RAF-SAPERRA TURNS THE PAGE WITH ‘RENAISSANCE’: A POP-LEANING REBIRTH FOR BRITISH PUNJABI MUSIC

A vibrant new chapter for the British Punjabi disruptor, blending pop ambition with cultural firepower.

After world tours, fashion week front rows, and genre-defying collabs, Raf-Saperra is evolving, and we're here for it! RENAISSANCE, his new five-track EP made entirely in collaboration with global Punjabi superproducer Ikky, is less of a continuation and more of a shapeshift. It’s bold, buoyant, and laced with pop DNA, all filtered through Raf’s unmistakable vocal firepower.

This time around, the South London-born disruptor - known for flipping the switch between raw folk and hard bars - lets go of grit without losing the gravity. There’s glimmer here, a confident lean into something shinier and bigger in scale, but still deeply rooted in his Punjabi identity.

Take “Step Out”, the EP’s lead single: already racking up over 2.6 million YouTube views and dominating charts from India to Canada. It’s infectious and glossy but still feels homegrown - a Raf-Saperra signature. He's been everywhere lately: BBC airwaves, COLORS features, speaking at Cambridge, and showing up front row at Paris Fashion Week, soundtracking the runway like he owns it (spoiler: he kinda does).

What RENAISSANCE really cements is that Raf is no longer just representing the culture - he’s redefining it. It’s a crossover moment, yes, but not in the tired, diluted sense. This is fusion with backbone. Genre, for Raf, is just another tool to be bent, blurred, or broken.

And while the world might only just be catching up, this pivot isn’t random. His trajectory - Ruff Around The Edges, 5 Deadly Venomz, that teased Skrillex collab at Portola - has all been building to this. A pop reimagining not just for himself, but for what Punjabi music can be in 2025.

It’s big. It’s deliberate. It’s Renaissance, Raf-style.