<p class="bodytext">Karun Kohli’s music has always been steeped in introspection. His debut album, ‘Granth’ (2020), traced the arc of his formative years and journey into the world of music. A year later, ‘Qabool Hai’ (2021) shifted focus to themes of love and acceptance. Now, with his soon-to-release album ‘Chehre’, the New Delhi artiste reflects on the “circle of life”. It explores themes of growth, love, longing, pain, and the inevitability of change.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The rapper, singer-songwriter and poet forayed into the alternative music scene in English and Hindi six years ago and goes by the stage name Karun. He cites Frank Ocean, Linkin Park, Kanye West, Eminem, Jal, and Honey Singh as major influences. Bollywood melodies from the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s, especially the works of Atif Aslam and A R Rahman, have also shaped his musical sensibilities.</p>.<p class="bodytext">‘Chehre’ features 14 tracks that fuse rap, pop, hip hop, rock, and Bollywood, combining Indian and Western string instruments with layers of percussion and vocal textures. Notably, the 28-year-old highlights the use of choral vocals in tracks like ‘Mere chehre’, ‘Anjaane’, and ‘Vichaar’, for which he collaborated with Crescendo, a club within Delhi University focusing on Western music.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The album runs for 56 minutes and boasts 15 collaborators. For him, piecing music together is like solving a jigsaw puzzle, an act that he finds “fun”. He gives the example of his partnership with Yogesh Dimri, aka Pahaad, on the album. On ‘Stressed out’, Pahaad reinterpreted Karun’s original hook verses with a classical raga. “His vocals bring depth to the song that it previously lacked,” Karun admits. On ‘Zubaan’, Pahaad contributed to the track’s instrumentation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The idea for ‘Chehre’ was sparked by a conversation with a friend in 2021. The album, he says, is a commentary on the various ‘masks’ people wear in everyday life. “You cannot always be your true self,” he explains. ‘Mere chehre’, the third track, holds particular significance for him. The song’s intro is built on a poem titled ‘Ek jahan’, which he wrote at the age of 13 or 14. It captures a child’s wish to escape reality, he shares.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Karun’s love for poetry began early, and much of his lyricism draws from it. Inspired heavily by Eminem, he began transforming his Hindi, English, and Punjabi poems into rap. One step led to another, and soon he was making music. With a background in theatre and group vocal training in school, Karun began composing melodies and singing, blending his deep baritone voice with his rap skills.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“My music has changed from writing a sonnet (a 14-line poem) to arranging a song of six to seven minutes,” he notes. He traces his fascination with the sonnet form to a school reading of Percy B Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’.</p>
<p class="bodytext">Karun Kohli’s music has always been steeped in introspection. His debut album, ‘Granth’ (2020), traced the arc of his formative years and journey into the world of music. A year later, ‘Qabool Hai’ (2021) shifted focus to themes of love and acceptance. Now, with his soon-to-release album ‘Chehre’, the New Delhi artiste reflects on the “circle of life”. It explores themes of growth, love, longing, pain, and the inevitability of change.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The rapper, singer-songwriter and poet forayed into the alternative music scene in English and Hindi six years ago and goes by the stage name Karun. He cites Frank Ocean, Linkin Park, Kanye West, Eminem, Jal, and Honey Singh as major influences. Bollywood melodies from the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s, especially the works of Atif Aslam and A R Rahman, have also shaped his musical sensibilities.</p>.<p class="bodytext">‘Chehre’ features 14 tracks that fuse rap, pop, hip hop, rock, and Bollywood, combining Indian and Western string instruments with layers of percussion and vocal textures. Notably, the 28-year-old highlights the use of choral vocals in tracks like ‘Mere chehre’, ‘Anjaane’, and ‘Vichaar’, for which he collaborated with Crescendo, a club within Delhi University focusing on Western music.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The album runs for 56 minutes and boasts 15 collaborators. For him, piecing music together is like solving a jigsaw puzzle, an act that he finds “fun”. He gives the example of his partnership with Yogesh Dimri, aka Pahaad, on the album. On ‘Stressed out’, Pahaad reinterpreted Karun’s original hook verses with a classical raga. “His vocals bring depth to the song that it previously lacked,” Karun admits. On ‘Zubaan’, Pahaad contributed to the track’s instrumentation.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The idea for ‘Chehre’ was sparked by a conversation with a friend in 2021. The album, he says, is a commentary on the various ‘masks’ people wear in everyday life. “You cannot always be your true self,” he explains. ‘Mere chehre’, the third track, holds particular significance for him. The song’s intro is built on a poem titled ‘Ek jahan’, which he wrote at the age of 13 or 14. It captures a child’s wish to escape reality, he shares.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Karun’s love for poetry began early, and much of his lyricism draws from it. Inspired heavily by Eminem, he began transforming his Hindi, English, and Punjabi poems into rap. One step led to another, and soon he was making music. With a background in theatre and group vocal training in school, Karun began composing melodies and singing, blending his deep baritone voice with his rap skills.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“My music has changed from writing a sonnet (a 14-line poem) to arranging a song of six to seven minutes,” he notes. He traces his fascination with the sonnet form to a school reading of Percy B Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’.</p>