The year in Music

A lot happened in the year gone by. Music-wise, it was like any other, in Bollywood. 

Trends that began last year continued into this one and will probably continue into the next — the recycling of old songs to suit modern tastes, party tracks that are essentially Funjabi in essence, singer-composers being content putting out their one-hit wonders (the term is used here, in a positive sense). 

But the big guns — the composers and singers who rocked over the last 15 years — took their breaks and newcomers filled those gaps, some successfully and some not so much.

There were big comebacks and big, big fails. Big albums and loud soundtracks. Bollywood ruled, as  usual. But the delivery systems have changed. The way people now consume music and the way it is now promoted has changed. Singles — especially non-film ones — are now being aggressively marketed and promoted by labels with musicians and singers finding their niche in ways nobody imagined. Here’s looking at 2015 in Hindi music...

BIG IN 2015
SINGERS: Musically, Arijit Singh had the strongest year with hits peppered throughout the year. Divya Kumar, too, went from strength to strength, with one hit after another, right from Badlapur’s Jee Karda to Shaandaar’s Raita Phail Gaya. Mika, Vishal Dadlani, Atif Aslam and Papon too continued their stellar run. Among the   ladies, Kanika Kapoor rocked the socks off everyone with everything from Roy’s Chittiyaan Kalaaiyaan to Dilwale’s Tukur Tukur. And that earworm called Supergirl From China? She sung that too. Palak Muchhal too had a solid year with numbers in Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Baahubali, Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Hero. Actors took to the mic this year as well. Salman Khan famously did it for Main Hoon Hero Tera (Hero). Varun Dhawan did it with Happy Birthday (ABCD 2). Amitabh Bachchan had Piddly (Shamitabh). Priyanka Chopra and Farhan Akhtar crooned the title track of Dil Dhadakne Do. Even Sonakshi sung for a track composed by the Meet Bros called Aaj Mood Ishqholic Hai. 

COMPOSERS: Nobody quite had the year the Meet Bros had. Literally every song they did made it to people’s playlists — right from Baby’s Beparwah, Roy’s Chittiyaan Kalaaiyaan, three songs in Ek Paheli Leela, two in Welcome Back, one in Hero, All Is Well and in Singh Is Bliing and a single featuring Sonakshi Sinha. Amaal Malik had hits in Roy, Ek Paheli Leela, All Is Well and Hate Story 3 to show for this year along with a couple of well-promoted non-film singles. Badshah continued the party he started last year with Khoobsurat.
And while his work may not be part of prolific soundtracks, Jeet Gannguli was responsible for some of the best songs this year in some of the most mediocre films to come out this year. 

LYRICISTS: Amitabh Bhattacharya’s verse shone in Bombay Velvet, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Brothers, Phantom, Shaandaar and Dilwale. Kumaar wowed with romantic as well as high-energy dance numbers yet again, this time, in films like Katti Batti, Hero, All Is Well, Ek Paheli Leela and Roy. 

NEWCOMERS: Anupam Roy showed us he was a musician to reckon with, with Piku while Antara Mitra proved that Pritam’s faith in her wasn’t misplaced.

ABSENTEES
-Vishal-Shekhar took a leave of absence from Bollywood this entire year. While Vishal Dadlani kept busy singing for other composers, Shekhar concentrated on his non-film singles as well as his acting career. Expect the two to return to music-making duties in 2016.
-Sachin Jigar did two well-received soundtracks: Badlapur and ABCD 2. 
-Relatively silent were Shankar Ehsaan Loy, who also had just two outings: Dil Dhadakne Do and Katti Batti.
-While Bombay Velvet bombed at the BO, the soundtrack by Amit Trivedi was critically acclaimed. Guddu Rangeela was so-so while the year ended for Trivedi with a couple of strong numbers in Shaandaar.
-Yo Yo Honey Singh kept it on the low side with stray numbers in Bhaag Johnny (Aankhon Aankhon), Gabbar Is Back (Aao Raja) and Dilliwali Zaalim Girlfriend (Birthday Bash). This after a monster hit in The Shaukeens’ Manali Trance in 2014.
-Singers Sunidhi Chauhan and Shaan were judges on The Voice India, but steered clear of Bollywood as well. 

