Musicians Shreya Ghoshal, Kumar Sanu, Anoushka Shankar, and Iman Chakraborty extended best wishes to singer Arijit Singh on Wednesday following the announcement of his retirement from playback singing — a development that caught not only fans but also his industry friends off guard.
“It’s the start of a new phase of @arijitsingh and I am truly excited to hear, listen and experience what this genius churns out!! I can never call this the end of an era. An artist of his calibre can never be defined by the traditional means and medium and be boxed in to fit in the set formula. Time to soar higher my dear Arijit,” wrote Shreya in the comments section of Arijit’s retirement post on Instagram, expressing admiration and support for his next chapter.
Shreya and Arijit have collaborated on songs like Ve Kamleya, Bahara Bahara, Shayad and Agar Tum Saath Ho.
While no clear reason for Arijit’s decision has been made public, there is chatter within music and movie circles that the announcement was made after some deliberation, with the singer wanting to step away from the Bollywood playback industry to completely and solely focus on making music on his own.
Showing respect towards Arijit’s decision, Iman Chakraborty said, “Love you Arijit. Respect for everything.”
Upon hearing the news, veteran playback singer Kumar Sanu expressed admiration for Arijit Singh, calling him a truly talented global star.
Standing in support of Arijit’s decision, Sonam Mohapatra took to Instagram and said, “So this choice? It’s brave. It’s generous. It’s disruptive in the best way. Big cheer to you Arijit. May this new road be full of joy, fulfillment and abundant creativity.”
Sitarist Anoushka Shankar reacted to the announcement with heart emoticons.
Echoing the same sentiment, actress Mimi Chakraborty wrote, “Fan girl.”
Arijit began shifting his base from Mumbai to his hometown Jiaganj in Murshidabad around 2021-2022. At that time, the pandemic was cited as a reason, as well as the passing of his mother. In the last few years, he has made Jiaganj his primary home, prioritising spending time with his family, setting up a home studio and enrolling his children in a local school.
He has, of course, been travelling to Mumbai — the singer maintains a residence there — honouring his playback singing commitments while also touring the world with his music.
Over the last few years, a number of prominent musicians have popped into Jiaganj to make music with Arijit on his home turf or simply to spend time with him. The most prominent among them was Ed Sheeran.
In February last year, Sheeran visited Jiaganj during his India tour. Even while the two — who had met at a concert in London and become good friends — jammed together in Arijit’s studio, a video of Sheeran riding pillion as Arijit drove him around the nooks and corners of Jiaganj quickly went viral.
Rapper Raja Kumari wrote, “The time has come,” while Rapper Badshah said, “Sadiyon mein ek (One in centuries).”
Armaan Malik, who has collaborated with Arijit Singh on several songs including Channa Mereya, Tum Hi Ho, shared, “The soul knows when it’s time to change direction. Here’s to the magic again, but I trust the current and the grace guiding it.”
Aly Goni said he finds it hard to come to terms with Arijit’s announcement.
Arijit Singh, a four-time Grammy Award winner, launched his independent label Oriyon Music in July 2020. His statement that he will keep creating music has given fans hope for more independent tracks.