Last year, when tabloid! spoke to Arijit Singh he dismissed a listing of him in Forbes India as 34th on its 2014 celebrity 100 list, saying it was a “fake” interview. You’d think another successful year would have made the bashful singer at least a little more vocal about his achievements. But winning a Filmfare Award for a “newer style of singing” for him or the fact that an Indian music streaming site has named him the most listened to performer, ahead of the likes of Justin Bieber and India’s most popular singer of all times, Lata Mangeshkar, had no effect. In fact he wasn’t aware of the latter till this time.
“OK I had no idea about that. This is news to me but now that I know, I think it really doesn’t make such a big difference. Things are getting global any way — Indian movies, Indian music, you call for anything in India and it’s going global. Of course, gaana.com is an Indian site. So, we get to listen to Indian songs more than English songs. I think it’s nothing really to be happy about,” the 28-year-old singer said.
It is hard to believe someone from whose lips lyrics fall fluidly would clam up at the mere mention of talking about himself. Yet, he took a few minutes last week to have a candid yet clipped chat with tabloid! ahead of his performance at the Dubai World Trade Centre on Friday, February 5.
Let’s first talk about the show this Friday. What can we expect after the successful show last year?
Umm, new songs, new perspectives…
You will be performing with the Grand Symphony Orchestra from London once again?
Yes. It’s fortunate that we started from Dubai and it has been a great journey [the last year]. So it’ll be, like, coming full circle. The sound will be a little ahead of what we started because obviously they’ve been getting better. And of course new songs, new excitement and new energy, you know?
Last month you won the Filmfare Award for ‘Sooraj Dooba Hai’ (Roy). You’ve also had other wonderful songs such as ‘Janam Janam’ and ‘Gerua’ (‘Dilwale’), ‘Judaii’ (‘Badlapur’), ‘Soch Na Sake’ (‘Airlift’) to name a few. Your next big number is ‘Tera Chehra’ in this week’s release ‘Sanam Teri Kasam’. So you’ve basically started off the year well. Tell us what can we expect from you this year?
If you ask me what’s new, musically I’ve been trying to push myself to different perspectives — how to sing differently and to understand what’s will be the next step. I’ve been singing one kind of genre for a long time but have always tried to push to new auras about picking new songs or the same kind of genre but trying to sing it differently, treating it differently. Even if I try to get involved in production, the arrangement — the process basically — the song becomes different and the preparation becomes different. So last year has been more or less a practice session for me. It’s like I’ve set a goal and have been practising and counting on my stopwatch.
What is this goal then?
The goal is to sound all the more cleaner, all the more soulful because hurdles are bigger, responsibilities are bigger. People have been liking my songs throughout and I’ve been only trying to pick the right songs. So that’s also been a task. I’ve done a couple of songs which are not up to the mark. So mentally I’ve set a goal that I should be more dynamic and try and push myself as much as I can.
So you mean to say we’ll hear a very different Arijit Singh this year?
Well, that can be possible because, you see, it’s always about good music. I’ve always tried to avoid electronic music in India because whatever songs I got in the genre I didn’t really enjoy singing them — I didn’t like the arrangements. But then you have Sooraj Dooba Hai, an electronic number, where I liked the arrangement, the composition. So me, Amaal [Malik, composer and playback singer], all the producers, made the decision to polish it and I think that’s worked, what with the song having won the Filmfare Award. I feel this is the only genre I need to explore more but, once again, only if I have the right arrangement will I make the effort.
Despite the fact you say “it’s nothing really to be happy about”, how much of a difference are music streaming sites making for the artist, especially in a place such as India?
I feel we are not ready, we do not have the infrastructure to do so. To produce an album here [in India] there’s still a lot more things involved right from its inception. We have the system but it’s actually corrupt. We do have people who are working hard at it and the moment the infrastructure is ready, not just me, there will be several singers and international music which will come up for sure.
So tell us which are your favourite songs?
I honestly don’t have answers to such questions. I have one favourite song and that’s Aayat from Bajirao Mastani.
Don’t miss it
Arijit Singh will perform on Friday, February 5, at Dubai World Trade Centre. Doors open 7.30pm, concert starts 9pm. Tickets start from Dh150. Call 055-9305882 or 055-4296883 or log on to platinumlist.net