- MM Keeravani (formerly MM Kreem) returned to Bollywood with the Hindi version of Bahubali, whose original soundtrack he composed. The maestro Illaiyaraaja returned with Shamitabh. Devi Sri Prasad, a big-time music director in Telugu cinema made his Bollywood outing this year with Bhaag Johnny’s Daddy Mummy. 
- Sunidhi Chauhan and Shreya Ghoshal continued belting out hit after hit down South.

COMEBACKS
- Pritam Chakraborty had sat out most of last year, even telling us this year that he intended to tour with with his troupe more often this year, with only three releases this year — all biggies — Phantom, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and Dilwale.
- Anu Malik had a sole release with Dum Lagaa Ke Haisha, which was well-received.
- Alka Yagnik returned to hit territory with Tamasha’s Agar Tum Saath Ho reminding us why we loved her all through the 90s.

MASHUPS
While mashup king Kiran Kamath has had his monopolistic run in the sun for some years now in this category, this year, film composers took to creating their own mashups. As early as Sajid Wajid (in Tevar) and as late as Pritam (in Dilwale).

PHIR WOHI GAANE
Several songs were revisited this year. While Mikey McCleary continued to jazz up classics from the early years of B-Town (Fifi in Bombay Velvet and Neend Na Mujhko Aaye in Shaandaar in particular), it was Meet Bros (Hate Story 3, Ek Paheli Leela) and Amaal Malik's (Tumhein Apna Banaane Ki Kasam in Hate Story 3) turn to put their own spin (lyrics included!) on newer hits from the 90s. Arko Pravo Mukherjee had one such film song (Iss Qadar Pyaar Hai in Bhaag Johnny) and one non-film song (Mainu Ishq Da Lageya Rog). 

MATTERS OF SIZE
The shortest soundtracks had four (Baby, Alone) to five (Dil Dhadakne Do, Dolly Ki Doli) tracks, while the longest one (Bombay Velvet) had 15 tracks in all. Welcome Back had 11 tracks, ABCD2, Bajirao Mastani and Prem Ratan Dhan Payo had 10 each.

APART FROM BOLLYWOOD
* AIB's Every Bollywood Party Song Ever featuring Irrfan Khan spoofed all Bollywood party songs and found resonance with 7.3 million other like-minded folks.
* Remember playback singer Sanam Puri? Well, he upped and started a self-titled band with brother Samar and friends, revisiting old tracks. Their most watched video? The rock ballad-ready Mere Mehboob Qayamat Hogi, originally sung by Kishore Kumar stands at 6.2 million views.
* Arjun Kanungo (remember him from Khooni Monday?), backed by powerful marketing, got everyone to go in for nikke nikke shots with the slickly produced Baaki Baatein Peene Baad. Now sitting pretty at 5.5 million views.
* Superwoman's Clean Up Anthem featuring producer/vocalist Sickick found 5.2 million viewers.
* London-based Arjun, a singer, songwriter and music producer known for his fusion of R&B with Bollywood songs, had two big hits with Can't Forget You (Tujhe Bhula Diya) at 4.7 million views and All Of me (Baarish) at 3.9 million views. 
* Chennai rapper Sofia Ashraf made headlines with Kodaikanal Won't, with Nicki Minaj's Anaconda as the background beat, asking Hindustan Unilever to "clean up your mess". She racked up 3.5 million views, a nod from Nicki herself and global attention.
* Raw Star runner-up Darshan Raval's music video for Ishq Chadha Hai ran up 2.2 million views.
* The Washington-based mashup/cover artiste Vidya Vandana aka VidyaVox's Lean On/Jind Mahi mashup was watched 2.9 million times.
* And I'm putting Salil Jamdar and Shudh Desi Gaane's week-old Dilwale Gerua Parody here just because it features Shah Rukh Khan, who's being a sport here. 898,366 views.