Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Ananya heads to the second edition of Spotify's I-Pop Icons Live at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai, an invite-only night built entirely around Indian pop made outside the film industry. The lineup brings together Anuv Jain, Harrdy Sandhu, Rashmeet Kaur, Paresh Pahuja and Taaruk Raina, and the crowd outside is split on who they have come for — some have been listening to Anuv Jain for six years, others are there for Harrdy Sandhu's Punjabi hits or for Paresh Pahuja's Dooron Dooron. Ananya admits at the top that, like many people who grew up on Indian pop, she knows far less about the independent scene as it stands today, with a new generation of artists and an entirely different sound.
Between sets, the artists and fans try to put a definition to I-Pop in 2026 — a revolution, a space for music that doesn't need anything else attached to it, a wave everyone is riding at once — and offer the one song they would hand to someone who has never listened to Indian indie pop before. The night closes with a reminder of just how large the fandom around these artists has become, and forty-seven new additions to one playlist.
#IPOP #SpotifyIPopIcons #THRIndia
Ananya heads to the second edition of Spotify's I-Pop Icons Live at Mehboob Studio in Mumbai, an invite-only night built entirely around Indian pop made outside the film industry. The lineup brings together Anuv Jain, Harrdy Sandhu, Rashmeet Kaur, Paresh Pahuja and Taaruk Raina, and the crowd outside is split on who they have come for — some have been listening to Anuv Jain for six years, others are there for Harrdy Sandhu's Punjabi hits or for Paresh Pahuja's Dooron Dooron. Ananya admits at the top that, like many people who grew up on Indian pop, she knows far less about the independent scene as it stands today, with a new generation of artists and an entirely different sound.
Between sets, the artists and fans try to put a definition to I-Pop in 2026 — a revolution, a space for music that doesn't need anything else attached to it, a wave everyone is riding at once — and offer the one song they would hand to someone who has never listened to Indian indie pop before. The night closes with a reminder of just how large the fandom around these artists has become, and forty-seven new additions to one playlist.
#IPOP #SpotifyIPopIcons #THRIndia
