Indian singer-songwriter Armaan Malik mesmerised audiences at the Nehru Centre in London over the weekend when he sang a few lines from his chart-topping hit ‘Pehla Pehla Pyaar’.
During a fireside chat at the Young Leaders Forum, which marked the launch of India Global Forum’s (IGF) UK-India Week 2023, the popular crooner covered a range of topics from dealing with social media hate by a simple “scroll the troll” approach and being on a mission to deliver that quintessential crossover Indian music track to the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creative world.
Malik said: “I don’t think you can replace human emotions and feeling what you’re writing about. The whole art of songwriting is sitting with a composer and producer and writing what you’re feeling. There are certain emotions that AI cannot replicate that composers put in a melody or songwriters can put in a few words.
“I would say a lot of people find inspiration to open a new tab, get into some stuff and get some lyric ideas… I just feel like it shouldn't replace the whole art of songwriting.”
On Indian music going to K-Pop way to fully burst on to the global stage, Malik said over the last few years his efforts have been towards that very pop journey.
“I've been singing in the Indian music industry for almost 15 years now. And I feel like the only next sensible step is to kind of take what I know and the kind of music that I do and take it global,” shared Malik.
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“That obviously is not possible unless and until the whole ecosystem gets behind India and Indian artists and wants that to happen. And, I think we have all the right players in the market and the energy and intention to try and make that happen. It’s just about the right time. And one of us is going to crack it, I hope I’m the one,” he laughed.
Asked for his tips for budding young popstars, the singer-songwriter stressed the best way is to first identify what exactly they are drawn to in music.
“Whether it's singing or whether it's picking up an instrument, or whether it's music production – because a lot of people want to be a producer today, which I think is very, very key to the music process. So, it's picking what you want to do or what you feel passionate about and finding the right way to kind of hone your skills in that department and become a master at it. I always believe that you have to be really, really amazing at what you do in order to stand out,” he said.
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