Opinion Express View on Arijit Singh: Singer number 3

Last week, Indian playback singer Arijit Singh became the third most followed artiste on Spotify with 82.8 million followers, surpassing, in the process, the likes of Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. Ed Sheeran tops the list followed by Ariana Grande whose music has, of late, acquired distinct political overtones.

Singh’s position in the global list seems to showcase the influence of Indian music, globally. The Hindi film song has travelled a long way, alluring many along the course. A few decades ago, playback singers were superstars of the Indian music industry. Songs were made especially for them. You were either a Rafi fan or a Kishore Kumar devotee or heard Lata Mangeshkar with a sense of reverence. In recent times, technology and the changed idioms of filmmaking have placed new demands before the Indian playback singer — the ability to produce hits seems to matter more than the auteur’s suitability for the song. Singh has numbers to his credit. But he also boasts of talent and versatility and a voice rooted in Hindustani classical music — a combination that enables him to strike a chord with a range of listeners.

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A country with a large internet-enabled population — and diaspora — is today increasingly tuning in to simplistic compositions that nurture no pretension of becoming great pieces of music. Singh’s singing prowess may be top-notch, but unlike the other artists on the list, he does not write his own music — composers and lyricists do that for him. And, the compositions he has been singing, of late, are becoming monotonous. One hopes that this numbers game — and the pride associated with it — does not become the main reason for creating music, at the cost of the art itself. Singh has the audience’s ears today. Let’s see if he can use that to make his art significant too.