Ambika Nayak, known professionally as Kayan, is an Indian musician, singer and disc jockey.
Her stage name, Kayan, is derived from reversing her surname "Nayak". Additionally, she is also a part of the group Kimochi Youkai and the electronic music duo Nothing Anonymous with Nirmit Shah.[1][2] According to Nayak, her family was already musically inclined, with her mother being a Hindustani classical vocalist and her grandmother, a Kathak dancer, and she was thus able to get substantial exposure and training.[3]
By the end of 2021, she was reportedly one of the most streamed female indie artists on Spotify.[4][5]
In 2022, she released her seventh and eighth singles DFWM (abbreviation of Don't Fuck With Me) and No Shade, the latter of which featured Singaporean rapper Yung Raja.[6]
Reception[edit | edit source]
The magazine Man's World praised her live DJ sets as "passionately genre-agnostic, driven by feel and an inexplicable sixth-sense tied to her spectators", and claimed that they had been key to her overall musical popularity.[2]
Discography[edit | edit source]
Singles
- Cool Kids (2020)[7]
- Please (2020)[7]
- Be Alright (2021)[8]
- On My Own (2021)
- DFWM (2022)
- No Shade (2023)
- 52 (2023)
- stop calling me (2023)
- plenty (2023)
- Attention (2024)[9]
- Kayan Home Sessions (2024)[9]
- Heartrate (2024)[9]
- Hold Me Down (2025)[9]
- Hold Me Down (Unplugged) (2025)[9]
EPs
- Is Love Enough? (2025)[9]
- Denim Jeans
- Good Kinda Love
- Hold Me Down
- Too Long
- i'm fine
Filmography[edit | edit source]
Web series[edit | edit source]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Hello Mini | Vixy | Season 2 | [10] |
References[edit | edit source]
- ā "Watch Kayan's Fresh Music Video for New Single 'Cool Kids'". Rolling Stone India. 13 November 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā 2.0 2.1 "Fashion, Passion And More: Meet Ambika Nayak aka Kayan". Man's World. 24 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ā "Kayan to rock, jazz in Hyderabad". The New Indian Express. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā "10 indie artistes who shook up India's music scene in 2021". Vogue India. 28 December 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā "Checking in with Kayan: Ambika Nayak talks about going solo, DJing and fashion". Mid-day. 29 January 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā Ng, Scott (15 August 2022). "India's Kayan enlists Yung Raja for new single 'No Shade'". NME. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā 7.0 7.1 "Best Of 2020: Indian Noisemakers On Our Radar". Man's World. 29 December 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā "10 Best Indian Music Videos of 2021". Rolling Stone India. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 22 August 2022.
- ā 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 "Spotify - Kayan - Discography". Spotify. 23 January 2026. Retrieved 23 January 2026.
- ā "Singers Kayan and Noor Chahal: On YouTube Music Foundry, and breaking out in style". The Hindu. 24 September 2022.
 | This Indian music-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Bharatpedia by expanding it. |