So you feature in so many music videos , you dance , your LIVE performances are on fire , your style quotient is always on point . All your videos are amazing but which video did you love the most being a part of ?
My favourite would be “ 4 AM ”. In general , with Na Na and 4 AM and my most recent single “ Chal Koi Na ”, there ’ s a very conscious effort being made to showcase myself in a way I have always wanted to . I was always focused on being a singer first , but I feel that in these recent videos , I ’ ve started to showcase my artistry in a more well rounded way and perform more . These last videos have been extra fun for me because I enjoy dancing . For 4 AM , we put in a lot of time and effort into nailing the choreography . Even the styling was a great fit for me personally .
You ’ ve sung in Tamil , Telugu , Hindi , Marathi , Gujarati , Kannada and Punjabi . How do you manage the diction , the pronunciations despite growing up in Canada ? Could you share some pro-tips for aspiring singers ?
The thing is , for diction , ear training is very important . This training comes in handy , so for anybody who is starting , pay attention to ear training . When I learned Western Classical , we did ear training specifically . We had to identify chords and notes with a chord . Things like that help you develop a sharper ear . That ’ s your best bet when it comes to diction ; you have to rely on listening and mimicking sounds . We can ’ t know all of the languages we sing in , so it ’ s a challenge ; but a really fun challenge , because I connect with the melody and the arrangement , more than just the lyrics . When I ’ m recording , I write down the translations for the lyrics , especially keywords if I need to know the meaning for specific words . I note the pronunciations to distinguish between the soft sounds and the hard sounds . The biggest piece of advice is to make sure somebody who is a native speaker of that language is present while you are recording and just leave your ego out the door and surrender to them . If they tell you it ’ s wrong , it ’ s wrong .
In an earlier interview , you ’ d spoken about how Bollywood songs have way more lyrics for the man as opposed to the woman . We would like to hear a little more about it . Do you think any changes have taken place ?
I do think some changes are happening . The issue I think was primarily because there were more films were male-centric , so that would lead to the songs being more male-centric as well since the songs cater to the film . Now , as non-film songs are becoming more prominent in the Indian music scene , I think that ’ s a great opportunity for more female-heavy songs to come to light . I am trying to take advantage of that too and put out more music that doesn ’ t rely on an actor to push it .
Over the last few years , we ’ ve seen a lot of remakes of yester-year hits , how challenging is it for today ’ s singers to do justice to these songs and yet deliver a fresh version ?
As somebody who does covers all the time , this is an interesting question . I just consider it as a fun challenge , to present a song that you know and love , that everybody also knows and loves , in a way that stays true to the original composition but also showcases your personality and creativity . It ’ s a very delicate balance that you need to achieve . Covers for me are always like a tribute , it ’ s challenging but with remakes the labels are doing now I don ’ t know if people care that much about staying true to the original , they just want to dance .
With remakes in general , I ’ ve never really been happy with the concept in film , mainly because Bollywood as a platform is so far-reaching . I ’ ve always felt there is so much great original music getting displaced .
What do you think about the digitalisation of music , about the marketing aspect of music ?
It ’ s overwhelming to be honest . For that reason , I try my best to keep myself focused on creating music rather than promoting it . Of course , when it comes to social media , I am very involved . I ’ m always striving to think of creative ways to introduce people to my music . But it ’ s a numbers game and quite frankly a money game , so it ’ s very intimidating . When YouTube was new , things used to go viral organically . Now it ’ s so hard to gauge what viral means . Repetition works though ; the more you hear something , the more it catches on . It ’ s impossible to keep track realistically of how well a song is actually doing , though I think streaming numbers are a more reliable way to figure it out of all the metrics .
Now , let ’ s talk about Jonita as a listener , what according to you makes a good song ? What do you like to listen to ?
There ’ s a lot that makes a song good , but honesty is extremely important . I am someone who listens to anything and everything and sings anything and everything . It ’ s as simple as do I feel it or not . It could be a very simple production of just a few layers but someone put their heart out there , or someone ’ s playing the violin and poured their heart into the song and I ’ ll love it . On the other hand , it could be a very well-orchestrated symphony piece but if it didn ’ t strike a chord with me , I may not like it . That ’ s the beauty and the curse of music : that it is so subjective .
The Score Magazine
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