Aug 28, 2026 10:15pm IST
OutStation On ‘Homecoming’, ‘Aaj Kal’, and Crafting Indian Pop on Their Own Terms
The vacant throne of Indian pop has officially found its heirs. Curated under the expert guidance of 17-time Grammy nominee Savan Kotecha via Visva Records, OutStation is the five-member Gen Z boy band taking the country by storm. Comprising Bhuvan Shetty, Hemang Singh, Mashaal Shaikh, Kurien Sebastian, and Shayan Pattem, this cross-country mosaic brings together distinct roots from Udupi, Prayagraj, Goa, Delhi, and Hyderabad. With wildly popular tracks like 'Aaj Kal', 'Tum Se', and their latest single 'Kho Sa Gaya Hoon', the quintet crafts deeply honest, emotive pop that resonates with a generation of dedicated fans they fondly call 'Passengers.'
Recognizing their massive potential, YouTube has selected OutStation for Foundry, its global artist development program that empowers independent acts with grants, dedicated support, promotional levers, and educational opportunities. Ramprasad Sundar, Head of Music Partnerships, Artist & Label Relations - India at YouTube, notes, "Our ultimate goal with Foundry is not only to help emerging artists break a single track, but to empower them to build sustainable, lifelong careers on their own terms... We couldn't be more excited to welcome our newest cohort of visionary artists." Below, the band opens up about raw vlogs, messy fridges, and rewriting live music rules.
YouTube is where you feel closest to your Passengers because of late-night vlogs and spontaneous live moments. In an era where most boy bands try to look untouchable, why was showing the un-glamorous side of living together so important?
For us, it was never really a conscious decision to show the unedited side of OutStation, that is just such a big part of who we are. We are five people figuring out music, life, and everything in between together. Some of our favorite moments have nothing to do with being on stage or in a studio. They are the random late-night conversations, terrible jokes, disagreements, spontaneous jam sessions, and all the chaos that comes with five of us being together. Our Passengers have been part of this journey from so early on, and we want them to feel like they are growing with us rather than only seeing the finished product. At the end of the day, OutStation is also the friendship and brotherhood behind the music, and we never want to hide that.
Related Stories
Your track 'Homecoming' addresses leaving your hometowns for Mumbai. What is the funniest or most challenging part of five guys from completely different parts of India sharing a refrigerator?
The funniest part is definitely learning to live with everyone's very specific habits. When five guys from completely different parts of the country suddenly start sharing the same space, you discover things about each other very quickly! Shayan is an absolute menace when it comes to food. If you have kept something in the fridge for later, there is a good chance it might not be there when you come back. Then there is Mashaal, who is a complete night owl. His day sometimes feels like it is starting when everyone else is ready to call it a night. 'Homecoming' talks about everything we left behind to come to Mumbai, but somewhere along the way, the five of us have created our own slightly chaotic version of home here too.
How do your specific hometown roots slip into the music, or are you inventing a brand-new collective sound?
Our hometowns will always find their way into what we create because they are such a big part of who each of us is. But we also do not want to limit that exploration to just the five places we come from. With our sophomore EP especially, we want to explore sounds and influences from different regions across India and find ways of bringing them into the world of OutStation. There is so much musical culture in this country that we have grown up hearing, sometimes without even consciously realizing how much it has shaped us. The idea is ultimately to create a sound that feels like the future, but still carries an identity. It is less about choosing between Udupi, Goa, Prayagraj, or a completely new collective sound, and more about seeing how all of those worlds can exist within what OutStation becomes.
How do you plan to rewrite the rules of live gigs in India to make sure your teenage fans are safe and included?
We definitely want to do things differently because our audience has to be at the center of how we think about live shows. If a large part of our community is young, we cannot be doing 11 PM gigs and then expect them to somehow make it work. We would love to build more of a culture around daytime shows and alcohol-free spaces where our younger Passengers can actually come, feel safe, and enjoy themselves without those usual barriers. The idea is to make an OutStation gig feel like an experience with activities people can be part of, and opportunities for fans to meet and connect with each other. Hopefully, we can help create a live culture where teenagers do not feel like they have to wait until they are older to experience music and community in that way.
If you had to describe the vibe of the upcoming debut EP in three words that are not musical genres, what would they be?
Nostalgic, honest, and restless. This EP feels like a snapshot of where the five of us are in our lives right now. There is a lot of looking back, a lot of figuring things out in the present, and also that restlessness of wanting to know what comes next. With 'Aaj Kal' and 'Tum Se', our Passengers have already seen glimpses of those emotions, but the EP opens up a few more sides of us. More than anything, we want people to listen to it and find a little bit of their own story somewhere in ours.
When you picture that first massive stadium show in India, what does it look like when OutStation walks out?
The first image has to be the five of us standing backstage, probably looking at each other like, "Is this actually happening?" And then walking out and seeing a sea of people, our Passengers, singing the words back to us. We do not think it needs to be this perfectly choreographed, larger-than-life entrance. The dream is actually that one moment when the music drops, the crowd takes over, and thousands of voices are singing something that once started with just the five of us in a room. We would probably just look at each other on stage and try to take it all in. If we are dreaming big, we would love for that first stadium to be here in India. There would be something really special about having that full-circle moment at home.
Comments are moderated. They may be edited for clarity and reprinting in whole or in part in Variety publications.