From Dh140 Bur Dubai hotel room to Rolls Royce on Sheikh Zayed Road: Rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh's epic revival

Dubai: When Indian rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh first landed in Dubai more than a decade ago, he wasn’t cruising down Sheikh Zayed Road in a Rolls-Royce. He was checking into a tiny Dh140 hotel room in Bur Dubai, a place he now remembers as the start of a story he’s finally ready to tell the world.

“When I came to Dubai sick, I was living in Bur Dubai in a tiny hotel room,” he recalls in an interview with Gulf News with a half-laugh, half-wince.

“From that to cruising in a Rolls-Royce, that's something! I have a long journey with Dubai. Dubai inspired me. Dubai supported me, and I'm here at your service.”

That arc will form the spine of My Story, Singh’s upcoming world tour and the most ambitious live project of his career. And fittingly, he’s launching it from the city that he says “made him global.”

Honey Singh’s turbulent decade before decided to make the UAE his home is marked by addiction battles, legal disputes, a high-profile divorce, and career-stalling controversies.

“Since 2011 when I shot my first music video ‘Brown Rang’ over here… that video made me global,” Singh says. “I think I'm the only Indian artist who shot maximum music videos in Dubai because it's very close to my heart.”

Dubai has changed dramatically since then — but so, Singh insists, has he. And he sees his evolution reflected in the city’s meteoric expansion.
“The way Dubai has been growing, by the grace of God, I’m also growing day by day. It’s inspiring. Whatever you can think, Dubai did it. And I want to do things nobody imagined.”

A 21-Year career told like a movie

The artist known for reshaping Indian pop and party culture in the 2010s is approaching his 20-year catalogue not as a playlist, but as a screenplay. 'My Story', organised by Blu Blood, will be a two-hour theatrical show — scripted, directed, and designed to let audiences sit inside his life, not just dance to it.

“They gonna see Yo Yo’s 20 years of career… from 2005 to 2026. It’s not just like I'm coming, singing, performing, dancing and going. I’m telling the story — which song I made in which city.”

The show is being directed by Mihir Gulati, whom Singh calls “my younger brother,” and each city on the tour will get its own customised version — a rarity in touring, especially from South Asian artists.

“I performed the India tour and they loved it, the whole Millionaire Tour. But I'm not gonna give the same content to every city. Every city’s going to be different.”

The global route was planned both organically and emotionally.
“We’ve been getting lots of proposals from lots of promoters worldwide. UK is next… America, Canada. People say ‘Come to Toronto, come to Vancouver.’ I never performed in Vancouver.”
He grins. “Canada is a mini Punjab. It’s gonna be fun. One mic, one man, million memories.”

An old Horse in a new race

The highs of global fame and the lows that pushed Singh away from the public eye for nearly seven years are well-documented. He doesn’t dramatise them now — but he doesn’t hide from them either.

“It’s a very interesting story of mine, and I want to thank my fans for being there in all the ups and downs. I’m back because of them.”

Coming back in an era of viral reels and hyper-speed fame, he admits, has been disorienting. Just minutes before the interview, he had been recording a reel with an influencer.

“It's funny. I was away from internet for seven years when I was sick. I didn’t know where the world had gone. I’m like an old horse in the new race. Everybody’s running fast — and they know that I'm the fastest.”

And then there’s the unexpected revelation — the one even his longtime fans might not believe.

He’s a romantic.

“I'm romantic, very romantic… and it's crazy. You have to experience that.”

Why Dubai, still?

While celebrities, especially footballers, increasingly treat Dubai as a second home or a tax haven, Singh’s attachment to the city is personal, geographic, and almost spiritual.

“You can speak Hindi wherever you want. It’s easy, it’s comfortable. The food, the people… it reminds me of India a lot.”

He breaks into earnest praise for Dubai’s multicultural fabric.

“This is the most multiracial place in the world where everybody lives like one family — eating together, progressing with peace and harmony. Lots of people from every ethnicity, all together under one roof. It’s phenomenal.”

Practically, Dubai also functions as what he calls the “CPU of the world.”

“It’s closer to India — three hours. You can go to London in seven hours, Europe in five, Morocco in five. Since I shifted here, anyone going from America to India stays with me. Anyone from India to London stays with me. It’s a great transit point.”

The return to where it began

For Singh, launching the tour from Dubai isn’t a marketing move — it’s a full-circle moment.

“I have the biggest story with Dubai. Not just travel — I lived here.”

From Bur Dubai hotel rooms to global stages, he’s carried the city with him. Now he wants to hand it back to the audience — chapter by chapter — starting February 6, 2026.

“Come know my story with Dubai.”