The Bewitching Hour is the second studio album by the electronic singer, Aikya Balan. The record was released on October 22nd, 2022 by Studio60 Records with additional support from Dahlhouse Entertainment. A surprise album delivered after almost 5 years of no new music from the singer, Aikya Balan puts a sexy spin on her favorite holiday, providing her listeners with a Halloween-themed full-length project. The album comes just in time for the spooky season, giving all the mature Halloweeners a chance to get familiar with the songs and add them to their killer Halloween playlists.

Aikya Balan's ability to weaponize the element of surprise in her music is how she has always kept critics and fans on their toes. She debuted in 2014, releasing a string of controversially sexual singles that took the internet by storm. Aikya quickly became a global sensation with her strange hits, taking unestablished musical genres such as Glitch Hop and Trip Hop to the top of the charts. However, after scrapping 2 albums of the sound she had started to become known for, she completely switched gears on her debut, successfully releasing "Out of Sight, Still in Mind" as her debut album instead. Her debut album did not feature any of her hit singles or sounds similar to what built her career. It was an Electronic Funk record executively produced by Drew Westbrook and fans loved it all the same.

"Out of Sight, Still in Mind" went on to become a multi-platinum record and is still enjoyed to this day by patient fans who have been waiting for Aikya Balan to release another project ever since. Months after releasing her debut, Aikya Balan announced that she was working on an EP titled, "30 Silver Coins", releasing the #1 hit single "A Hoe Never Gets Cold" to promote the aforementioned body of work. As time went on, the EP was eventually scrapped and Aikya Balan moved on creatively.

Balan had spent the rest of 2017 bonding with long-time collaborator Coke of Rum & Coke who was working on her second studio album "GOLD" at the time. Aikya Balan earned writing credits on the iconic album, specifically on the tracks "DEAD" and "Flick Flick". Coke had also written the tracks, "Decline", "Enough About Me" and "Como Se Dice" for Aikya Balan's debut album. After working together so well, Aikya Balan and Coke had become inseparable, writing even more material together and recording several collaborations. Since both artists had released albums in 2017, they made plans with their management teams to release a joint project and go on tour together, which would give management the chance to kill 2 birds with one stone and promote both of their albums. Though both artists were very excited about the concept, neither of the girls could commit at the time due to personal issues. Coke was suffering from her own mental health concerns and Aikya Balan's battle with PTSD and crippling anxiety had seemed to worsen as she began to expose herself to the public more.

Even though the huge plans she had made to take her career to the next level had fallen through, Aikya wanted to remind herself she was still in control of her life by vowing to stay active creatively and release more music despite her mental battles. "Walking On Water" is a personal favorite of hers from the "30 Silver Coins" sessions and she believed the song could be her next big hit. However, after bringing the song to her management team, they rejected the idea of releasing it as a single because of how the track overtly sexualized a religious theme. "We believed Aikya didn't need to stoop that low to grab the public's attention anymore. We worked hard to establish her as an artist and move her music in a new direction so releasing [Walking On Water] would've been a step backwards for her. The song would not have been worth the bad press and we were worried it might even look like a desperate attempt at being controversial. We didn't want Aikya Balan's brilliant artistry to be reduced to someone who relies on shock value to sell records." Dahlhouse Entertainment CEO, Anniken Dahl-Smith, released in an official statement after rumors surfaced online. Still, Aikya Balan fought hard for the song to be released, refusing to bring any other single to the table. The disagreement between her and Dahlhouse had only ended up stalling Aikya Balan's career who didn't release another song for 5 years.

In the meantime, Balan was still in the studio recording new music and experimenting with even more sounds than before. Her first sessions back in the studio took place around her favorite time of the year, Halloween, and this had ended up being the inspiration behind The Bewitching Hour. She had wanted to release the concept as an EP much earlier but every year she kept missing the deadline for Halloween. This happened for almost 3 years until in early 2022, she fast-tracked the completion of her album so that she would be prepared to drop during the spooky season.

The Bewitching Hour is executively produced by Aikya Balan's ex-girlfriend Rum whose production name is FancyÑ. Though the 2 women are no longer romantically involved, Aikya Balan credits Rum as her muse. "We've always worked so well together, it's what sparked our connection. I wrote my entire debut album about her and even though we didn't work out, she's still my go-to producer. When I want to get in the studio, I hit her up first. We have our differences but she always inspires me to challenge myself artistically and push the limits." Drew Westbrook and Zane Anoshkin also helped bring the album to life, balancing the album's dark electronic sound out with the hair-raising instrumentation that the producers are well known for.

Total length: 41:11