KUSHYKUSH is an emerging pop/indie pop artist from London who draws influences from the mainstream pop realm, from the likes of Conan Gray, Rachel Chinouriri (which his first single DCMNM was influenced by) to Troye Sivan, Gracie Abrams and many more, encapsulating a relatable story telling through his emotive lyricism, and this paired with catchy hooks for everyone to dance cry to.
Having his first ever single played twice on Mollie King’s future pop hits on BBC Radio 1, the Kenyan- Indian born singer songwriter is ready to strike the iron while it’s hot with his second release due to be released on the 5th September.
Currently, he is also heavily involved behind the scenes writing for artists within and outside the pop world, notably Dolly Doops, Alessia and Sevara, creating ripples as an established songwriter within the music industry.
Photographer: Gemma (@gem.gyms)
GET TO KNOW - completed August 2025
3 words to describe you:
Spontaneous, empath, ambitious
Describe your sound:
Nostalgic, heartfelt, bittersweet
Describe the moment you knew that you wanted to pursue music:
I used to sing a lot as a child but when moving to London in 2011 began to write poems as a getaway from a dysfunctional family and during my time living in South Korea between 2017-2019, an extremely homogeneous society which unconsciously made me feel lonely, I slowly started adding melodies to the poems I wrote and this prompted me to take up a course of songwriting at ICMP and ever since then music has been my sole focus.
It took me years to finally know my image and sound and it was not until my first release in May this year that I knew what I wanted to represent both visually and sonically as an artist. I am super excited about people to hear all about my music which all encapsulate my experience as a South Asian queer person navigating in this world, being a hopeless romantic and speaking my truth about certain dreadful experiences I have had. Not to say all my songs are sad as my name ironically means happy! I knew I want to create music for the soul to heal and I hope the mass can relate to this as I roll out new projects from my second release next month. Also side note, my uncle apparently said I came out singing instead of crying out of my moms womb so I guess its my birthright to pursue music in this life at least :)
How does your heritage impact your art?
I think Indian music is everywhere, especially today and with the industry and the mass slowly being aware of musicians who are of an Indian heritage making moves, makes me even more driven to chase my dream.
It truly nourishes my soul to know that the normal hate I see on the media is just a small part of what’s really truly out there and the true potential one can reach regardless of their background. Having come from a very typical Indian background- I still struggle to advocate my passion to my family because it is frowned upon however having magical influences like Raveena, Charli and even writers like Savan Kotecha, as well as involving myself in South Asian circles who have opened my eyes that anything is possible, is something I hold to like an amulet because I know I want it.
The fact that we are scarce even behind the scenes motivates me to pursue and make a name for myself as a songwriter, especially in the pop realm and hopefully inspire others who have the same ambition. I am also a big fan of wanting to sample music one day and my artist friend and I, whom time to time collab want to sample from Bollywood music one day because they are so good! Who knows perhaps we both will be the new Rosalia one day :)
What moment are you most proud of in your music journey so far?
I am proud of making lots of friends within music whom I have made via reaching out to TikTok or Instagram messaging who are now my closest friends too! I am proud of having this circle who constantly motivate me to never give up and proud to push myself to release music and then doing my research and contacting people who love my music enough to put it on national radio. I am proud to write for some of the most amazing and talented musician friends whom I can’t wait for the world to listen to their music once it is out. I think little things such as these, I try to remind my self when I feel overwhelmed- I’m proud to have come this far and excited to see where this venture takes me:)
Your next music goal:
My new release on the 5th September. I am also excited about working on the music video and also my third single which I am excited about. Also excited to perform soon :)
If you could collaborate with anyone, who and why?
Sia Furler - she has been my biggest influencer as a songwriter and I would literally do anything in my power to wake up one day and write with her to release a banger track. But I would also love to work with Chappell Roan because she is iconic and I have seen her journey too!
Your favourite song/lyrics:
“you’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling” (Good Luck - Chappell Roan)
I have many but recently I would say this is such a powerful lyric - honestly I feel it encapsulates a lot of dark emotions in a simple poetic way.
3 songs you're listening to right now:
Chappell Roan because I just saw her at Sziget - The subway
Charli xcx - Track 10
Justin Bieber - Yukon
Your community shout out:
I want to give a shout to two individuals I met on the Tileyard’s South Asian heritage songwriting camp (shout out to Angeli @angelimakesmusic) for organising this.
Sim (@simanya_) is an amazing artist with a powerful voice who I will be writing with a lot, as well as Mo (@iammokhan) who is an absolute talented producer and the loveliest guy I have met who has seen it all and how things work within the industry and also gives me the best advice! He is kind of like my mentor and I am equally excited to work alongside him too.
Anything else you'd like to share:
Fun fact: I did a YouTube cover of California by Chappell Roan long time ago and she had commented on my video which has to be a sign 🤞
