Wah yaar absolutely fantastic! I always appreciate musical breakdowns like these for my totally untrained, untaught ears but I few come close to your ability to clearly explain musical concepts to novices. My only complaint is that there is a very Shahid Afridi innings vibe to the Ishq Tere Tarpave discourse - its so brilliant and it ends so soon.
Nice piece. I do think, however, that beyond all this, there is a cultural tidal wave that accompanies certain songs (sometimes purely by chance). Once it catches and you keep hearing it multiple times, it becomes more groovy and more fun on its own. The sheer fact that everyone is listening to it propels it into becoming a banger.
I agree, totally. But these universally popular song share some of the foundational elements of "interesting" music. A lot of our reaction is subconscious and passes these heuristics, and on top of that, like you said, is the aspect of reception and spread.
Dai Dai is a great example that, regardless of how many millions FIFA might pour on the latter, it just doesn't have enough meat to become truly iconic.
You brought tears to my eyes with your writing Sarthak. Thank you for taking me down the memory lane. All these artists are going to see the additional traffic and wonder what's happening.
Such a coincidence that the word "banger" was used by my son A2 this week, when he pulled out a song that he hadn't heard for about 10 years from his core memory. He hummed it to his phone and it threw back the song at him. The lyrics weren't available online and I sat down and wrote down the whole song (hopefully correctly).
Wah yaar absolutely fantastic! I always appreciate musical breakdowns like these for my totally untrained, untaught ears but I few come close to your ability to clearly explain musical concepts to novices. My only complaint is that there is a very Shahid Afridi innings vibe to the Ishq Tere Tarpave discourse - its so brilliant and it ends so soon.
Thank you so much, Ahmer!
And hahaha. The Afridi bit is so true. We should do a pod/essay on cricketers as songs, and vice versa.
Nice piece. I do think, however, that beyond all this, there is a cultural tidal wave that accompanies certain songs (sometimes purely by chance). Once it catches and you keep hearing it multiple times, it becomes more groovy and more fun on its own. The sheer fact that everyone is listening to it propels it into becoming a banger.
I agree, totally. But these universally popular song share some of the foundational elements of "interesting" music. A lot of our reaction is subconscious and passes these heuristics, and on top of that, like you said, is the aspect of reception and spread.
Dai Dai is a great example that, regardless of how many millions FIFA might pour on the latter, it just doesn't have enough meat to become truly iconic.
Yup...definitely. "Necessary but not sufficient" conditions.
I didn’t even know they had a song for this upcoming world-cup if not for your post!
Sensational writing as always, Sarthak. I had the urge to go listen to all the songs mentioned.
Thanks man!
I learn a few new things every time I read your essays. Thank you.
Thank you :)
Beautiful piece! Deeply felt.
Thank you so much, Amrita :)
You brought tears to my eyes with your writing Sarthak. Thank you for taking me down the memory lane. All these artists are going to see the additional traffic and wonder what's happening.
Such a coincidence that the word "banger" was used by my son A2 this week, when he pulled out a song that he hadn't heard for about 10 years from his core memory. He hummed it to his phone and it threw back the song at him. The lyrics weren't available online and I sat down and wrote down the whole song (hopefully correctly).
Thank you, Rakhi!