From indie roots to Bollywood: Aditya N.'s musical journey with Jee Liya
"A simple jam session." That is how Aditya N. describes the birth of Jee Liya, the song that has taken the internet by storm from the recently released Tu Yaa Main. But there is nothing "simple" about the way Aditya layers emotion. Featuring the raw, organic vocals of Adarsh Gourav and Lothika Jha, the track has already crossed the 10-million-view mark.
Meet Aditya, the man behind many viral tracks from the recent times
Whether he’s creating the high-stakes sound of Ziddi Girls or the regal textures of The Royals, Aditya is quickly becoming the go-to producer for stories that need a soul. We caught up with the composer to talk about his transition from indie artist to a mainstay of the OTT ecosystem, and what happens when a director like Bejoy Nambiar hears a melody and says, "That’s the one."
Can you give us a brief into your musical journey? How did it all begin for you?
I have been a musician from a very young age. I grew up in Delhi and sang in the largest youth choir, Artistes Unlimited for almost eight years before moving to Mumbai. I wanted to sing for ads in Mumbai, but life has strange twists and turns and eventually I ended up composing with Nayantara Bhatkal and producing independently for other artists such as Pritam, Alokananda Dasgupta, Vishal-Shekhar to name a few.
You have been a part of many Bollywood projects before. How has been the journey in this industry so far?
I always say that I have been lucky to have been surrounded by some of the best individuals in the industry, not just as professionals, but more so as people. My first film as a composer was for Aamir Khan Productions' Rubaru Roshni, my first commercially successful album of songs was for Netflix's cult hit series, Class, and like that there are so many stories. Recently, I worked on Ziddi Girls (Amazon Prime) for the entire score and all songs, which was one of my most satisfying shows till date as a composer and also The Royals on Netflix on which we had the most amazing set of people working on our team. Every project teaches me something and Bollywood has given me everything. The journey has only just begun, but so far, its been incredibly satisfying.
Tell us about working on Jee Liya and Tu Yaa Main.
Jee Liya is a very special song. Adarsh and I met early last year and started writing music together and he was also shooting for Tu Yaa Main at the time. We went through multiple iterations of the track as we always do including different lyrics (penned by Chakori Dwivedi) and different production ideas. But he always took the time to be present for the music despite his hectic schedule. One day, he called me and said that he played the track to Bejoy Nambiar, the director of the film and that he wants it in the film. We knew instantly that this is the right fit for the song, and right now it has crossed 10 Million streams on YouTube and 1 million on Spotify!
What do you prefer- working on indie songs or playback singing?
All music is music to me. Whatever I work on is as big as the last thing. When I see it like that, I am able to deliver quality and satisfy my own artistic needs, so there is never really an answer to this question in my head. The only thing I know is that I need to keep doing new things, keep working with new artists and never feel like I know everything.
Who are some of your biggest musical influences, and why?
I come from the indie scene in Delhi where I grew up watching bands like Advaita, Them Clones, Five8 and many others. They were my biggest influences and I feel like I do what I do because I grew up around such incredible musicians. My band, Cobbled Street, used to make music for the love of it, there was no marketing, no real goal except to play show after show and grow as musicians together.
What can we expect from you next?
I am currently working with a lot of indie musicians including Adarsh Gourav, Lisa Mishra, Kamakshi Khanna, Dhruv Visvanath among others, while writing my own English music that I am releasing slowly over the course of the year. I just finished a week-long song writing camp with Heard Music, some of the finest music supervisors in the industry and worked with a lot of upcoming artists and that made me really happy. So I'm pretty certain that you're going to a variety of releases from me this year!
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