Shibani Kashyap: Song release is now bigger than making one!

‘Sajna aa bhi jaa’ and ‘Zinda hoon main’ singer Shibani Kashyap feels it takes a lot of planning and strategies to release a song, today

‘Sajna aa bhi jaa’ and ‘Zinda hoon main’ singer Shibani Kashyap feels it takes a lot of planning and strategies to release a song, today. “My debut album ‘Ho Gai Hai Mohabbat’ (1998) was a chartbuster but today even with exceeding social media exposure it’s tough to reach those heights. Pop music was a big pursuit then but thankfully today again we see the light at the end of the tunnel and I feel this genre will make come back soon.”

Singer Shibani Kashyap at Bada Imambara during her visit to Lucknow (Sourced photo)

During her visit to Lucknow, the pretty singer spoke about the music business at length, “At that time songs had a better reach and now with so much of social media there is too much clutter on digital format — huge money is riding and we don’t know what goes viral organically. There is more strategy involved in releasing a song than making one. A grand plan needs to be made just like one does in releasing a film.”

She is amused with the numbers like 6 million in 6 hours being garnered by songs today. “It is weird! I will believe if any song crosses 1 million in one month that to if people are constantly listening to it and it’s being played at clubs and radio then it does make some sense.”

Shibani is gearing up for the release of her new Punjabi song ‘Jogiya’ which features Dheeraj Dhoopar and Smriti Kalra. “I am also doing a new version of ‘Sajna aa bhi ja’. I will prefer to recreate a song with a different interpretation than remix.”

Before, Lucknow, she has performed in Rampur, Amritsar and couple of other private shows during the unlock phase. She feels online and offline concerts does co-exist but in India it’s live shows that works more as people are not ready to shell out money for online gigs.

“Here people are very much used to see the artiste perform live with sound, light, action and drama. For online concerts people want it for free or with less money. To create a virtual set-up and give a treatment of virtual stage with anchor and dancers costs a lot and people don’t understand the concept. Whereas, my online ticketed concerts in West do really well. I have lost count of the number of shows I did for the US, Canada and other countries in the phase. Pandemic has surely opened a new avenue.”

On her visit she said, “This time I visited the majestic Imambara, Bhool Bhuliya and did some chikanari shopping besides, savouring the tasty Awadhi delicacies.”