Feb 19, 2026 7:16pm IST
King on new album ‘Raja Hindustani’: ‘For me, it is both a tribute and a statement’
With “Raja Hindustani,” his sixth studio album, singer-rapper King (real name: Arpan Kumar Chandel) has taken a re-route of sorts. Early promotional materials of the release are in Hindi, the language King sings in. The tracklist and the title of the album on its cover is also in the Devanagari script. The eight-track album drops at midnight (12 a.m., Feb. 20, 2026)
Choosing Hindi as the primary language for the world-building of this project wasn’t a strategy, it was instinctive. He notes, “Being Hindustani is at the core of who we are. Language carries emotion in a very powerful way, and Hindi allows certain feelings to land differently. There’s a texture and warmth to it that felt important for this project. We wanted the communication to reflect the same sincerity that the music carries. It felt right to express this chapter in Hindi, not as a statement against anything else, but as a celebration of the culture and storytelling traditions that shaped us.”
Two singles from the album have already been released and have visualisers – “Kamaal Hai” and “Jo Ishq Hua.” The album also sees him collaborate with Kumar Sanu on “Maza Pyaar Karne Mein”, Shaan on “Yeh Safar,” Shreya Ghoshal on “Haal e Dil,” Sunidhi Chauhan on “Yeh Dil Mujhko Tu De De,” and Rekha Bhardwaj on “Woh Pehla Akshar,” alongside the solo track “Aahista Aahista.”
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With “Raja Hindustani,” King aims to bring multiple eras of Indian music into contemporary pop, a space he dominates. He shares, “‘Raja Hindustani’ is my way of honouring the music that raised me while still pushing my sound forward. I grew up listening to legends like Kumar Sanu, Sunidhi Chauhan, Shreya Ghoshal, Shaan and Rekha Bhardwaj. Their voices shaped how I understood melody, emotion and storytelling. To now share songs with them isn't just a collaboration, it feels like a full-circle moment. This album is about bridging generations. It’s about showing that Indian pop can be rooted in tradition but still sound global, modern and fearless. For me, ‘Raja Hindustani’ is both a tribute and a statement.”
King says the title came from a “very personal space.” He confides, “I remember this one drive and playing the soundtrack of the iconic 1996 film ‘Raja Hindustani.’ That drive stayed with me. ‘Raja Hindustani’ for me isn’t just a reference, it’s symbolic. ‘Raja’ represents self-belief and owning your identity. ‘Hindustani’ represents where we come from, our culture, our language, our emotional depth. This project is my way of celebrating the music I’ve grown up on, while expressing it through my own lens today.”
He continues, “There’s something about those melodies, the emotion, the simplicity, the honesty, that instantly takes you back to a different time when music wasn’t just heard, it was felt. It had soul. It had poetry. It had longing. That’s the kind of emotion I wanted to reconnect with.”
King hit it out the park with his first studio album, “The Carnival” (2020) and the breakout single “Tu Aake Dekhle” and became a household name pretty quickly, maintaining the momentum over five albums and three EPs.
Over the past half decade, the genre of desi hiphop (DHH) has evolved into a multilingual, India-spanning genre that gives voice to the local artist and allows them to break into the global space. King did it when Nick Jonas jumped on for a feature on “Maan Meri Jaan (Afterlife).”
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