In Dubai for his 'Silhouettes' concert tour, Prateek Kuhad shares why fame can feel 'overwhelming'

As he makes his highly anticipated return to Dubai after a little over a year and a half, Prateek Kuhad embodies authenticity in an industry often overshadowed by fleeting music trends. Renowned for his soulful melodies and introspective lyrics, this Indian artiste has captured the hearts of fans around the world, seamlessly merging traditional Indian folk music with contemporary sounds.

“Dubai is always a great place to perform,” says Kuhad, all set to perform live in the city on Friday, September 20. Unlike the bustling urban landscape many associate with Dubai, the 34-year-old musician finds inspiration in the surrounding desert’s vastness and sparseness.

“When I was flying over, I saw this vast desert. Honestly, I find the desert quite inspiring sometimes,” he adds, pausing to reflect on how this stark beauty resonates with his creative spirit.

His latest project, titled , for which he’s currently on tour, also reflects the depth of his introspective nature. “The more we live life and the older we get, the more stimuli we experience from all directions,” says Kuhad, who, as a public figure, is no stranger to the noise of external opinions. “People tell you things directly, or you read things online. It affects you,” he admits, revealing a vulnerability often masked by his quiet persona.

It is this concept of feeling like a ‘silhouette’—a mere shadow of one’s true self—that captures the essence of his new work, inviting listeners to reflect on their own identities amidst the chaos. In a recent conversation with , the musician opens up about filtering out the ‘noise’, AI’s impact on music, and his upcoming concert in the city.

When I get called to play a show, I come to play a show, you know? Dubai is always a delightful place to perform!

I think it’s the expanse that captivates me. When I was flying over, I saw this vast, sparse desert and I find that quite inspiring and intriguing.

It’s a thought I had last year about how, the more we live life and the older we get, the more stimulus we experience from all directions. There are so many opinions, and especially, being a public figure, you get a lot of opinions about yourself from all sides.

People tell you things directly, or you read things online. It affects you, and if you let it get to you, you can lose touch with your inner sense of self. You can get jaded by all these external thoughts and opinions, and you start to feel like a silhouette of yourself. And it happens to everybody. But when you’re in the limelight, it’s just... a lot. It can be overwhelming.

It’s definitely a journey. It takes a little time to get used to. But at the end of the day, there’s nothing you can really do about what happens externally. You can only focus on what you can change internally, making yourself stronger so you can block out the noise. That’s really all you can do.

In my case, not really. That’s one thing I’ve kept very protected. But it does affect other aspects of your life. You start getting in your head about certain things.

Honestly, I just bring out the guitar and hope they show up. It can be confusing and overwhelming if you overthink it. I believe it’s better to focus on doing things for the right reasons. Do it for yourself, not for external validation. So, I try to write music and make art for myself. Whatever happens beyond that point doesn’t really matter. Especially now, I feel like I’ve earned the luxury to do that more because I’ve already established myself.

It’s moving in a good direction. But it’s hard to say—it’s a bit of both. On the one hand, yes, there’s more freedom now. It’s easier to produce, distribute, and promote music independently. But at the same time, it also makes it easier for big labels and anyone with capital to do the same. So you're still competing with that. Although, good art always finds a way through.

It’s a bit of both. I think audiences have really split now, which is cool. There was a time in music, and media in general, where it was all or nothing—you were either at the top or you were struggling. There wasn’t much middle ground. But now, it feels like there are more branches. Your fan base can be small or huge. You could be really mainstream or completely indie, or somewhere in the middle. Everyone gravitates toward what they like, which is good. It gives artists more freedom to explore different things.

But at the same time, it’s weird—it’s really like a double-edged sword. While that has happened, the really popular mainstream music has also become very homogeneous, and that’s due to algorithms, social media, and how tech and AI work for sure.

If AI-generated music were truly good, there would have been a hit song by now. I don’t think it has reached that level yet. Even if you’re just looking for beats, it still needs a certain vibe—an X-factor—and AI doesn’t have that. In the past 5 to 10 years, music production software has made it much easier to create beats.

Nowadays, literally anyone can make a beat on their phone. Even someone with minimal music experience can create something after just a few days of experimenting with an app or software. But that doesn’t guarantee quality. You still need a skilled musician who has put in the effort to create amazing beats.

So, I don’t think AI will replace humans anytime soon; rather, humans will learn to use it as a tool. It simply means that more people can create. However, what happens in the future is hard to predict. If we get to the point where we’re discussing Artificial General Intelligence—comparable to human intelligence—then it would have repercussions far beyond music, affecting every aspect of our lives.

That’s just the cycle of time and human perception. People will always miss something or want to complain about something. When there was a lot of soulful music, there would’ve been people saying, “Why is everything so soulful?” Now that there isn’t enough, people are saying the opposite. It’s just how it goes.

Just come and have a good time, honestly. I don’t want to say much about it, but it’s going to be a great show.

"There’s no crazy story that stands out... I get a lot of random messages, and people make really cool things. I receive a lot of letters at every show—handwritten ones, really long ones. That happens a lot. There are fans with tattoos, but nothing too crazy. No one’s tried to jump on stage or anything like that," he says.