Even though it focuses on Dhillon’s artistry and struggle to reach this point, it is no vanity project, he assures me. And not just me, but the whole team.” The documentary is a first step in that direction. “This is the time for fans-the whole world-to get to know me. “I’m just putting myself out there,” Dhillon says with a small laugh, slouched in a chair post-shoot, when I ask him about this phase of his life. Dhillon springs into action: He poses like a pro, switches looks, favorites some shots, confers with his crew, takes some business decisions, takes selfies for fans, and dishes on his life and career-all within an hour, without breaking a sweat. Everyone is removed from his line of sight. The voices and words of Don Toliver, Central Cee, Gunna fill the room. The music is quickly switched from his discography to a trap-heavy playlist. Photo: Sasha Jairam for Rolling Stone India A two-person security detail accompanies him, glaring at those of us who try to get too close.ĪP Dhillon during the photoshoot for Rolling Stone India. He smiles often, and speaks in a surprisingly low, deep voice. He looms over the rest of us in a sharp black suit. His undercut and beard are freshly trimmed. When he does step into this room-the garden-facing tea lounge at the Taj Land’s End in suburban Mumbai-Dhillon is by far the tallest guy. Who is this self-styled superstar, with his preternatural talent and audacious sense of style, who coolly arrived on our radar in the autumn of 2020, and refuses to leave? Indeed, part of the hype stems from the mystique he has worn like a shroud. It’s no small feat for an independent artist, resisting the call of Bollywood and demands of self-promotion, sitting on the other side of the world, to sustain this level of interest and momentum. He chose instead to keep making music, back it up with excellent visuals, go on the road, and let the art speak for itself. He didn’t sign up for major platforms like Coke Studio to bask in some of that shared limelight. He didn’t immediately go on radio shows and podcasts to talk about himself. Much like wunderkinder Lil Nas X, The Kid LAROI and Hasan Raheem, Dhillon’s spectacular rise to fame is a case study in the radical possibilities that streaming has created for artists to be discovered around the world.īut, Dhillon’s also an exception. One album, three EPs, several singles, over a billion streams and millions of followers on social media-Dhillon is arguably the first bonafide global Indian star of the streaming era. (The only other hip-hop artist was the late Sidhu Moose Wala.) Last year, Dhillon was the only living hip hop artist on Spotify Wrapped 2022’s most streamed artists, a list that has been dominated by film music greats like AR Rahman, Arijit Singh, Pritam, Anirudh Ravichander and Shreya Ghoshal. No less than three of AP Dhillon’s songs are among Spotify’s Top 50 – India daily list.
Photographer: Sasha Jairam, Creative Director: Kapil Batus, Styling: Nikita Jaisinghani, Clothes: Zegna FW2023 As I write this, “With You” is second the most-streamed track in India on Apple Music and #3 on Spotify, just behind Jasleen Royal’s “Heeriye” (with Arijit Singh and Dulquer Salmaan).ĪP Dhillon on the September 2023 cover of Rolling Stone India.
And when he isn’t, he’s busy hogging the charts. Meanwhile, social media and websites are tripping on the AP Dhillon news cycle-his arrival in India, that music video, rumours of the budding romance, the impromptu gig in Delhi, the crowd-surfing moment at a college in Mumbai.īarely three years after his career took off into outer space, AP Dhillon has transformed into the kind of rarefied artist-celebrity that occupies rooms-attention spans, conversations, the very ether-before he even enters them. The room can’t help but move to the infectious hook of Dhillon’s new track. Someone plays “With You” for the third time in a row off a loudspeaker. And he’s running almost two hours behind schedule. Doing his first Rolling Stone cover shoot. He has a busy day ahead of him, busier than most of us, doing something he has been avoiding so far: Meeting the press. It’s the afternoon after the premiere party for AP Dhillon: First of a Kind-which lasted late into the previous night-and a day before the documentary arrives on Prime Video. AP Dhillon isn’t here yet, and yet he has arrived.
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