There are some artists who’ve always chased the mainstream. And then there’s DIVINE (aka Vivian Fernandes), who is absolutely not one of them.
From the chawls of Andheri to a helipad above Singapore's glittering skyline, the man who put gully rap on the world map is in motion again — and motion, it turns out, is his natural state. We catch him weaving through the painted shophouses of Haji Lane and up into the wide-open air of the Swissôtel The Stamford helipad, where the city fans out beneath him.
Singapore, it turns out, is a fitting place to find him — a city that holds its heritage and its hunger in the same breath, that can go from a centuries-old temple to a rooftop bar in the turn of a corner. DIVINE moves through it the same way he moves through his music: like he belongs everywhere he goes.
What makes him compelling in 2026 — more than the Filmfare wins, the Grammys debut, the Nas collaborations, the moment "Baazigar" rang out across Camp Nou — is that he has refused to become a monument to his own mythology. With Walking on Water, his latest album, he arrives not as the face of a movement looking back at what he built, but as a student of sound, restless and searching, sampling Bollywood's golden archive and pulling it into something entirely his own. Indian hip-hop has splintered beautifully since Gully Boy cracked the ceiling open — new languages, new regions, new voices — and DIVINE, rather than planting a flag at the top, is still in the thick of it, listening.
It is perhaps why Singapore feels like such a natural setting for this chapter of his story. A city shaped by different cultures, influences and ideas, it rewards curiosity in much the same way his music does. It is in fact one of the few cities in the world that has him coming back, for unexpected adventures at the turn of every corner.
We catch up with DIVINE mid-shoot, in the sweltering, sexy heat of Singapore.
Excerpts from a conversation.
Indian hip-hop looks very different today than it did post Gully Boy, when you were one of the faces of the movement. With many artists now emerging across the country, where do you see yourself in the current Desi Hip-Hop ecosystem?
It's great to see how far we've come and how many different styles of Indian Hip-Hop/Rap are breaking through in different languages, dialects and regions. The newer artists breaking through will keep bringing in newer audiences to the genre, which in turn keeps driving the movement forward. I see myself as a student of the genre first and always, keeping an eye out for artists putting out good music.
Would you say that Indian hip-hop has a complex relationship with Hindi film music: sometimes reverent, sometimes combative because of how much it dominates the Indian music scene. What kind of a relationship do you have with Bollywood music?
We've all been fans of and grown up on films and music from those films. It's a key part of our recent culture and has influenced our music and writing too. I've been a fan of Sanjay Dutt and his role in Satya is iconic. That's a film that I keep going back to often and have been lucky enough to interpolate 'Goli Maare Bheje Mein' in my song Satya. I've also been blessed to be able to sample and interpolate other iconic film songs including Baazigar O Baazigar, Mehbooba Mehbooba, Give Me Some Sunshine. We've been able to make a mark in Bollywood and also bring Bollywood to our world!
If budget and clearance weren't a factor, what is the one record you would want sampled on a DIVINE album?
Oh there are a few! Maybe you'll find out on the next album.
Lastly, what do you want Walking on Water to mean for your legacy ten years from now?
It's an album where I played around with a lot of different sounds, styles and samples. It will become a key part of my discography and maybe a bridge towards a different wave of music.
Tell us more about the Saucy music video. What made Singapore the right backdrop for Saucy?
Saucy is a confident track. It's playful, it's got swagger, and the video had to match that energy. Singapore made sense because the city has that same energy. It moves fast, it shifts from heritage streets to modern landmarks, and that flow fits the song. One minute you're in Haji Lane with the murals and small stores, the next you're up on the helipad at Swissôtel The Stamford with the skyline wide open. The city did a lot of the work for us, for sure.
As an artist, has a location surprised you, or do you follow your mood board to the T? Give us an example using your latest collaboration with STB.
You go in with a plan, but the best moments usually happen on the day. Singapore kept giving us more than we expected. In Chinatown, you've got temples and old signboards, then you turn a corner and there's a bar tucked inside a shophouse or a mural between two buildings. Haji Lane is its own world with the colour and the energy. And then you have spots like Marina Barrage and the helipad at Swissôtel The Stamford that give you the wider skyline. Each spot brought something we didn't have to plan for.
Your work takes you around the world, as it did recently in Singapore. Did you explore and immerse yourself in the city, and what did you enjoy the most?
My first time in Singapore was for F1 last year, so I got to see the city at full pace. The race weekend, the nightlife, the energy around it. That stayed with me. This trip felt different because we were shooting across the city and got to see more of the everyday side. The heritage districts, the street art, the quieter pockets. I feel that's what makes Singapore work. It can hold both. The high-speed weekends and the slower creative days, all in one place.
There are some interesting locations that you picked for Saucy, from the ultra-modern and tech-focused Swissôtel Helipad to heritage locations like Haji Lane, which has centuries of history attached to it. Tell us a little about why these places resonated with you and your music.
Each spot had its own personality, and that's what we leaned into. Haji Lane is full of detail. The murals, the stores, people moving through. Then you cut to the helipad at Swissôtel The Stamford and it's the opposite. You're above the city with the skyline wide open. Marina Barrage gave us those wider shots, and Helix Bridge at night with Marina Bay Sands and the ArtScience Museum in the background already looks like a set. Different worlds, but the city ties them together. That's what made it work for a song like Saucy.