Sona Mahapatra refuses to call Jasleen Royal a performer or artiste after her Coldplay performance: ‘Just because you made a video with Dulquer and got numbers…’

Sona Mohapatra blamed the corporates and labels for lacking foresight and judging an artiste's worth by the number of views and followers. She called Jasleen Royal's performance at Coldplay concert 'heartbreaking'.

By: Entertainment Desk

New Delhi | February 18, 2025 12:01 PM IST

3 min read

Sona Mahapatra slams Jasleen Royal. (Photo: Instagram)

Jasleen Royal was all over the news in January after her performance as the opening act for Coldplay’s Mumbai concert. The singer-songwriter’s performance was described as “offbeat” and “out of tune”. Several artistes like Vishal Dadlani reacted to her performance and called it “embarrassing.”

Now after all these days, Sona Mahapatra has reacted to her performance, refusing to call her an artiste or even a performer. In a conversation with Indie’N Folk Project, the singer said, “When the entire Jasleen controversy happened, and people said ‘she can’t sing’, it was all over the place. It was heartbreaking. It sounded terrible. It was such a huge stage and opportunity. It seemed like someone informed her last minute and there was no band or so, while in reality there were backing singers and a full-fledged band in place.”

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She said it was the lack of foresight by corporates and labels who decide an artiste’s worth by the number of views and followers. She said, “It is a lack of foresight and backing merit when it comes to corporates and labels. Maybe you are a good song writer, but it doesn’t mean that you are a good performer as well. Just because you have made a video with Dulquer (Salman), have received views… Corporates just see number of views. Does it mean you are a good performer? No. There are much worthier performers. If there was an actual system of merit, that artiste…” Sona paused to correct herself and took the word artiste back, she said, “no…” when the interviewer said the term “performer” for Jasleen, Sona refused that too and said, “no, that individual would never be on stage. The heartbreaking part is that the world caught it.”

She added, “It was a heartbreaking moment for all of us. We were not celebrating. I didn’t feel like, ‘If I was there I would have done better’, I was simply feeling bad. You can judge a person by the number of viewers. I don’t know what was the gauge by which she was chosen for it.”

Jasleen is known for songs like Din Shagna Da, Love You Zindagi, and Ranjha.

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