Singer Shruti Pathak, known for songs like 'Tujhe Bhula Diya from Anjana Anjani (2010), 'Criminal' from Ra-One (2011), and 'Shubharambh' from Kai Po Che (2013), has released a new single, 'Haaniya' online.
With the song, Shruti is making her NFT debut as the song is launched as a trading card on FanTiger, a music NFT marketplace that creates a decentralised community for artists and their fans to buy and sell digital collectibles.
For Shruti, the inspiration for the song came while she was on a road trip in Punjab with her friends. “I started recording voice notes on my phone whenever any idea struck me. When I came back to Mumbai, I composed the entire song,” says the singer. Talking about the idea behind the song, she says, “I wanted to express and pursue the feelings of love and heartbreak, which is a journey. And at the end, the goal should be happiness and love, and this is what the song is about,” she shares.
When asked about her plunge to turn her song into NFT she says her idea was to connect with the audiences directly. “All my songs in the past, whether playback or singles have been through different music labels where I don't get to connect with my audience directly. But with an online trading platform, I can communicate with them and know the feedback quickly. It's a big deal because turning music into NFT is not so popular in India so I feel good to be one of the firsts to venture into it,” says the singer.
As an independent singer, Shruti has carved her niche in the industry. She tells us that he core focus lies more on making independent songs than playback singing. “I have been a part of this music industry for more than 15 years. I have also been a part of many projects for playback singing. Even though I love singing for films, there are times when you don't get the opportunity to creatively explore the genre, and when you work for independent music, you can create opportunities for yourself and can explore the different genres, which I think is important for every artist,” she opines and insists that as an independent artiste she can explore more in music.
While Shruti feels content as an independent artiste, her journey so far in Bollywood has been full of learning. She has worked with musicians like Salim Suleman, Vishal Shekhar, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, and Pritam as well as Amit Trivedi and Sachin Jigar from the new lot of musicians. “It's been an amazing journey. The industry has been very warm and welcoming to me from the time I started working. Working with all those musicians has been full of learning as I have learned their unique style of music. I cannot be more grateful and thankful,” expresses the musician. Shruti recalls that she still received messages from her fans about listening to her first song Tujhe Bhula Diya. “They listen to the song during heartbreaks. I always wanted to give my audiences a song that gives hope and Haaniya is that one.”
When asked if being an independent artiste how does she see the prevailing trend of remixing music, to our surprise, Shruti states that the trend has lost its charm. “I am against recreation, but honestly, when you overdo anything, it loses its charm. When this trend started a decade back, some of the re-created songs were nice because they had a fresh feeling to listening to an old song with new tunes. But now this trend has been overdone a lot, and has lost its charm," says the singer adding that for commercial benefits music gets compromised.
Majored in Psychology, Shruti has a long way to go as she aspires to use music as a therapy for those suffering from mental illnesses. “I wanted to do something for the people who suffer from mental illness because music is not just an art but also very therapeutic. It has been scientifically proven that music has the power to heal. And hopefully in the future, when I have enough resources and time to dedicate to this, I will definitely take it up,” she says.
'Haaniya' is streaming on music streaming platforms and FanTiger for NFTs.
