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What makes a song a hit? Is it the melody that lingers long after the last note, the words that carve themselves into memory, or the voice that feels like it’s singing only to you? More often than not, it’s an alchemy of all three, and when the right people come together, that spark turns into something unforgettable. That’s the magic of Exotic — a rare collision of worlds in a single song. Three artists, each from a different universe, converging in melody.
The screen flickered, and there they were: A. R. Rahman, the Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer whose music has scored the soundtrack of our lives; Diane Warren, the Emmy- and Grammy-winning songwriter, graced with an honorary Oscar, two Golden Globes, and a lifetime of songs that etch love into memory; and RIKA, the rising British-Indian voice, carrying the luminous promise of tomorrow.
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In that instant, decades of music history, accolades, and possibilities collapsed into a single room, even if it was only on Zoom. The track is written by Warren, produced by Rahman, and brought to life by RIKA. It’s a song that blurs borders while carrying the energy that only happens when legends and new voices meet at the right moment.
When we asked how the track came to life, Rahman smiled and shared, “The seed of the song actually came mid-flight. I was just fooling around on my laptop when the word ‘Exotic’ came to me.” He described it so casually, almost as if composing one of the most unique cross-cultural love songs of the year was a side project at 30,000 feet. With his laptop on his lap, he began experimenting. “I didn’t want tabla or bhangra, we’ve all heard those before. I wanted something unusual, something no one had tried in a Western dance track yet: temple bells, finger cymbals, percussive sounds that carried a sense of devotion.”
When he finally played it for Warren and RIKA, he admitted he wasn’t sure how they’d react. But the uncertainty didn’t last long. “They were jumping,” he said, breaking into a smile that softened the calm steadiness of his voice.
Warren jumped in right after sharing how the song is more like an escape, that feeling when love can take you out of your ordinary life and make even your bedroom feel like an island. “I wanted people to feel transported,” she explained. “And then A. R. took it somewhere I couldn’t have even imagined. Suddenly, it sounded like a vacation in itself.”
RIKA listened intently before chiming in. She confessed she had to keep pinching herself throughout the process. One moment she was in Warren’s legendary LA studio, the next she was recording under Rahman’s guidance. “My dad was probably even more excited than me,” she admitted with a laugh. “The moment he heard, he called every cousin and family friend in Delhi like it was breaking news. That pride, making him that proud, meant everything.”
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What made it even more poetic was how her story looped back on itself. At 15, RIKA had auditioned for her school programme with How Do I Live Without You, unaware it was one of Warren’s songs. That performance had launched her journey. Ten years later, she was standing in front of Warren, singing a song Warren had written for her. “It feels like life has come full circle,” she told me. “Like the universe whispering: this is your moment.”
The conversation meandered into studio memories, and suddenly we were all laughing about falafels. Warren had described RIKA’s vocals as having “sung the sh*t out of it,” and RIKA quickly shared how, in LA, they’d come up with a running joke. Rahman, ever dignified, wasn’t entirely comfortable with the word floating around in the studio, so they replaced it with falafel. Every time someone wanted to swear, they said falafel instead. “Now every time I see a falafel, I think of Exotic,” RIKA grinned. “It’s proof that even when Hollywood meets Bollywood, you can still meet in the middle — and sometimes, it tastes as good as falafel.”
That was the charm of the call. Between talk of beats and lyrics, there were inside jokes, little cultural exchanges, and moments that showed how music breaks down walls without even trying.
When I asked RIKA about the future, she lit up. She didn’t have a five-year plan laid out, but she gave me a scoop: her next single, already in the works, is another Warren creation. This one is a sweeping ballad called Have You No Mercy, laced with rock and soul elements. “I can’t wait to share it,” she said, her excitement spilling over.
Rahman, who had been listening quietly, added softly that RIKA is spontaneous, fast, and full of energy. “She’s going to go places,” he said, with the kind of calm conviction that felt like both a blessing and a prophecy. Before we signed off, I asked about music in the age of TikTok trends and reels. Warren leaned in firmly: “It doesn’t matter how people find it. Formats change, platforms change. But the song has to be great. That’s our job.” Rahman nodded in agreement.
Exotic is a reminder that music still knows no borders, that it can circle back on itself and complete a story years in the making, and that sometimes the best collaborations are born out of late-night calls, instinctive ideas on a plane, and, of course, falafels.
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