Watch: Indian farmer sings Justin Bieber hits, video goes viral

Karnataka: An Indian farmer belonging to the state of Karnataka has become quite an icon in his village Hindasagatte.

He became an internet sensation for re-enacting English songs of various artists, and also treats people with a dance.

His latest gig, so to speak, in the village of Hindasagatte where he recently crooned Justin Bieber’s Baby has gone viral.

The Indian farmer cannot speak English well. But nothing goes amiss when he starts doing his little song and dance to English numbers.

Pradeep H.R. is a farmer from Hindasagatte village situated on the Huliyar road in Hiriyur taluk of Karnataka, India. He failed in the subject of English. But he is a sought after man from not just his village but other parts of the state for his entertaining song and dance performances.

According to Indian media reports, it was his failure in English language that pushed him to start singing the English numbers.

Today, singing pop music comes easily --- songs in English, Chinese and Japanese too for hours together. “I don’t know either Chinese or Japanese languages. But I listen to the songs in those languages repeatedly and follow the accent and tune. I always plug in earphones and constantly listen to songs whatever I am doing,” he told Indian media.

Pradeep has a Bachelors of Business Management (BBM) at Vedavathi College in Hiriyur, only to become a farmer upon his father’s request.

At first, the person shooting the video has to do some convincing to make the farmer sing the song Baby. Pradeep even goes to say, "don’t eat my head over this". But the videographer manages to convince him to sing the number.

No sooner does he begin, it is as if Pradeep is transformed into a whole new person. The phonetics, accent, body language, all in place. In the end, he even gives a punch like Bieber would do in his videos.

For the uninitiated, Baby is a song by Beiber, alongside rapper Ludacris. It was released as the lead single from the latter half of Bieber's debut album: My World 2.0. The track was written by Bieber with Christina Milian, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart (who worked with Bieber on a previous single "One Time"), and R&B singer The-Dream, and produced by the latter two.

The song was available for digital download on January 18, 2010. The song received airplay directly after release, officially impacting mainstream and rhythmic radio on January 26, 2010. The song is uptempo R&B, blending together dance-pop and hip-hop elements, while using influences of doo-wop music.

The song was a commercial success, peaking at number one in France and Scotland, and charting in the top ten of the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, Norway, Japan, Ireland, Hungary, Belgium (Flanders), Slovakia and New Zealand. The accompanying music video takes place in a mall/bowling-alley setting. The video features several cameos such as Drake, Lil Twist and Tinashe, in which Bieber chases after a girl. As of May 2013, the song has sold 3.9 million digital downloads in the United States.

The official music video is the 37th most-viewed video on YouTube and, as of November 2019, the second-most disliked YouTube video. It had been the most-viewed from July 12, 2010, when it surpassed the music video for "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, until November 24, 2012, when it was surpassed by the music video for "Gangnam Style" by Psy. Bieber performed the song several times, including Saturday Night Live, and the ninth season of American Idol. Bieber also performed an acoustic rendition of the remix version with Drake at the 2010 Juno Awards. The official remix in the United Kingdom features British hip-hop artist Chipmunk.

Meanwhile, according to Indian media reports, singing is just a hobby for Pradeep. His bread and butter comes from farming, growing vegetables and other crops.

Every morning he wakes up in the wee hours of the morning and goes to the farm along with his father, inspects the crop and takes up watering. While working on the field, he plugs in his earphones, listens to songs and sings as it is in the original track.

In a media report, Pradeep recalled the day his father scolded him for dancing in the field. “I get carried away when I start singing the songs of Justin Bieber, Michael Jackson, Nick Jonas and others. I don’t feel exhausted, even in the scorching sun. Whenever I am working, I listen to songs through my smart mobile. Sometimes I dance to the tunes unknowingly.”

“Thriller, Dangerous, History, Blood On the Dance Floor, Off the Wall are some of the songs which I can sing without the help of the smart phone,” he says. “Singing English songs has helped me to work better in the field — it creates a new space for enjoying whatever I am doing today,” says Pradeep.