It has been a while since the release of his last full-length project “Naharpur Prints” that was named after Naharpur – the area with the infamous flat where Nanku (then known to his cult fanbase as “Udbhav”) and his Teesri Duniya friends started making music.
This also happened to be the same flat where back in 2003 an eccentric and talented Record Producer – Honey Singh conceived his first few Hip-Hop projects.
Early on a lazy February morning in 2022 – Nanku gets an unexpected call from Honey Singh, wanting him to come over to the studio for a jam with his friends. This is where the initial evolution of Udbhav began, over the years, transforming song-by-song into the persona now familiar to everyone as – “Nanku”.
Pyar N’ Stuff is an evolutionary chapter in the artistry of Nanku. His past releases have been rooted in the ethos of pop but on this record he takes it a notch further. The idea behind each song has been to make a more complete pop sound that blurs the lines of Bollywood, pop, rap and R&B.
Nanku has been a pioneer of Hindi pop genre. At the core of it all it’s all about having fun! At the official Listening Session for Pyar N’ Stuff Nanku declared – ‘None of this means anything. It’s pop.’
‘The aim is to redefine pop music in India.’ Rijul Seth – Founder of Prodigy 360, an artist management agency dedicated to up-and-coming artists including Nanku tells me.
The album is loaded with one hit after another all the way till the end and synced together through these comical skits that pay homage to the older music as well.
SureYeah, Shampy, Babe are iconic – the style as well as the scope of these can remind the listener of skits on old Eminem releases.
The album about love begins with the concept of infidelity on Bewafah where Nanku is urging the muse to turn unfaithful to their present lover. The song is catchy, groovy and incredibly seductive.
Pyar+Tum takes as well as adds to old Bollywood music with Vasu Raina on guitar.
Itti Fiyah is the fan favourite club banger. The song has the ability to shift any party into dance mode. HTKT features Dhanji and from here to the final song the album flows seamlessly into an extravagant mess of beautiful pop music.
Tere Peeche Main is stuck on the listener’s mind by the second verse. Pyar Ki Si is the strongest filmy moment on the release where a song stretches out into a territory that marks a turn into pop brilliance.
Naughty Nanku is an interlude in form of an intro to an imaginary sit-com where all the clichés of his musicality and persona are brought together. Rubbers where frequent collaborator Karun joins Nanku is another highlight.
Aadhi Peg is a classic drinking song which imagines Nanku in a house party, contemplating on getting just another drink…
The N’ Stuff part surely precedes love on this release. The last skit on the album is a voicemail left by Bhakti Gandhi expressing her frustration at how Nanku is constantly thinking about music even when they’re out on dates and stuff. And she ends the voice note with a threat to not even think about using this clip in the album…
There’s lot of career highlights on this and the release is pop extravaganza at its finest!
