and unresolved feelings that eventually pushes someone to walk away. The bangles he had planned to give her become the one thing he has left. Unable to give them to her, he keeps them as a reminder of their time together. For Kushagra, this is where the story connects most closely with the song: the moment you realise you were wrong, but also understand that it may be too late to change anything.
What makes Jiyara different, however, is that its emotion isn't rooted entirely in sadness. Kushagra wanted the song to leave room for the warmth of the memories, even when the relationship itself is over. Sometimes, accepting that someone isn't coming back is the only way to find peace. You can acknowledge your mistakes, cherish what was good and still allow yourself to move forward. Through the video, he brings that feeling to life: not every story gets a happy ending, but that doesn't mean the memories have to become painful ones.
When the Music Becomes a Memory
Perhaps what makes Jiyara linger is that it doesn't treat every ending as something that must be remembered with sadness. In Kushagra's telling, regret can exist alongside gratitude for the moments that were good, and acceptance doesn't mean those memories stop mattering. It's a feeling that extends beyond the song itself, much like the way he approaches music: by paying attention to the emotions people experience but don't always know how to express. And as he continues to grow as an artist, that ability to find a story in something deeply human may be what makes his music connect with listeners.
