Singer-lyricist Jubin Nautiyal may have entered Bollywood with a firm classical foundation, but his television stints in X Factor , MTV Unplugged have expanded his listener base significantly. Jubin has grown strength to strength since his debut in Sonali Cable in 2014, a strong start that also opened gateways for his Telugu cinema entry. The musician has been in the news for his single HumnavaMere and Adbhutam from Raj Tarun's next, Lover .
“The songs that I do for films are close to my heart. Humnava Mere was a single that I also starred in, so the connection was deeper. I was introduced to the composition three years ago and it has grown on me ever since,” Jubin mentions. The singer's strengths are his emotive renditions, he's also particular about the instrumentation and soundscape of his numbers, precisely the reason the song took longer time than expected. Yet the effort has paid off in terms of numbers, 3.6 crore views within a month's span. Humnava Mere has music by Rocky-Shiv, a duo that had worked with Jubin for an earlier single too. “Bhushan Kumar's (of T-series) experience in selling music to the world was vital.”
Hits upon hits
All this talk of online hit-count and viral numbers don't get to Jubin. At the risk of sounding old-fashioned, he says that a quality song doesn't need extravagant promotion. Perhaps Jubin has a good reason for that statement.” India is a populated country, if there's a song out there, it is bound to pick up. all the calculation that we make of YouTube hits for videos comprises only about 10% of the country. YouTube is only one way to look at popularity. When there's a hit song and you hear it first, you know it inside. For me it doesn't matter if my song is promoted, or if it comes at the end credits of a film, it's my baby at the end of the day.” he adds.
Hindi films may not have explored Jubin's classical strengths, yet he's worked hard to find his own space and style. “I owe a lot to the industry that has introduced my voice to the country. I've been blessed to sing some of the biggest chartbusters over the years.”
How does he stay in touch with his roots? “It was getting difficult to manage initially, later I learnt this art of rebuilding myself with every song. I sing without baggage, forgetting everything and everyone else involved with it, that's why they mean so much and are intimate to me. I'm nothing, the song's nothing, we just build each other in the process. The only way to develop your talent is to build it inside you, how sincere you are to the art. Even your Godfathers can't control what you can possibly do on the stage.”
His face lights up while talking about his Telugu numbers, Sarrainodu and Ism being his other popular films here. “I work on the pronunciation first, underline the pauses, get to the meaning. I understand the language better now. I got to work on Adbhutam with a very good friend Tanishk Bagchi, we started our careers at the same time in Hindi cinema and communicate well with our music. I've been getting a lot of love for whatever little I've sung here. There's more to come,” he promises.
