The music video for Kalyani by ARJN, KDS, FIFTY4 and RONN, repped by DefJam India, has become one of those rare indie tracks that feels impossible to escape online. This comes right after the huge success of Neera and Sheriya. With over 11 million views already, the song has grown far beyond what the artists expected, finding listeners across regions and languages.
“We loved the track from day one, but we honestly didn’t expect it to take off like this,” they say. In the early days after release, the response was steady, but then the numbers began to rise rapidly. “That’s when it hit us that this isn’t just doing well, it’s really connecting,” they recall. What stood out most was seeing listeners from different regions respond to the same song. “Watching people from everywhere vibe to it was surreal.”
At its heart, Kalyani is a song built around admiration. It’s soft in tone and unhurried in pace; it avoids any kind of over-exaggeration. “We just wanted to make a song for the gyaldem. A song that feels soft, respectful, and full of admiration,” they explain. “Something that genuinely celebrates beauty, without trying too hard.”
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Part of Kalyani’s appeal lies in how it is driven by a certain kind of mood, and the artists believe that helped it reach a wider audience. The track leans into love and allure, with Ronn’s mellow production setting the mood and lyrics by Fifty4 and Suhas Moideen guiding the story. “Connecting with people is one of the main reasons we make music,” they explain. “With ‘Kalyani,’ the emotion did most of the talking. Love, admiration, warmth, these feelings don’t belong to one language.” While the song first gained traction in South India, they say the response quickly spread beyond that. “It’s not just South India anymore. The love has been coming in from everywhere.”
The process of making Kalyani was collaborative from start to finish. Rather than treating lyrics, melody and production as separate stages, the team worked on the song together in real time. “All of us sit on FaceTime and build the track as one piece,” they say. “Everything grows together. Because of that, the whole song feels personal, not just one part.” Sonically, if you’ve noticed, Kalyani carries a noticeable Afro-beat and R&B influence. That influence, they say, comes naturally from their listening habits rather than a conscious decision to follow a trend. “When we were in Canada, afro and R&B were all we listened to,” they say. “That sound stayed with us. It wasn’t planned or forced. It just felt right for the mood of the song.”
With Kalyani now firmly popular, listeners are naturally curious about what comes next. The duo makes it clear that they do not want to be boxed into one sound. “You can definitely expect different things from us,” they say. “We don’t want to stick to one lane. Experimenting is important to us, and we want every release to feel like a fresh experience for the audience.” For them, growth means movement, and that means change. “So yeah,” they add, “better stuff, back to back.”
Check out Kalyani here:
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