00:00BICHHDE ABHI TOH HUM BAS KAL PARSO
00:14JEEUNGE MAIN KAISE IS HAAL MEIN BARSO
00:30BICHHDE ABHI TOH HUM BAS KAL PARSO
00:34It's a very challenging journey, I'm not gonna lie.
00:36I'm not gonna paint a rosy picture here.
00:38It was actually very tough because
00:40firstly, you know, just knowing the ropes of the business, right?
00:43Like, how things work.
00:45For me, in the beginning, I thought it was a lot about talent.
00:47Just being talented was enough.
00:49But clearly that wasn't the case.
00:51I remember going to Bombay and it was so important for me to network.
00:55You know, more than...
00:56They're like, okay, you're talented, a lot of people can sing.
00:58There's thousands of others that can sing here.
01:00But the most important thing is meeting the right people,
01:02the right place at the right time.
01:04So that was key.
01:06I don't even like jalebis, I'm not gonna lie, okay?
01:08I don't relish jalebis.
01:11It just happened because I became a part of the song
01:14and the song became viral and exploded and it's trending.
01:18You know, this all happened very quickly.
01:21Again, during lockdown, actually.
01:23Prior to Diwali, three weeks prior to Diwali,
01:26a friend of mine was just mentioning to me that,
01:28hey, there's a fellow Canadian musician called Tesha
01:31who is doing pretty well.
01:33He has a song called Young Shah Rukh and you should just check out his works.
01:36And I was surprised I didn't know about him
01:37because usually in the music industry, we all know about each other
01:40and we're always on the lookout for great talent.
01:42So I felt a little ashamed.
01:43I'm like, no, I have to find out who Tesha is.
01:45So I went on Instagram, saw his work,
01:46I was like, oh, this guy does some cool stuff.
01:48So I wrote to him congratulating on his work
01:50and he was sweet enough, he wrote back to me saying,
01:52listen, actually, I just went through your works
01:55and I'm working on a project called Jalebi Baby
01:57and the kind of voice I'm looking for
01:59is very, very close to the kind of texture and tonality you have.
02:03So how about we just give this a shot?
02:05Can you just record Jalebi Baby and send it across to us?
02:08So literally, thanks to technology,
02:10I'm sitting here on this table and I'm just,
02:13you know, I put my microphones,
02:15it's like I have a setup,
02:16like I have my Logic Pro software and everything.
02:18So I just, you know, had my mic on, headphones on,
02:21I recorded it, I sent it across to him.
02:22He's like, we're using your vocals.
02:24And I was like, are you serious?
02:25Like something that's recorded in my dining room?
02:28Like, is that okay?
02:29And he was like, yeah.
02:30Welcome to COVID.
02:31He's like, yeah, this is how it's going to work.
02:33Unless COVID like, you know, gets better.
02:35This is how it's going to work.
02:36So three weeks later, I didn't even know,
02:39but a friend of mine basically brings it to my attention
02:42that this song is exploding on Instagram
02:44and I listened to it and my voice is on it.
02:46I remember I moved to Canada in my primitive,
02:48in my teenage years and that time
02:50there was a competition there when I was in school.
02:53It was like, there's a group called Sangam Kala Group
02:56that's based out of Delhi.
02:57It's a very, very well-known organization
02:59that's been there for years.
03:01In fact, they've discovered Sonu Nigam,
03:03Sunil Johan, Shreya Ghoshal.
03:04So they wanted to go international for the first time
03:07and they had a competition in North America.
03:10So contestants from Canada and US came together.
03:13And I remember my friends, my friends, my family didn't.
03:16My family was like,
03:17you don't have to go into the competition
03:18because my mom thought I was taking music
03:20a little too seriously.
03:21So she's like, nah, it's okay.
03:22Concentrate on your studies.
03:23My friends were like, no, you have to go.
03:25You have to compete.
03:26Who cares?
03:27Let's see how it turns out.
03:28Four month long competition.
03:29I won the competition with my rendition of Lambi Judai,
03:32this lovely song by Reshma Ji.
03:34And as they say, you know, the rest is history.
03:37I mean, for me, that's how it all started.
03:39Like my passion for music,
03:41somewhere I started thinking of it as a profession,
03:43as a career.
03:44I'm saying this with total humility and honesty
03:46that for me, my mentor so far has been Sonu Nigam Ji.
03:49Because, you know, it was amazing.
03:51Like I remember the first time,
03:52like he came across my work for a number of years.
03:55And the first time he actually shared my work
03:57was when I wrote my,
03:58when I had my original song released.
04:00It was called Rasiya.
04:01And he really liked it so much.
04:03Like I remember sending him an email
04:04and I didn't expect a response, you know,
04:06but he replied back with an entire like detailed response
04:09and what he loved about the song.
04:11And the next day I woke up to him sharing it on Facebook,
04:14on his personal page, on his fan page.
04:15It was being shared everywhere.
04:17So then I was in touch with him
04:18and then he called me to perform with him
04:20on tour in the US and in South America.
04:22So he's been like, you know, a constant mentor for me.
04:25Like anytime I have a question about music,
04:27how to practice, how to do my Riyaz,
04:29am I doing it the right way?
04:30Like I still send him voice notes,
04:31like, you know, a couple of months back
04:32I sent him a voice note asking him how it's sounding.
04:35So he's been my constant mentor.
04:48He's been a great mentor to me.
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