India Post News Service
FREMONT, CA: The vocals of Akash and Krish Chandani, the identical twin R&B duo known as THEMXXNLIGHT, are now featured on three songs with world famous rapper Wiz Khalifa on his latest album in July. These songs have reached 8 million plays in the past month.
Though the duo has just completed their Industrial Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), New York in May, they are pursuing their passion in music and have had some good success as R&B singers.
Having received reasonable success in the English music scene, the 22-year old Saratoga twins are now seeking opportunities in Bollywood. They have some hit songs in Hindi that are very unique with a perfect blend of American R&B styles.
According to an interview they gave to Hindu newspaper, music has always been a creative outlet, providing them with a sense of identity in the hodgepodge of Indian-American chaos that they were surrounded by in the Bay Area, where they grew up.
That passion, built on pure music consumption and absolutely no formal training, morphed when they launched an unassuming SoundCloud page in late 2015, recording songs heavily inspired by underground R&B and the music of AR Rahman, Arijit Singh and Atif Aslam.
Twin factor
Working together, they believe, is an “extremely-efficient creative process”, where they use each other’s’ strengths and weaknesses to build an overall sound that their fans love.
It even inspired their first duo name, LUVKUSH, which they kept until legal complications led them to THEMXXNLIGHT. “It’s a play on our last name — Chandani, which means moonlight in Hindi — and somehow, it fits the vibe of our sound perfectly: dark and mysterious music that you’d listen to under the moonlight,” Krish says.
The connection to India is strong, bringing them to their family home in Bengaluru where they spent some time before they return in December to perform at the Sunburn Festival in Pune.
“The Indian audience is so important for us to target, because we grew up listening to so much Indian music, a lot of which is incorporated in our work today,” says Akash.
Eye on the prize
With millions of YouTube views and a laundry list of upcoming projects, the brothers credit social media for their rising global recognition. Their brand, they say, has been built slowly and unassumingly.
“When we first started, we had a hidden identity: no one knew our race or our relationship to each other,” explains Krish. “It was all about the music. Curiosity grew once people started to follow us.”
So what’s next? “We have an 8-song EP up for release in November, a full album set to release in early 2019, and upcoming tracks with Wiz, 24HRS, TM88, Ye Ali, SAFE and Lyfe Harris,” Akash says, going on to add that they have their sights set on one particular market.
“Well, Bollywood. We have some hopes and some full Hindi tracks that we’d love to ideate on. After all, that’s home.”
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