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Gurinder Gill Is Ready For a Global Ascent With New Album 'World Is Ours'

The Punjabi-Canadian rapper and singer releases his anticipated second album.

Gurinder Gill

Gurinder Gill

Courtesy Photo

Gurinder Gill is taking on the world with his new album.

World Is Ours is out now and marks a new chapter for the independent Punjabi-Canadian artist.


Gill rose to fame in 2019 with viral single "Faraar," made with fellow rising stars AP Dhillon and Shinda Kahlon. After a series of collaborations with Dhillon, including global hits like "Brown Munde" and "Excuses," his 2023 album Hard Choices saw him striking out on his own.

"You can’t say it was an overnight success,” he told Billboard Canada at the time, as part of the cover story on Punjabi music. “It was a lot of work when we started taking it seriously. We had to do everything by ourselves: videos, music, artwork. It was just four or five people just running around, trying to make things happen.”

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World Is Ours is a confident follow-up and follow-through on that decision. The album brings together hard-hitting trap beats and sweet guitar licks, from the intense "MVP" to the mellow "City 2 City."

The music video for the title track has already racked up nearly 400K views on YouTube, with fans commenting that it's Gill's time to shine.

As the Punjabi Wave continues to grow in Canada, Canadian institutions are putting more resources behind the movement. In this moment, it's a bold choice for a rising Punjabi star to go fully independent.

Labels aren't always necessary for artists to break out, particularly in a case like Gill, who already has a strong base.

The desire to see him reach the next level is there — if he plays his cards right, the world could be his.

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Executive of the Week: Justin West of Secret City Records on the Secrets of Independent Music Success​
FYI

Executive of the Week: Justin West of Secret City Records on the Secrets of Independent Music Success​

The man behind one of Canada's most successful indie labels talks about the late-blooming success of French-language streaming record-holder Patrick Watson, why he builds long-term relationships with artists, and why it's important for the indie sector to work together.

Justin West is a leader and advocate in Canada’s independent music scene, but he didn’t plan it out that way. When he started his record label Secret City Records in Montreal in the mid-2000s, it was out of necessity. He had met an artist he loved and wanted to build a career with, and the label was a means to do it. That artist was Patrick Watson, and 20 years later he — and Secret City — are more successful than ever.

West — a multiple time Billboard Canada Power Player – leads one of the biggest indie labels in Canada while also advocating for the sector on multiple boards both locally and internationally. When we speak to him for this Executive of the Week interview, he’s just returned from Banff for the National Summit on Artificial Intelligence and Culture, and is a central figure in discussions around the Online Streaming Act and collective negotiations with online streaming platforms.

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