Nucleya can move a crowd. At home, though, he’s up against a tougher audience

For a generation of listeners, Nucleya was the gateway into a sound we didn’t quite have a name for yet. Long before “Indian EDM” became a catch-all, there was ‘Bass Rani’ echoing across college festivals, ‘Baaraat’ with Ritviz achieving anthem status, and a musician from Bandish Projekt, splitting the band to become a solo producer who made electronic music feel rooted, chaotic, and unmistakably local.

It is perhaps why seeing Udyan Sagar, better known as Nucleya on stage, at The Mix at Mumbai’s Jio World Gardens feels fitting. Positioned as a first-of-its-kind fan experience by the Mumbai Indians and BookMyShow Live’s BrandLabs, The Mix brought together sport, music, and fandom in one high-energy space, with players, performances, and a crowd that blurred the line between stadium and concert. On day one, after Divine’s hour-long performance, Nucleya closed the night with a set that shuffled between his biggest tracks and nostalgia-laced remixes—the kind that turns a crowd into a chorus as they sang along to ‘Bass Rani’ and ‘Take Me There’ before slipping into throwback moments with ‘Jungle Jungle Baat Chali Hai’ that sent the crowd straight into childhood.

And then you speak to him, and the picture becomes far more interesting. There is no grand mythology he’s trying to build around himself. He tells you he has “zero rituals” before a show and that he doesn’t really overthink what happens on stage. Ideas, he says, can come from anywhere, sometimes even the toilet seat or the shower, and he treats that unpredictability as part of the process rather than something to control. He is similarly unfazed about the way the industry is changing, open to AI tools like Suno and viewing them as just another extension of how music has always evolved.

In person, that ease is hard to miss. Dressed in a black T-shirt, grey shorts and Birkenstocks, he is walking around casually as we speak, checking his step count, replying to messages, completely unbothered by the scale of everything happening around him. His online presence, much like his music, leans into humour and unpredictability, with riotous cringe-core videos featuring a motley crew of superheroes, animals and politicians to announce his tour dates, gig schedules, album drops as well as upcoming collaborations (Anu Malik on his latest album, Diggi Bumba, is that sort of collab we didn't know we needed). 

We caught up with him at The Mix to talk about music, AI, and everything in between.

What’s the last thing you do before getting on stage?

I don’t have any pre-show rituals. Superstitions I don’t believe in anyway. None.

What’s the last song you Shazam-ed?

Let me check. It’s not on this phone. It must have been a south Indian song, though; I’m pretty sure about it, because I can’t remember the lyrics.

Is there a musician you feel more people should hear?

All the people who are there on my album. Arya Dhayal is one of them; she’s unbelievable. So is Rajdev, who sang ‘Gup Chup’ on my album [Diggi Bumba]. And Dorwin John with whom I’m actually making an EP right now. Hopefully, it will be out by June. He is classically trained and sings in Marathi and Hindi. 

What’s the one thing that’s changed from Nucleya’s 2008 sound to now?

I can tell you what is constant: Stupidity. I think it’s still there. Whatever stupid stuff I was doing back in the day is still there in the music. In terms of sound, I’m trying to explore new genres—baile funk, pop music, also regional music—because I got tired of the previous stuff that I was doing as a producer. But that was a process earlier as well; it’s just that I was exploring a different sound back then. The core is still the same.

What are your thoughts on AI in music, and apps like Suno?

Oh, it’s really incredible. I think we should incorporate it. I have a theory behind it: Hip-hop started with people sampling other people’s music, which is not ethical. Say, you made a song as a producer and then I chose some parts of your song and made a new song around it. That’s how hip-hop music was born. And later on, there was an influx of sound banks. So, if I want to make a song, I don’t need to sample your music. I will take a sample from a pre-existing sample bank and use that in my song. With Suno, now it’s on-demand. You can type in “I need a sound like this or a string like this or a guitar like that”, and it will give it to you in the context of your music. So, you can use it in the way that you want. There is no difference. If you think that Suno is unethical, so is sampling, and so are sample banks.

Your wife (Smriti Choudhary) is an artist and collaborator. Did she design the visuals at the concert today?

She does not have as much influence on live visuals, but the album artwork is all her. All the music goes through her first. Then it goes out to everyone else. She participates in the creative process as much as I do.

How is it working with her?

Sometimes challenging, sometimes fun. But I still prefer working with her because she understands what I’m trying to do creatively. So, if I make a bad song, she says it’s rubbish.

A lot of us listened to early Nucleya in our teenage days. It was a rite of passage. You now have a teenage boy. What does he think of it?

I don’t think he was ever a fan of my work. He’s kind enough to say this sounds nice, but that’s where it ends. The music that he consumes sometimes inspires me. Recently, he played me a song while he was working on some 3D modelling; it was a very complex, chaotic track but still very musical. I asked him, “Why do you listen to this music?” And he said that it’s chaotic to you but not to me. So, I said okay, cool, I’ll try to incorporate this into my work somehow. Maybe then he will like my music... I don’t know.

What’s the funniest way someone has tried to get your attention during a set?

I don’t think I’ve ever paid attention. Although sometimes they get tattoos made, put my name on it. Or if I have a tattoo, they’ll have the same one. They love the music so much. Which is also scary sometimes. 

What’s the last thing you eat before going on stage?

I am a foodie. I also love cooking. I like all sorts of food. North Indian food, south Indian food, all sorts of cuisines. Good food is the right definition, where it comes from is irrelevant. For example, if I’m in Mumbai and if I have time, I will try to find a nice place where I can go and eat. Last time I was here, I went to this really incredible restaurant called Bandra Born. It’s run by a very dear friend of mine and the food there was unbelievable.