The last time we heard a Darshan Raval album was in 2019, when the popular singer had come out with his first album Judaiyaan, a harmonic mix of catchy melodies tethering to the universal emotions of love, betrayal, heartbreak and more. After a slew of hit singles as well as chartbuster playback songs, Darshan will be releasing his second album soon, one which he has titled Dard and which speaks of his journey and emotions. The first single from the LP ‘Mahiya Jinne Sohna’ already climbed its way on the Indie music charts and now the singer is excited to bring the whole album for the public.
Darshan Raval spoke with News18 Showsha exclusively about Dard, what it stands for, how it will resonate with people, his recent absentism in the Bollywood scene, the remix culture, his reaction to Pasoori Nu(remake of Pasoori and more. Here are the excerpts:
How do you feel about the reception of Mahiye Jinne Sohna?
I feel good. It’s a great start to the album because it’s part of my album called Dard. It’s second album after Covid. First was Judaiyan. As the name suggests ‘Dard’, it is going to be
very Dardful. So I wanted to start on a very lighter note because I feel the journey of ‘dard’ starts with love. That is what Jinne Sohna. When you are in love, you don’t see anything else. Our world revolves around love. So I wanted to make a very universal song that you can sing it for anyone. You can sing it for your kid, your siblings, your parents. So it was a universal love song that I wanted to make and I am very happy that the people are loving it, making reels on it, listening to it on loop.
The song is a part of a bigger album called Dard that will eventually be released this month. What is this album about and what kind of songs we would get to hear in this?
Dard is me emptying myself in an album. Because I think that’s what albums are about. An artist gives voice to his feelings that has been brewing inside him for a long period of time. He forms a melody and portrays that in an album. Since my first album, I learnt a lot of things and been through a lot of experiences, ups and downs. All those emotions together, I just curated it in an album. That’s what it is going to be about. What I felt and now after the album, I’ll be on a new journey again finding myself, meeting new people, experiencing new things, making new memories and then going forward. I think Dard as an album has a lot of varieties to give. It is Dard but it is not just a compilation of sad songs together. There are so many different shades of pain. There is one song which is extremely sad but completely upbeat. The moment you hear the beat, you would want to dance but when you’ll hear the lyrics, you’ll find it extremely sad. Then there is another song that is so mature that people have to hear it thrice in order to feel
the depth of it.
Like Mahiye Jinne Sohna, you collaborated with Youngveer. What other collaborations do we get to see in the coming songs?
There are going to be collaborations but right now I don’t want to reveal them because people don’t know what they are going to listen to. I have shared a very small glimpse of the whole album. In a family, the youngest kid is what I equate it to Mahiye Jinna Sona. There are some really chartbuster songs that are yet to come which are completely my space, where every word, every emotion will impact the listeners.
Yungveer has been always amazing. He’s been making tides and I am sure he is going to be a star after this album. Because of the way he has written, it is very bold, very sharp and very simple and relatable. It’s not like he has used complicated words to sound cool and yet so meaningful. It’s poetry that will stay with you for a very long time. It’s what I feel as a listener and the rest I leave on the audience. But I am sure I share the same music taste as my fans. Anyway, I had already done a song with Youngveer called Ek Tarfa which was a very sharp song with sharp lyrics. You’ll see a very different side of Youngveer in this entire album. Also the album is produced by a very close friend of mine Lijo George. They’ve worked day and night on this album.
How’s life changed for you between Judaiyaan and Dard? Since there is a gap of three years between these albums? How’s your musical sensibility evolved ever since?
The music changes every three months since it’s a trend. But the melody itself has no trend. Melody come from the heart and there is no such thing like an old melody or a new melody. The biggest example is, all the remixes that you hear are from the 80s, 90s and 70s. People are still making superhit songs through remixes since the melody at the time of it’s inception was beautiful and otherworldly. As for music, the trend keeps changing and my job is to make great melodies which I don’t consciously make. I have said this before but it comes to me. And I feel it’s a gift from God. I am just a medium for that melody. So if someone asks me how I create melodies, I won’t have an answer for that. I can tell them how music is made but in the context of the origin of a certain melody, I think it’s a magical process and no other composers can explain that.
When you are creating new music independently, how tough or challenging is it for you to keep reinventing yourself by introducing something new in your sound?
Creating singles have become very difficult now. Because musically, you have to follow the latest trend. It has to be very relatable that people feel comfortable evolving themselves in the music. Because it’s not just the audio that people listen to. Now a song gets picked up on the reel and then it becomes popular. So if we as a creator don’t change ourselves, nobody will listen to us. But for the album, these thought processes were non-existent. I keep doing singles but for an album, we devote ourselves completely to it. We don’t even ponder about whether we are making a commerical album or not.
This album is about what I have been, what I have felt and how I am pursuing my music.
Now you are not just a singer. You keep doing live shows. Then you have Bollywood commitments and then you have your independent catalogue of music and then you also have to make music videos. Doesn’t all of it get daunting and exhausting after a point? How do you deal with it.
It’s get very difficult at times. I say this a thousand times that I want to do this and I love doing this. But then there are times when my body doesn’t support me. There was a time when I hadn’t slept properly for one and a half months. It was just two three hours of sleeping and then travelling again and then coming back and doing the studio work. So there is an emotional breakdown, mental breakdown that comes to you which is very difficult to face because
people are not aware of it. People just see me on the stage performing at multiple avenues but eventually it takes a toll on you. I think that also happened while I was creating this album. But I am lucky that when I am on social media and there’s so much love for me and there’s so much of prayers and blessings for me, and my friends and family have been a constant support for me, so I take a little time for myself. I calm myself down and I remind myself that nobody is forcing me to do this. I do it because I love it. I just need some good sleep, a little time with myself, some good food and then I am back on the track. Social media can be a little hard on you sometimes but I am lucky to have people who love me. That’s my real earning. That’s why I want to give it all to the people.
