It’s the second month of the year and city’s popular rapper Vighnesh Shivanand, aka Brodha V, is out with his latest single, All Divine in Malayalam and English. The song, which also has American hip-hop group Flipsyde’s singer-guitarist Steve Knight in the chorus, looks at mental stress and introspection, finally giving out a message of self-discovery.
Brodha V says he came out with the composition exactly 10 years ago, but revisited it since it’s a subject that many can relate to at this point. “I felt like revisiting the song because of the things that we have all gone through in the last two years. People were emotionally down and frustrated. It was during the pandemic that it hit me that I could talk about these things,” says Brodha V.
He further adds, “I just wanted to take some time off and think about what my next set of releases should be and where my career is headed.”
Through the song, Brodha V looks back at his 14-year career, struggles with mental health, the pandemic-enforced isolation and also his physical health. As the project gathered momentum, his friend and singer Benny Dayal helped him with the Malayalam version in terms of words for the song.
“I wanted to bring in Malayalam folk music, so including Malayalam lyrics was an organic idea. Also, this is my way of paying tribute to the people of Kerala who have shown so much love to my music,” says Brodha V, whose last song was Araama, which translates into ‘Everything is fine’ in Kannada.
The song, directed by Sujish Das, was shot in the picturesque location of Chikmagalur. Apart from the beautiful fresh scenery, the video also has archival footage projected behind Brodha V.
“There was a lot of footage that I just happened to have. It made a lot of sense for this concept now,” says Brodha V, adding that in one of the scenes, his younger self from 10 years ago is seen mouthing the lyrics. The year 2022 looks busy for the singer with five more songs in the pipeline for release. He is also looking forward to a lot more collaborations.