Song: Ulaviravu
Composer: Karthik
Why sing when you can whisper? Karthik gets into the Gautham Menon mood pretty soon in the song, with the almost-silent ‘En Kannai Nee Parpaaya’ line before he launches himself into a spirited, full-of-heart ‘Kadhalai’. The guitar is almost a backing vocal in this song that has been tuned and sung by the singer himself.
The entire song gets summed up in one line that possibly indicates Gautham’s pitch to lyricist Karky, which would have been on the lines of: Is technology coming in the way of today’s love? Karky rises up to the challenge, with the words ‘Kaipesi Veesi, Nam Kaiveesi Sella’ that is aptly picturised with the male lead (Tovino) throwing his love interest’s phone into a swimming pool, and following it up with a neat dance step. When it comes to picturising love, you don’t have to look beyond Gautham Menon.
Song: High on Love
Composer: Yuvan Shankar Raja
The re’s an unmistakable Yuvan sound — the one that we’re so used to in hit tracks in Chennai 600028, Mankatha and Siva Manasula Sakthi — in ‘High on Love’ ( Pyaar Prema Kaadhal ). The opening violin symphony. The sleep-deprived kind of voice. The clang.
Yuvan teams up with Sid Sriram for the first time, a combination that we’d certainly like to hear more often. But ‘High on Love’ sounds like something that Yuvan himself ought to have sung, considering his success ratio with similar-style numbers.
Notice the steep shift in song structure as the number effortlessly progresses from a melody to the faster, fist-pumping ‘Jannal Oram’ line. Somewhere there is the Yuvan signature Tamil film audiences have been missing for a while.
Song: Julie
Composer: Anirudh
An Anirudh-Vignesh Shivan love song has become as synonymous with Valentine’s day as chocolates and roses. Following the tradition of songs such as ‘Enekenna Yaarum Illaye’ (2015), ‘Avalukena’ (2016) and ‘Onnume Aagala’ (2017)is this year’s earworm ‘Julie’, which talks about a rather unusual love story — that between Julie, a dog, and her human.
It’s also a departure from last year’s ‘Onnume Aagala’, as we return to Anirudh’s voice pining for love (an old Yuvan Shankar Raja trademark). The jazzy composition (which manages to incorporate a dog’s bark too) works best as Anirudh rocks the lines ‘Maane Thene Ponmaane... Pogathadi Kalaimaane’. ‘Julie’ is as likeable as it is hummable and its deserving of extra points for making a song that’s as much for ‘animal lovers’ as it is for lovers.
Song: Kaadhal
Composer: AH Kaashif
Even before one listens to AH Kaashif’s song Kaadhal , it’s advisable to first listen to the young composer’s extremely underrated love song ‘Kannaley’ from Valentine’s Day, two years ago. Sung beautifully by Javed Ali and Sharanya Srinivas, ‘Kannaley’ was instantly catchy, but it also had the soul to make the listener go back to it from time to time.
This year’s Kaadhal features the voices of two heavyweights, Sid Sriram and Jonita Gandhi. The song comes to its own when Sid Sriram takes over and with it, we get a break-up song that retains the soul that’s a part of all of this composer’s works. It would be interesting to see Kaashif work in a film, especially its background score.
