In the last few years, we have seen a lot of new trends emerge when it comes to music. Short format songs to remixes and remakes seem to be the most popular trend now, however, ace singer-composer Amit Trivedi feels that it will die down soon as listeners ‘need to consume proper stuff.’ In an exclusive chat with News18, the Love You Zindagi (Dear Zindagi) singer says that there was a phase when remixed songs had become the trend and even he had to do a couple of them due to producers’ demands but audiences are done with that now.
Trivedi, whose discography is marked by mostly original compositions, recently collaborated with Swanand Kirkire once again for R Balki’s film Chup. During our conversation, he also spoke about the song Gaya Gaya Gaya which he composed for the thriller and expressed his love and admiration for Balki.
Excerpts from the interview:
Tell us about the track and what went behind composing it.
This is a romantic track actually, Gaya Gaya Gaya and the film is a thriller-murder mystery. So in a genre like this, to have a romantic song was always a fun thing to do. I wouldn’t say challenging. It’s a nice thing to have a romantic song in a setup like this. So Balki sir (R Balki) gave us a brief and told us about the relationship between the two protagonists and accordingly we created a melody which has a little haunting-ness to it, a little dark side to it.
How was the experience of collaborating with R Balki once again?
I love Balki sir. He is one of the finest filmmakers and I have loved his films since Cheeni Kum. I did not know him then but as an audience, I had become a fan of him after watching that film and it was followed by Paa. When Balki sir called me for English Vinglish, I had a big fan moment. It was his wife’s project but he was involved and since then, I have gotten to know him closely. As a filmmaker he is great, but he’s even a better human being. We have another one coming up after this called Ghoomer. We are already working on that. I’m actually waiting for what’s next with Balki sir.
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When it comes to music, what is the industry trend right now?
Trends keep changing every 3-6 months. It is very volatile. The trend nowadays is all about short format. Because we have Instagram reels, we have YouTube shorts. And most of the time I’ve observed people consuming the short content more than anything. So the 60 seconds-90 seconds of short format is the big thing. People keep scrolling on reels left right and centre so that’s a new trend I see. And I have recently heard that Instagram has signed up some 70 odd artists to create original songs that are one minute long. So from the 1950s and 60s or 40s we had three-five ‘antaras’ in a song, it’s come down to two ‘antaras’ and when I came, it came down to one antara and now we have shortened it to one minute. I don’t know whether it is a trend or a fad, but it is popular now. But I don’t think this trend is going to stay for too long because people need to consume proper stuff.
While writing songs, how much do you have to bow down to industry expectations and how much creative liberty do you get?
That happens a lot, that is the norm in the industry. Because you have been commissioned by the people, you have been paid by the people to do the job for them. I’m servicing the cinema, which is been produced by someone who is putting in their money and their vision. So I’m coming on board to service that. When I do that, it’s my duty and my job to listen to what they want. We do have to work as a team.
But sometimes it gets too much, it gets too interfering. A lot of people have a lot of things to say and it becomes a khichdi sometimes. I feel the best practice is when a composer, lyricist, and director jam together. That’s when the magic happens. When we have three different brains thinking on the same wavelength, magic does happen. Then yes, as more people join in, it becomes a little difficult.
Nowadays, audiences also have this complaint that Bollywood is mainly focusing on remixes and remakes, and it is somewhere losing its originality. Where do you stand on this?
I can’t say much about the general trend but as far as my work is concerned, the majority of the films I have done are all original. There were certain songs that I had to remake because the trend was going on and there was pressure from the producers and the label because it was a trend going on at that time. And that was a fad. I am talking about remix songs, not films. There was that phase from 2018-2021 where it was at its peak. So even I did some remixes because I did not know what to do as there was pressure from the producers. But now it is over, we are done with it. Even audiences are done with it and we are going in the original route. Chup is all original, and Goodbye (Amitabh Bachchan’s film), which is upcoming, is all original. A lot of films have come in this year from Laal Singh Chaddha, Brahmastra, Jayeshbhai Jordaar and Samrat Prithviraj and they all had original songs.
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