Singer-songwriter Arijit Singh has dropped a devotional song on his YouTube channel days after announcing retirement from playback singing.

However, unlike what most independent musicians would ideally do, Arijit did not promote the track on social media, where he enjoys millions of followers.

The song, a Shiva bhajan dropped ahead of Shivaratri, is penned by lyricist Kumaar. And the music video, dropped on February 9, has already garnered over 1 lakh views on YouTube.

Following Arijit’s retirement from playback singing on January 27, the song titled Oh Shiv Mere is one of his first independent projects.

Sharing the music video on X, lyricist Kumaar wrote, “Thx u Arijit Singh for blessing this song with your divine voice (sic).”

Fans could not keep calm over Arijit lending his voice to the bhajan.

“Arijit Singh back to his kingdom,” one of them wrote. “Arjit Singh’s voice literally hits something different in this, the spirituality we feel in this is beyond the way we think,” another commented.

“Arijit Singh means something fresh and different every time,” came another comment. Several fans shared that Arijit Singh and Shivratri songs are a “rare combination”.

Oh Shiv Mere is composed by Mandeep Panghal, with guitar and strokes by Shomu Seal and Swastik Shubham. The chorus is sung by Piyush Ranjan , Sakshi Holkar, Sonam Pathak and Mandeep Panghal.

In his retirement announcement on January 27, Arijit said, “I want to thank you all for giving me so much love all these years as listeners. I am happy to announce that I am not gonna be taking any new assignments as a playback vocalist from now on. I am calling it off. It was a wonderful journey.”

His announcement came as a shock to his industry peers and fans who have been following his music for years.

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.