After that collaboration between Kailasa and Shreya Ghoshal last year, Sony India kicked off Season 2 of Project Resound, this time with four different songs and music videos. Video 1 featured a collaboration between Nucleya and Benny Dayal, and was called Tamil Fever. We had a short chat with Nucleya about the same. In the coming days we shall be interviewing the other artists as well. For now, read on. You can watch the video at the end of the interview
Give us a rundown of the behind-the-scenes matters. How did the composing happen? Who wrote the lyrics?
I wrote the composition, which is an amalgamation of South Indian street music, explosive and energetic bass music. Since Benny and I were both inspired by similar themes and were on the same page with respect to the kind of sound we wanted to create, he soon came up with the vocal melody. With regards to the lyrics, Benny suggested Christopher Pradeep as he had worked with him previously on his solo album. And honestly I can’t imagine anyone else doing the lyrics after seeing the final product.
Who conceptualized and directed the video? Was there any particular theme in mind?
We knew that this had to be one big dance track and we wanted people to actually feel like getting on the dance floor after seeing the video. Rakesh Thakar a.k.a Raka our director knew exactly what we wanted and was on the same page as we were. He has done a fabulous job, which is clearly visible as he got me to dance and match steps with Benny who is a trained dancer, which not many people know of.
It is not the first time that either of you has been part of this kind of a project (Dewarists, Sound Trippin’ in the past). So what do you think of this (Project Resound) format? How different is it as opposed to your regular song-making process?
It’s very rare that an artist receives support to create something which is so unique. Sony gave us full creative freedom to do whatever we wanted. They gave us a platform to deliver the message of “Purity of Sound” to our audiences. They have put this track and its accompanying music video on a global platform and that means we have a huge audience now. We would definitely encourage our audience to listen to every nuance of our music, in a way it should be ideally heard, on good quality headphones that delivers sound in its purest form.
We saw the “making” video, you guys seemed to be having a lot of fun, how is it like working together? Can we expect to see more collaborative efforts from the two of you?
I think it’s important to have an understanding of different genres of music. Also one should be open to explore and experiment with different sounds. With Benny and me the best thing is that we both have great fondness for South Indian music as well as electronic music, which benefited this song to a great extent. Benny Dayal is a great singer. He is very versatile and open to try out new sounds. With such an artist it becomes extremely easy and an absolute pleasure to create a song. We are very certain that we will make more songs together in future.
Your previous collaboration was based in Kerala. This one is in Tamil. We can understand Benny, but any particular reason for your love of South?
I have been playing a lot of South Indian music in my live sets for past 2 years and I have realized that it’s not about the language at all. People like the energy and the emotions in their music; I do not look at language and music separately or as two different entities. I look at it as one genre which I would like to promote globally. It is also important to note that for one to experience the energy and emotions in their music and appreciate the hard work that has gone into creating it, one must listen to it on quality equipment that delivers sound in its purest form.
We understand that headphones and mics form an integral part of the music production process. How was the Sony experience? Do you recommend Sony gadgets to other artists?
The overall experience of being part of Sony’s Project Resound Season 2 and collaborating with each other has been exceptional. Benny and I have had the same understanding in terms of music we created for the campaign from the very beginning. What we have composed is a funky dance track which is not bound by any specific genre and is a unique rendition of what Purity of Sound means to us. We also hope that our listeners would appreciate the hard work that has gone into creating this music and would experience it on high quality headphones.