Speaking of Bollywood, we haven’t heard your songs since Tadap. What’s the reason behind that? Is it because the songs that are being offered to you are not of your liking or is there another reason?
There are tons and tons of songs. People wonder why I am not singing in Bollywood or why Bollywood isn’t giving me any opportunities. But the reality is, there are a lot of opportunities. We make independent songs and we get love for that because we’ve made this ourselves and we’ve gotten involved in the whole process with utmost honesty and dedication. Many songs that are released are hard to understand and they don’t look good. Earlier, the composer used to a create a song with a singer in mind. But now you cannot make anyone sing in any range. Also, I am not pursuing Bollywood as a career because I am a singer-songwriter. I am doing music because I wanted to do music. I do sing for the people that I genuinely like. I sing a lot of songs for Pritam Da. I sing for Rochak Kohli. So whatever songs I do sing in the commerical space, it’s for my friends.
Also, the working style of Bollywood is very different. You are asked to come, you are asked to sing and record a song. But you don’t know which other singers are singing that song too and in whose voice it’ll eventually release. So that’s a struggle that I don’t want to go into because I am happy. I have a fan base and it’s a bigger audience that what Bollywood has. It’s not like I don’t want to sing for Bollywood but only for my friends and composers who invite and only If I like the song. But there are so many songs that were not made for me and I don’t want to sing just for the sake of singing.
Considering your popularity, I am sure you must have been approached a lot for singing remixes. But you’ve steered clear from that genre of music. What are your thoughts on that? And whether this culture is harming the sanctity of Bollywood music?
Abhi dimag kharab hogaya hai. It’s too much now. My statements were very different before two-three years because the songs were becoming a hit and people were listening to them. But now they are not becoming hits. Now remixes are not working that much and still people are churning them out. So I feel there has to be a stop because new and original songs won’t be composed until then. When everybody in the industry will take a step down that we are not doing remixes anymore, only then we’ll get to hear something fresh. Paani ka ghada bhar chuka hai, sabko rok dena chahiye. I have also done ‘Ek Ladki Ko Dekha’. It’s not like I haven’t done. Every singer artist has done it but it was a trend then. The trend is gone now. It’s been overdone.
On similar lines, a remake of Pasoori was released that was recreated by your friend Rochak Kohli. What are your thoughts on that?
My friends have worked on Pasoori Nu, both musically and lyrically. And it has been sung by my favourite singer Arijit Singh. So what can I say about it now? At the end of the day it’s the producer’s call. But I would want ki ye bas ye ho jaaye abhi. My personal opinion is… Biggest singer of India has sung it and Rochak Kohli is a fantastic composer, the lyricist is one of my favourites. So I cannot ask them why are they doing this? But I feel this as a trend should stop. It’s a fantastic version and you would like to listen to Arijit and you’ll naturally love it. But as a trend if it stops, we’ll get to hear more creative songs. We have listened to numerous original songs from Rochak Kohli that are chartbusters so there is no doubt regarding his creative talent. I am sure all the recreations are not the composer’s idea. Recreations come from the producers and the directors. And we are creators, we create for people.
You’ve been able to survive and sustain yourself in the music industry for over a decade now. Considering that there is a monopoly in the music industry as well, how difficult and challenging has it been for you to stay afloat and in the eyes of the public?
People who say there is a monopoly, there might be but if you are talented, it doesn’t matter. Monopoly is excerised by the listeners. If people listen to you, you are everything. If they don’t, you’re nothing. For an artist, one hit wonder phenomenon is very dangerous. Because it can happen that any one song of an artist became a hit because of the fluke or perhaps because of the two lines from it’s lyrics. And then people start expecting a lot from you after one song. So it becomes very difficult for the artist because it’s not their fault.
Some artists persevere after that, others don’t. Like they say, climbing a staircase one step at a time is easy. If you climb it in one go, life doesn’t guarantee you whether you’ll be able to do that again. It’s a constant hardwork that you have to put into.
You definitely have attained a stardom that is unparalleled but from what I have noticed, you’ve manage to stay grounded and humble. How are you able to do that? Also, at any given point of time, did you ever feel narcissistic about your stardom?
When you are calling me a star, I am wondering whether there is even such a thing as stardom connoted to me. I don’t think about it and nobody should think about it that way. But when I go on stage, when I have mic in my hand, then I am a star. In that moment, I am not going to act like I am not because there are 15,000 people in that concert to see me. It’s the stage that has made me the star. It’s the people who have made me the star. But once I am off the stage, I am just a creator. I am a normal person
who carries on with his day to day. So I had seperated the two a long time ago. One who is a star and who goes on stage and the other person who leads a noraml life like everyone else. And I am blessed that sk mang people take out time for me. We find it hard to give our five minutes for someone else but people are giving me their time and love, I am thankful for them.
How do see the independent music industry shaping up?
Independent music is going to grow at a maddening pace from this point.
Because people would always want to listen to orignal songs. And now because of so many platforms growing, the landscape has change. Before it was like what we’ll make you listen, you have to listen to that only. But now the audience has the choice. Just like OTT and cinema. So this is the best time for new upcoming artists to come in because before there was a notion that if you are a small artist, you won’t be heard. And if you are a big artist, everyone will listen to them. So that divide has also disappeared. For example, if I make a bad song tomorrow, nobody is going to listen to it. On the other hand, someone from a small village, if he creates a brilliant song then people will listen to them. It’s the lower of a creator and it will reach to people because of the platforms.
