Sushant attempts Folk Pop

By Mannu Shahi

Born on February 2, 1996, Sushant KC is among the most celebrated figures in contemporary Nepali music. 

Having over 1,400,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, the songster has been fascinated with music from a young age. This fascination, as well as persuasion by his parents, led him to release his first single ‘Aama’ in 2016, when he was only 20 years old.

This song became an overnight success and made Sushant a musical sensation. This is why the singer credits his parents for seeing his potential and pushing him to muster courage and present his creative ideas to the public. 

His mother and father also bought Sushant his first guitar when he was studying in grade 4. The singer took to the instrument as naturally as bees to honey and he began covering tunes of The Uglyz, The Axix, Greenday and other famous international 

bands and singers.

The singer is currently an undergrad at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, the United States of America. 

The singer had always been encouraged to pursue a formal education in this subject by his parents. But, worried about a lack of financial stability in this field, he hesitated and chose to enrol himself in a business school in Australia instead. 

But, after moving to the land down under in 2016, he realised that he wanted to pursue music full time and started crafting loads of solo acoustic materials. From those materials, he uploaded a few refined pieces on his social handles. Aama’s massive success had already garnered him a decent following which kept growing with every publication.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in business, Sushant returned to Nepal and is currently walking the path he had initially abandoned - he is currently a student at Berklee. The singer’s discography includes 32 singles, of which, five are collaborations with other musicians, including his colossal partnership with Swoopna Suman for ‘Harauna Deu’ and Devide Guetta for ‘Get Together.’ Both singles released in December 2021 a day apart from each other. 

In 2023, Sushant KC also launched his apparel brand ESKECY, which sells his merchandise. 

The singer released his 33rd single ‘Jhyal Bata’ only a week ago. It is currently trending at number 1 in Nepal. Produced, mixed and mastered by Saswot Shrestha at Omniphonics Studios, the video is an Envelope Motion Pictures presentation with Nibhal Bajracharya donning the hats of the director, scriptwriter and editor.

The singer describes the tune as, “A folk song, but in a Sushant KC style, featuring melodies of traditional Nepali instruments like Madal and Murchunga, complimenting the atypical (thet) lyrical structure and melody.”

The song initiates with a sustained sound on the piano which paves the way for the guitar and vocals to set the ambience. A kazoo like membranophone section plays a short intro piece and transitions the tune into the verse. The verse subsides in dynamics at first and gradually swells up to create a peak on the chorus. Half way through the verse, percussive backbeat with claps, Ghungru and tambourine layer-up and added string section creates a sense of build-up in the arrangement structure. 

The chorus finally introduces Madal and Murchunga and also a distorted guitar counterpoint in the background. The same structure repeats until the arrangement shifts to the bridge. Even the interlude melody reoccurs throughout. 

However, in my opinion, the arrangement, melodic and percussive influences appear rather fusionistic in style and inclined towards the Bollywood soundscape.