Dressed in his trademark turban, a casual looking Arijit Singh sits at the piano and opens with Tum Hi Ho to the biggest cheer from an almost full north London stadium. It’s the song that turned this 38-year-old into a household name and eventually into the most-followed artist on Spotify, surpassing global icons like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.
Despite all this success, few outside the Indian diaspora have heard his name, largely because he doesn’t sing in English and has a reputation for being a media shy introvert. Stepping out on the open stage as the first Indian to perform at a UK stadium, he can’t quite believe the turnout. ‘My God, I did not expect so many of you’, he says, as the crowd makes their presence heard.
