How much has life changed for Sonu after three smashing pop albums?
Nothing, absolutely nothing! Work wise I had been extremely busy even before Kismat happened and I am equally busy now as well. The only change is that now more people know me, recognize me for what I am a singer who can dance a bit as well.
Talking about dancing, you appeared as a star dancer in ‘Tu’ and ‘Bijuria’. See those who have been to my concerts know that I am an aggressive performer while on stage. It was just that my pop albums acted as a channel for me to showcase this talent of dancing to the masses on screen as well. ‘Tu’ and ‘Bijuria’ were my displays that I have
been showing on stage for a long time. So for me it was nothing new but for people yes, Sonu Nigam had a new image.
Did this new image help Mausam to do well? What went wrong?
Mausam for me remains as the best effort I have ever put in my work. Sales wise it did disappoint me, but to be frank, when I started work on the album, somewhere deep in the bottom of my heart I knew it was too ahead of it’s time. Basically there were two reasons why Mausam did not click with the masses - one the marketing wasn’t up to the mark, and
two as I said, the album was too early in time. I over-expected from the Indian listeners by when the listener sits to listen to an album, he wants to stick to one mood say pop or rock or bhangra or ballad or folk. I tried giving all in one and that’s where I made a mistake.
But then ‘Deewana’ brought you back on track. What led to its success?
Deewana was actually made whilst I was still contracted to Magnasound. So it wasn’t possible for me to interfere a lot in the album and I just did the playback and that was the reason I did not even appear in the videos. Expectations from Deewana were totally low for me after the disaster I had to face with Mausam. I was really frightened of the audiences
since I felt if my best effort failed, what would work? But Indian listeners cannot be studied. You never know what will work and what will fail with them. So I just gave my best for Deewana and left it only to find that it became the second largest selling album after Altaf Raja’s Tum To Thehre Pardesi!
Tell us a bit about your latest album Jaan.
Jaan again is on the lines of Deewana, the only difference being I have appeared in the music videos here. I haven’t interfered a lot again, because I was confident that people at T-Series, especially Bhushan Kumar and music directors Nikhil Vinay would do a great job, which they have done. To describe the album - it is an undercurrent of love and passion.
During Mausam deep in my heart I knew it was too much for the Indian audiences but for Jaan I am very confident and positive about its outcome.
Does your playback career have any influence on your pop singing as well?
I would say this doesn’t happen to me since I am a singer. I sing whatever songs that come to me, and since I have done a whole lot of versions, devotionals, film songs and pop as well, I know how to adjust my voice. But singing means singing for me, be it anything. Yes, for pop albums there is a bit of freedom which the artist enjoys. He can experiment and try
to give the listener what he thinks is right for his voice. If it clicks its great but if it fails hard luck. With Kismat and Mausam I worked a lot on their concept. But with Deewana and Jaan, I have played a role more of a playback singer than anyone else.
After four successful albums, where is Sonu heading for next?
I want to bring out an album on the lines of Mausam, but this time I will be more cautious, as now I know what mistakes I made earlier. Besides that my playback singing continues with a lot many offers now. I think I should be out with another album in another three-four months.
