ARMAAN MALIK: IT’S BEEN TOUGH TO FIND MOTIVATION TO MAKE SONGS AMID COVID
The singer reveals how music has helped him divert his mind from all the anxiety and agony around, and stay afloat in these difficult times
The covid-19 outbreak has impacted all of us. Many lost their loved ones, and some even lost their jobs amid the ongoing pandemic. Striving to move forward with courage in these hard times has definitely become difficult. Singersongwriter Armaan Malik feels the same.
In a conversation with the Cinema Journal, the 25-year-old opened up on how he has been coping with Covid-19 as an artiste.
“It’s been very tough to find inspiration at a time when you hear only about someone passing away, someone being admitted to a hospital. There’s no one who has not faced losses/ sufferings in this pandemic...so how can I get motivation to write songs amid such stressful times. Honestly speaking, my mood fluctuates a lot currently. Sometimes I don't feel like working at all while there have been days when I feel like being productive. Every day I can’t just sit and say let’s create music. I can’t ignore what’s been happening around us and all such bad news make me anxious. So, I take my own time and don’t try to be hard on myself,” he shared.
Armaan also urged everyone to not pressurise themselves to be productive all the time amid the ongoing health crisis. “Many people think that because they are home right now, they have to be productive all the time. But I don’t think the same. I feel it’s okay to sit and do nothing. It’s absolutely okay to have a break and relax. It’s not easy to be productive when we are going through a traumatic experience. People are now struggling to stay alive... so why to take this extra pressure of being productive.
“There’s so much that is dragging us down mentally. It’s absolutely not necessary to take this pressure of being productive. Do one thing at a time and even if we are able to do one project properly, then that is also a blessing,” he emphasised.
However, the BolDoNaZara singer feels grateful that he has his music to divert his mind from anxiety and agony.
“Musicians have a big role in adding calmness to people’s life – especially in Covid times. In fact, I have seen music therapy being used at several hospitals to help Covid-19 patients recover. I must say that music has an incredible power of healing. It has surely become a therapeutic companion in the times of Covid-19. The major income of singers comes from concerts and events, which are not currently happening. The only thing we can now do is investing our time on creating beautiful songs for people out there. People need such healing...so I am also trying my best to create relatable songs for people. It’s difficult to work but music not only makes me happy but millions of people out there too...so, I am trying to create music whenever I can,” he said.
Speaking of music, Armaan recently came up with his new English track, Echo. It’s a collaborative track, wherein Armaan joined hands with Korean-American artiste Eric Nam and Indian-American DJ KSHMR.
“It took almost 8-9 months to come up with this song. It was not easy to coordinate with the two others virtually. We all three recorded the song while living in three different countries. I shot my part of the music video here in India. Eric and KSHMR shot their portions in LA. We then sent each other our portions of the video through e-mails. We virtually edited everything. I thank the whole team to work tirelessly for this song.”
“Luckily, the major work on the song was done before Covid...so we did not face much challenges. I met KSHMR when I was in LA for the filming of my song Control. I went to his studio and we jammed on a lot of songs...while jamming Echo came out and since then we started working on it,” he shared.
After enthralling fans with his debut English song, Control, last year, Armaan has been consistently working on English songs. Asked if exploring different languages a conscious decision, he agreed and said: “I believe in versatility. I don’t want to restrict myself...so that’s why I am exploring different languages, different cultures. Music has no boundaries... so why to create boundaries around you? I feel claustrophobic if I stay in one atmosphere for a long time. I like changes as well as challenges. You never know I might come out with Spanish, Korean songs tomorrow or I might do an aerobics-based song.”
Not only Hindi and English, Armaan has sung over 50 songs in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi, Malayalam and so far. His Telgu song, ButtaBomma was a major hit
“I want people to get instantly connected to my songs. If I go to any concert, then I want my fans to understand what I am singing. If I go to Bengal, I would like to converse with people there in Bengali...if I go to Tamil Nadu, I would like to sing there in Tamil. People love versatility,” he concluded.