“Boxes are boring,” proclaims Leo Kalyan, a radically inspiring and unbridled voice that has emerged and evolved from the South-Asian creative pool in a rather short span of time. With a bold and distinct musical aesthetic informed perhaps by their intersectional identities as a queer and brown person living in a changing world, Kalyan’s ethereal sounds reflect and challenge the duality of their sociopolitical invisibility and hyper-visibility that straddles their everyday.
When Homegrown first profiled Kalyan in 2019, their track had topped Spotify’s global viral chart, was playlisted by BBC’s Radio 1, and had over a million plays on SoundCloud. Over the years, Kalyan’s evolution has been unmissable. Not just when it comes to their music and creative artistry but also in the way they have grown into their own, their form of self-expression, their fashion choices, and their ability to take and demand space.
While most queer people are of the opinion that not every act by a person of the community has to be a revolutionary moment in itself, the very act of not just taking up space but owning it in a largely heteronormative society seems like a revolutionary moment in itself, emboldened of course, by generations of queer people before. The celebration of Kalyan’s South-Asian artistry then seems like a moment for not just brown people but also for the South-Asian LGBTQIA+ community as a whole that has for long been denied a seat at the table.
When it comes to the predominantly whitewashed spaces of the creative world, diasporic communities have for generations been paving their own path of exploring their cultural identities that lie at the cusp of two very distinct cultures. Kalyan’s emergence on the global musical map then seems like a tale that transcends the narrative of just individual success.
Not only has Kalyan been able to strike a sort of balance between their eastern and western roots when it comes to music but also the reels of popular songs with Bollywood mashups frequently posted on their Instagram have been a way to embrace their dual identity as a British-South Asian and allowed them to establish a personal sense of musical individuality, a sort of niche.
For now, what Leo Kalyan is achieving is something that is shape-shifting, genre-bending and defining. As Wendy Williams would put it, Kalyan, is “...an icon, a legend, a moment” and perhaps best be described by Lady Gaga’s words, “...talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same, totally unique, completely not ever been done before, unafraid to reference or not reference.”
In this tell-all conversation with Leo Kalyan, we dig deeper as we explore the person behind the artist.
You’ve said in an interview that you knew you wanted to be a singer since you were 13 but being from a South Asian family had its challenges like your parents asking you to be a music journalist or music lawyer instead. What has your journey with music been like and to what extent do you feel your South-Asian identity has impacted it?
I was singing from the age of 11, secretly, in the bathroom — where there was a nice echo! I was scared to share it with my parents at first because no one in my family was a musician. But my grandfather was a poet from Lucknow, so I must get my songwriting talent from him! I think my family understands why I’m a songwriter and musician; because of my grandfather, but as immigrants in Britain, they had anxieties about how I could support myself by making music. I’m glad that I have been able to prove them wrong and carve out a successful music career on my own terms. I co-wrote the UK’s biggest pop song of 2020, “Head & Heart” by Joel Corry and MNEK, and I am lucky enough to work with some of the most exciting pop artists in the world like David Guetta. I’ve even had my musical heroes like Elton John and RuPaul, share my music so I’ve proven to my parents that I didn’t need to become a music lawyer!
An extremely important part of my musical journey was having the chance to learn Hindustani singing here in London from my Guru-ji, Pandit Mishra. It was more than just vocal training; I learned so much from him about Hindu spirituality, too. I’m proud to have trained classically and to have learned how culture, history and spirituality inform Indian classical singing as much as the specific ways in which I use my voice.
There have been so few South Asian musical success stories in the West, besides M.I.A and Jay Sean, and more recently Raveena and Joy Crookes. But social media has made things more democratic. In the past, the western music industry assumed that Asian artists weren’t marketable. But my videos have proven that we are extremely marketable! There’s a huge demand for our music, and not just in the subcontinent and the diaspora, but across the entire world. I’m seeing it happen every day: people of all ages, nationalities and ethnicities are commenting on my videos from all around the world. It’s beautiful to see!
You’ve also talked about your love for George Michael’s music as a child and how important that was for you as a queer kid growing up trying to figure out your identity. Were there any other musical influences or queer icons that impacted you in your formative years?
Apart from George Michael, I would say Madonna. For as long as I can remember I have been singing her songs and watching her tour videos with my aunt, who’s totally responsible for my obsession. She would play Madonna albums endlessly in her car. Other queer icons who have been inspirational to me are actresses like Helen and Vijayanthimala, because of their groundbreaking, boundary-pushing performances in Bollywood cinema.
If you think about it, there is still only a very small handful of queer performers in the world, who are out and proud, with successful careers. Queer people like me are still pretty rare in music, which blows my mind. It’s crazy to think that I was the first South-Asian musician in the world to publicly come out as gay and the very first to come out as non-binary. It’s mind-blowing because queer desis have always existed and will always exist. I’m definitely not the first! And we have the right to a life of respect and happiness — just like everyone else.
As is with most people who grow up at the cusp of two cultures, striking a balance between western music and Indian music must have been tough. How did you strike that balance and what are some of the challenges that you faced while trying to amalgamate these diverse yet distinct sounds?
