Armaan Malik breaking boundaries

The concept of an Indian pop star has been foreign for long. Then came Armaan Malik. The now 27-year-old singer has had a career trajectory that is different than most Indian musicians, boldly forging ahead with a string of hits and global collaborations. Ahead of his new Spotify single, Tu/You, we caught up with the mellifluous singer.

Tu/You is the Hindi version of Malik’s latest English single, You, which has already created waves on social media and streaming services. “I have always wanted to put this version out, it’s something that is very close to my heart. It is one of those songs that have done wonderfully well for me as an English pop single and I wanted to bring it back a little closer home with a Hindi version.”

While different versions of the same song can reach out to a wider audience, it also brings with it certain concerns, “It’s definitely trying to emote the same emotions as the original one, but it’s not an exact translation of the English words. It’s keeping the essence alive. Yes, we did keep a few things in mind. I didn’t want anyone to be alienated from the original version, because when you hear something for a very long time, and when a new version of that song comes up, a lot of people end up feeling disappointed, because they have so many expectations. So, it was super crucial for me as the artiste and the singer of the song to make sure that the new version was completely in the same world as the original in terms of the essence.”

Lyricist Kunal Verma worked on the lyrics for Tu/You, whose work Armaan praised because efforts to preserve emotions across versions takes nuance, “The thing with these kinds of songs is that it is crucial to use common words that we all use in day-to-day life, and not ones that would go over people’s head. Once you click on that level, I think the job becomes easier. So, I feel from that standpoint, we have focused on making sure that this new version feels like the same family as the original and yet it has its own new flavour.”

An Indian guy doing English pop music

When Spotify finally launched in India in 2019, it was a relief for Indian music fans. With its wide accessibility, and easy usability, it is undoubtedly, a top choice when it comes to listening as well as discovering music. It is indeed rare for an English song by an Indian artist to do as well as You has done (it currently has almost 12m streams on Spotify) although global artistes doing the same get more fanfare and love in India.

With You breaking such barriers, Malik is glad to associate with Spotify to bring the new version, “When the English song was created, I knew I had to make a Hindi version. It just felt right. So, I created it, but we never knew how to release it or what to do with it. And finally, we all kind of like came together. The teams at Spotify and my team and I, we sat together and we heard the song again and it just brought back a lot of memories, a lot of feelings from the original You.

“My association with Spotify has been really something that’s been so strong since day one. They’ve supported all my songs and all my records right from Control, which was my debut single in English and up until now, when we’re actually doing a single together.”

While fans are an important part of creation, Malik also believes that it is important to do things for oneself: “A lot of my listeners, who listen to me in Bollywood songs and Bollywood movies, it took some time for them to adjust to the fact that I was also doing something like this. When you have a habit of listening to an artiste in a certain kind of way, and they disrupt it to do something very different, it’s very tough to immediately warm up to it. So, I think the last two years have gone into me… first, educating my own listeners that this is something that I love doing and this is a side of me that I wanted to introduce for a very long time. So, hop on this bus and come on this journey with me. The second angle to it was that it was an Indian guy doing English pop music. I want my music and my voice and my artistry to go beyond the boundaries of my country and to listeners in different pockets of the world that listen to English pop music, and probably haven’t heard English pop music from an Indian artiste before.” On being asked of his thoughts on the current Indian music scene, especially after the pandemic, Armaan speaks of the rising Indie scene and Punjabi pop scene and is glad for the growth of the various branches of music.

‘Juggling between genres’

Speaking of his own various endeavours, he says it is a “good problem” to have his “hands and legs” in different pockets and industries. “As an artiste, I’m constantly juggling between genres, languages, trying to figure it out. I think it’s a beautiful situation, trying to find your own space where you can sort of enjoy everything. And honestly a lot of people want to put you in a box — about where you going, this is what you should do, this is what works for you. And I’m like, I don’t know what works for me. I want to try everything and see what all of it is and have fun doing so.”

The Recording Academy’s Global Spin segment, recently featured their first Indian artiste, Armaan Malik. Additionally, his latest international collaboration includes a remix of Ed Sheeran’s 2Step, where the singer-songwriter was glad to have complete creative freedom. In a country whose “music industry” is largely seen as a by-product of its staggering film industry, Malik wants to do “Indian pop music the right way.”

“I’m glad that I get to do such projects where I get to show a different side of mine which I know exists, but not a lot of people have utilised that or made good use of it. Up until a few years ago, the only way I could get my voice out was through film songs. When an independent wave started, that’s when we all started doing singles and music videos and stuff. But up until then it was just you going into a recording studio, a composer gives you a song to sing. And when I had sung tracks like Bol do na zara, everyone came running and giving me the same kind of songs and it’s not that it got boring after a point, it’s just that I wanted to do more because I had more in me. And I just wanted to explore that that artistry and present it to my fans who probably never thought that I would do something like this. So, I’m glad that as an artiste, I’ve been able to do all these different things and show my artistry and expand my horizons.”

A believer in breaking down doors, not only for oneself but for the collective, Armaan Malik is then, certainly a force and figure to look out for. His smooth and soulful croon has long established him as one of India’s most recognisable voices, especially of the youth and now, he is keen to go above and beyond. “Honestly, I’m the kind of guy who doesn’t like being in a box or like anyone defining me as an artiste. That’s not something that I ever wanted to be. I want to break boundaries. So, for me, it’s about doing things that I’ve never done before and going above my own expectations because sometimes we also limit ourselves in addition to other people limiting us. So, as an artiste I have I don’t want to put any stops on at all.”