How we change with our music

I am someone who has learnt bharatanatyam for the past 11 years. I have heard some of the most beautifully written bhajans, all the way from Ganesha Kautuvam to Kadanakuthualam Thillana.

For me, that music was never just cues to tap to.

Never just beats,

It showed me how I was supposed to use my abhinaya, who I was supposed to be at that moment, whether I had to be Krishn, a nāyaki, or Murugan. The music is my book, my gīta.

For instance:

[Lyrics from Ganesha Kautuvam]

|Hari tiru maru ganai, vighna vinayaka|

‘the nephew of lord Vishnu(Hari), the destroyer of all obstacles.’

Here I raise my eyebrows and display a little sparkle of sincerity towards the father of all multiverses, followed by sharpening my eyes by a smidgen to show pride that lord ganesha is the destroyer of all my problems, all through my eyes.

That is the life we put into our music, not just the instruments but also the singers, only then can the dancer bring that life to the stage. 

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In recent times, as audiences have become relatively non-dogmatic, the music around us has evolved with us.

Whether it be the case of abseiling standards of music around the globe or a decline in hearing one soul sing to another. An excellent namuna of this is of the song ‘reflection’ from the Disney film ‘Mulan’.

This song was originally sung by Filipino actress and singer, Lea Salonga. Her rendition sounded beautifully painful. Every high note, since I am not very fluent in ‘music’ this is going to be a terrible explanation, stretches and trembles like a wave and it is crucial to notice that because in the music video, the opening scene is Mulan looking at her reflection in a pond(I guess). The wavering vocals are like the ripples in the pond. As though the reflection in the water is hearing her, calling back to her, pulling her towards who she is to be.

You could hear the pain in her voice. The agony of not choosing to be the rebel just choosing change. The long stifled voice that was let out like a sigh of relief. How everything was somehow unfair but there was no silver bullet to it. Lea understood the expectations from an asian daughter, especially one that was far back in time. She understood how strong one's shoulders have to be to carry that pressure. She gave those lyrics a soul.

In 2020, the live action of the Disney dream was made, safe to say it was a brilliantly thought out film(better than snow white live action to say the least). However, this time ‘Reflection’ was sung by Christina Aguilera. I did not hear any ripples, I did not hear a soul; I heard the affluent streets of LA, I saw a recording studio, and…well that's all. It overall sounds disingenuous.

Her voice would sound better singing:

“A tale as old as timeeeeee!” 

In the Beauty and the best live action. It pissed me off that they thought that a song could be sung by just anyone with a good voice. No, yuck.

If you haven't seen the movie and are more accustomed to Hindi songs then here is another take.

‘Barbaadi(female reprise)’ from ‘saiyaara’ is one of my top songs nowadays and is sung by Shilpa Rao, imagine Shreya Ghoshal singing it. Of course she is amazing as well, but would it fit?

Shilpa Rao’s voice makes it sound like you are drowning in love, not a sweet kind, the dirty, unhealthy kind. She has a husky texture to her voice. You can feel the love colonizing every inch of logic, you can feel the unbridled desire hiking up. I don't mean to bore you with unnecessary description, but if you close your eyes, you can see the evening sky transitioning from orange-purple to deep blue, the image wraps around you like a blanket. 

On the contrary, Shreya Goshal is the mascot of desi preppy energy, it would be absolutely foul to make her sing ‘Barbaadi’.

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Being an Indian, we have seen the insane range emotions music can evoke. From qawwalis to bhajans to satsangs, chowkis, ganesh ustav, navratri, ram leelas. In music we connect.

No doubt, this soulfulness argument is highly subjective, but as a global audience we don't even have the privilege to expect good music from our favourites in the big 2026. We are starved.

For instance:

 - Did you hear the same thoughtful Taylor Swift in ‘fate of ophelia’ as you did in ‘wildest dreams’? Or ‘daylight’? Because I did not.

- Sabrina may have pretty controversial concert performances, but the girl has an extraordinary voice, songs like ‘Manchild’, ‘espresso’ simply don't do justice. Because when you close your eyes when listening to those songs what do you see? I see it being played in a mall, that's all. For the vocal range she displayed in manchild it is astonishingly surface level, doesn't go any deeper than making you bob your head. I am not putting aside the fact that it is commercial pop, but honestly, what is not commercial pop today? Opalite, manchild, anxiety(commercial hiphop ig), Gnarly? A shame, truly.

In addition to that, aesthetics have become increasingly incentivised by the industry as the years have passed. I was not surprised when Olivia Dean won over Katseye.

Katseye was chasing an image relentlessly, while letting their own talents collect dust. To be more specific, their management team wants to milk them as the new spice girls or a close alternate to the icons, all when they have strong vocalists like lara and Sophia and extremely talented dancers as well. Whereas Olivia Dean has mastered her strengths and it shows that she is not trying to fit into the label of pop music, there is an observable increase in authenticity between the two. To be fair, Olivia being a solo artist and not a group constantly managed by a village of people helps but overall id say, well deserved win.

Another detriment that I have seen proliferating are engineered personalities. I have stopped having favorites in fear of what they hide under those facades. It is almost loathsome how fake celebrities are all over the globe. Frankly I blame that on the 2016 to 2020 era of the world's celebrity culture. When we had king Kylie, ‘thanku, next’, the beginning of Bollywood’s downfall—that was charan seema of celebrity worship culture.

After lockdown, music got simpler again, like ice cream after biryani. A palate cleanser of a sort. With the elements decluttering, we saw the industry overcrowding, and strangely so. Newcomers like Addison Rae and Tate McRae are taking over the 15 sec reel, tiktok and youtube shorts, and honestly that speaks enough about how much more dependent music is on virality, now more than ever. The song has to be catchy.

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Now who controls this? We! The consumers of this music. Of course we did not have a chance to agree to this change, it was pushed on us by the collective increase in irrational consumerism trends and erasure of individuality.

Today, what sets you apart from the crowd? Even you changed from before lockdown till this day, most probably mirroring your taste in music. Art doesn’t die. It mirrors its audience. If it feels shallow, maybe we’re skimming too fast.

And just like this era, where we are summoning Zara Larson to bask in the setting sun of 2016, and streaming Sombr to jam with the 90s rock. Maybe somewhere years down the line, you will return back home to, maybe You return to Bharatanatyam. To bhajans. To embodied listening. To closing your eyes and seeing something beyond a mall.