But the 30-year-old isn\u2019t just a growing internet sensation; he is a proven talent to local industry experts. <\/p>\n
Rai is the first Punjabi artist in Aotearoa to receive financial backing from NZ on Air, after being selected as one of 20 recipients of the 2025 New Music Pan-Asian focus round in May. <\/p>\n
Punjabi artist Yogesh Rai moved to New Zealand alone in 2013 when he 18. Photo \/ Big Shot Vibes<\/p>\n
The $11,000 grant, created to address the under-representation of Pan-Asian artists in Aotearoa, pays for the recording, video content and promotional costs of Billiyan Akhiyan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI belong to Punjab and I started writing [songs] from a very early age,\u201d Rai said. <\/p>\n
He moved to New Zealand alone in 2013 at age 18, \u201cin search of a better future\u201d, leaving behind his parents and two older brothers.<\/p>\n
It was a struggle at first. He wanted to move somewhere \u201cwhere nobody is\u201d. But he ended up finding his uncle and aunt in One Tree Hill and lived with them for a year. <\/p>\n
Rai found he couldn\u2019t easily talk about his emotions. But writing helped. <\/p>\n
\u201cWriting was the best way for me to express my feelings rather than sharing them with anyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until two, or three, or four years ago – Rai can\u2019t quite remember – when he started performing, and was noticed by New Zealand music label Big Shot Vibes at a house party. <\/p>\n
Finally, he thinks it\u2019s \u201cpaying out now\u201d.<\/p>\n
Rai eventually started writing lyrics in English. In 2024, through Big Shot Vibes, he released Black, a hip-hop track featuring fast cars, skull-and-crossbones and some English rap. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat worked well,\u201d he thought. <\/p>\n
Rai plans to add English lyrics to his music, hinting he\u2019s experimenting with a couple of songs. But nothing is quite like singing in his first language.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of my writing is in Punjabi because that\u2019s how I\u2019ve been brought up,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the only reason for writing in Punjabi.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in Phagwara, a city of just over 100,000 in northern India, music was a way of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you wake up in the morning and you go to school, there is music playing. It\u2019s religious music that\u2019s playing. When you come back, your mum is cooking and cleaning, and even at that time, there is music playing. At night, [when watching] movies … the music is always playing. Even outside on the streets,\u201d Rai said.<\/p>\n
Rai\u2019s soundscape is pulsating energy with Punjabi-honey melodies. It has heat and confidence. The inspiration, however, is found in quiet: \u201cWhen I stay close to nature and I\u2019m alone, that\u2019s when I write the best,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The best place for Rai to write is where he lives now in rural Franklin. <\/p>\n
\u201cI live on a farm,\u201d he said. \u201cIt [helps] connect me to the old roots back in India … there are cattle and sheep and everything. Birds chirping every day in the morning … I can just sit and write the best that I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
If it\u2019s not nature, it\u2019s family. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey really motivate me to keep doing the music. It doesn\u2019t matter what the result is, just keep going,\u201d Rai said.<\/p>\n