Ikky is making mega-hits, while building a foundation for Punjabi music in Canada

31:23Ikky wants Canadians to open their minds to Punjabi music

Canadian producer and composer Ikky has wanted to produce a song in both English and Punjabi for "a very long time."

Ikwinder Singh, better known as Ikky, skyrocketed to fame in 2023 after collaborating with Karan Aujla as an executive producer on Aujla's record Making Memories, which has now been streamed over two billion times.

In an interview with Q's Tom Power, Ikky reflects on his new single with Aujla and OneRepublic, Tell Me, and explains why it took 20 years for Punjabi music to hit the mainstream globally.

Although writing and producing a bilingual single has always been on his bucket list, Ikky says he's focused more on the songwriting than who's featured on the track.

"If it's not a [well] written song, then no matter what feature, what stature of artists you get on the record, it doesn't work."

Born and raised in the Rexdale neighbourhood of Toronto to first-generation Sikh immigrants from India, he wanted to help create "a song that can live in both worlds."

"It's important for me. I was born here. I speak in English more than I speak in Punjabi. Obviously as a producer I want there to be a song that can live in both worlds. And this was that. It just happened to be organic," he says.

Twenty years ago, Panjabi MC teamed up with American rapper and hip-hop artist Jay-Z on Beware Of The Boys, a dual English and Punjabi single that reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. When asked why Punjabi music didn't become mainstream during the height of the song's popularity, Ikky points out the lack of foundation for other Punjabi producers and collaborators.

"I felt like at that time, what happened was you got this one record, but there are no others, there's nothing else barging into that same door, no other Punjabi producers, no more Punjabi collaborations. The setup wasn't there. And so I think that's what's different now, 20 years later. We're actually trying to build that foundation and not just find a hit."

Ikky realized that bringing Punjabi music to a wider audience required sticking to a plan and taking things one step at a time.

"I would say Punjabi Canadian music is a big export in Canadian music right now. It's part of the plan. You want the system to be with it. And I'm very much into making your own town like what you're doing and then making your country like what you're doing and then get bigger from there.

"The plan is working. We got Vancouver on lock, we got Toronto on lock, we got Canada on lock. And now we just want to take over."

The full interview with Ikky is available on our YouTube channel and on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview with Ikky produced by Cora Nijhawan.