Jay Talking

Londoners might not know Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, but mention Jay Sean and everyone with a little bit of rhythm and some blues in the soul will hum Ride it...

While his single Ride it climbs up the charts and wins awards in London, singer Jay Sean travels to Delhi to belt out some rhythm 8217;n8217; blues

Londoners might not know Kamaljit Singh Jhooti, but mention Jay Sean and everyone with a little bit of rhythm and some blues in the soul will hum Ride it, the hit single that is riding up the charts and winning awards. At his recent Mumbai act, the British-Asian singer, however, nonchalantly threw in a bit of rap in his otherwise melodic pop R038;B. Oh, that was just for fun, he laughed. Expect something similar when the 27-year-old performs today at Elevate in Noida, as part of Ray-Ban VH1 Global Music Xpress.

8220;The set list is a mix of my old songs and new ones. But what I love doing is to add something that people have not seen me do before, like rapping,8221; smiles Jay Sean, who debuted with Rishi Rich and Juggy D in Dance with you in 2003 and went on to belt out hits such as Eyes on you. 8220;Rishi Rich and Juggy D are good friends and it was a wonderful experience, but we all have moved onto our solo projects and are happy for each other8217;s accomplishments,8221; he says.

So when Jay Sean released his latest album, My Own Way, whose track Ride it has won the 2008 UK Asian Music Awards for Best Video and Best Urban Act, he did it under his own label 2Point9/Jayded. 8220;When someone else is putting money on you, it gets frustrating after a point when a lot of what you do is decided by them. So I trusted my instincts and 2Point9/Jayded was born,8221; he says. He is the only artist his label has signed on till now, but he says with relief that he is flooded with demos.

After a brief interaction with Bollywood 8212; his track Dil mera was part of Kya Kool Hai Hum while actor Bipasha Basu appeared for his song Stolen 8212; he is ready for more and is in talks with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. 8220;I8217;m a huge Bollywood fan. I love the way the films offer everything 8212; emotions and comedy and music. I am really look forward to working with the SEL trio,8221; says Jay Sean, who wants to bring here his experience of the West.

But how did Kamaljit Singh Jhooti become Jay Sean? 8220;Well Jay comes from my last name Jhooti and my grandmother used to call me shaan which is where Sean comes from,8221; he laughs. That is a little bit of West in his name as well.