There are endless overlaps between Indian, African, Latin and Black American music. Look at how many pop, R&B and hip-hop artists have sampled Bollywood songs. Madonna, Timbaland, Black Eyed Peas, Dr Dre, Missy Elliot, Britney Spears, Grimes — the list is endless. You hear it with Shakira’s music too; she fuses her Colombian and Lebanese heritage into something that sounds beautiful and unique. I was chatting to an amazing Ghanaian artist called Amaarae after my cover of one of her songs, ‘Sad Girlz Luv Money’, went viral. She loved the fact that I mashed her song up with ‘Dilbar’ and she told me that many artists in Africa are very inspired by Indian and Middle-Eastern music. So the groundwork for bringing musical lineages together and amalgamating the sounds I grew up with was always there. That’s the space I am exploring, and that’s where the magic is. Music is universal.
As a very young kid, I travelled to India and stocked up on as many Bollywood cassettes and CDs as I could fit into my backpack as well as pop albums so now that I make my own music, finding the balance between western and Indian sounds has been a process of trusting my musical instincts from childhood and collaborating with producers and songwriters. I am a product of living in and listening to a wide range of cultures, so distilling that multicultural experience into a sound that can communicate both the beauty and pain of growing up between cultures really is the driving force behind what I do.
Was your transition from creating original music, then taking a hiatus and coming back with reels of popular songs with Bollywood mashups a way to embrace your dual identity as a British-South Asian or was it another means of expressing your own personal sense of musical individuality?
I’ve always done these mashups in my head. As a kid, I used to sing Bollywood songs over western pop songs. It was just something I always did. Maybe that’s why I didn’t share it on social media sooner?! I didn’t see it as special because it was so normal for me. But turns out, it sounds very special to a lot of people.
Honestly, I was just having fun with the mashups, and I think that’s why they’ve been received so well. Not for one second did I think that millions of people would love them. But yes, it was also a way to embrace my identity, as a British South-Asian and as a brown person in the diaspora more generally.
I think that in the diaspora, we are increasingly identifying with our South-Asian-ness, rather than the specific countries that make up the subcontinent today. In my life, these borders and divisions don’t matter! That’s what I want to embrace: our cultural commonalities and historical ties, which completely outweigh our differences.
I have so many friends who are Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan but were born here or in America and Canada. We don’t see any real difference between ourselves - we are all ‘brown’, we’re all South Asian. I get to eat the best dhokla at my Gujarati friend’s house and get taken to secret Bengali restaurants on Brick Lane by my friend whose family is from Dhaka. We have aligned in the ways that matter. Even in my own family history — my family is from Lucknow and Delhi. Some ended up in Pakistan during the partition, some remained in India. They now live in both places. I simply see myself as South Asian.
As your style of music has evolved, we can’t help but notice the evolution of your personal style and the many ways you express yourself through fashion. Was all this a process of coming into your own self and embracing your gender identity? How big of a role does fashion play in terms of expressing this to your audience?
When I first began releasing music, I didn’t even show my face. I wanted to hide, and let my music do the talking. I didn’t want people to see my ethnicity or my sexuality because I didn’t want to be held back by these things. But 2015 was a different time. Public debates around race and sexuality have come a very long way since then. And over the pandemic, I was far away from the gaze of my parents, friends, and even strangers, and I came to the realisation that your truth will always reveal itself, so you have to fall in love with it. That’s when I realised I had always been non-binary and now, perhaps for the first time, I’ve found the confidence to live my life out loud. And I have found a way to express myself through fashion.
Why do we wake up every day and choose to wear what we wear? Because we want to look and feel like our best selves, right? I’m just having fun and living life on my own terms. I mean, just look at Harry Styles and his dresses! It’s the same way that David Bowie, Madonna, Lady Gaga and Prince all used fashion to push culture forward by challenging societal norms, which ultimately made the world a more accepting, open-minded place. But they all received hate for it at the time. Hate comments are just confirmation that I am successfully challenging societal norms, and making people think. I believe that’s a good thing.
I am dancing to the beat of my own drum. If you’re into it, I’m glad. And if not, too bad. I don’t care either way.
Your mashups have taken Instagram by storm and even A.R. Rahman is your fan. What are some of your favourite Bollywood classics and out of all your mashups so far which is your personal favourite?
The Roja, Rangeela and Umrao Jaan soundtracks are very, very special to me. That’s what inspired me to learn Hindustani classical. Even today, Asha Bhosle-ji’s voice inspires me to be a better singer and AR Rahman’s instrumentation inspires me to be a better composer. The fact that he liked my rendition of ‘Kehna Hi Kya’ — truly one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever created — it just blows my mind. When I saw his story sharing my video, I literally screamed until my throat hurt and then I sat in silence with my mouth just hanging open. He’s my biggest influence. I’ve never even met him but he’s like a professor to me and his music has taught me so much. I hope to meet him in Chennai one day soon!
Lastly, if you had to define Leo Kalyan as a person in a sentence, what would that be?
My bio says “I like music and tank tops” — I think that pretty much sums it up haha! I also think my spirituality says something important about me. I don’t practice any religion at all but I am very interested in meditation and astrology.
Anyway, how can anyone compress their entire identity into a single sentence? Human beings are complex. We should all aim to be beyond definition and fight the human urge to put ourselves and each other into society’s boxes. Boxes are boring!
Check out all the Pop x Bollywood Mashups here.
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