Jonita Gandhi ‘extoked’ as ‘Top Tucker’ features at Times Square

Bollywood Singer Jonita Gandhi’s song ‘Top Tucker’, the big collaboration with Badshah, has reached the top and her photo has been displayed on ‘Times Square wall’ in New York City. The Singer spoke exclusively to The Sunday Guardian about the new track and her favourite music genres.

Q. How excited are you for ‘Top Tucker’? Can you share more details about the song?

I’m ‘extoked’(excited + stoked). I’m thrilled to have been part of this track. It’s a multilingual song and features quite a crazy lineup of talent including Badshah and Yuvan Shankar Raja. I’ve sung in Hindi, English and Tamil in this song.

Q. The photo has been displayed on Times Square Wall in New York, your first reaction to it and how proud do you feel?

I gasped! The feeling is indescribable, it’s so hard to react to something that feels unreal. It was quite a ‘pinch me’ moment. I just wish I could go to New York and see it myself! The gratitude I feel for such an opportunity… it seems like words aren’t enough to express! A bucket list item checked off. 

Q. How was the experience of teaming up with Badshah? Any tips he shared with you regarding the song?

Working with Badshah is a breeze and always a lot of fun. He’s super chill and makes the process so smooth. For this track in particular we worked remotely so it was a bit of a different process than usual. The vibe of the song itself really helped set the stage for what was needed.

Q. You have not only sung songs for Bollywood but also given voice for Tamil songs, independent music and unplugged covers, which would be your favourite and why?

It’s really hard to say as every situation is different. I love experimenting with music and some circumstances give us a chance, as singers, to explore our own creativity a bit more than others such as independent music and covers whereas there are more parameters to abide by when recording film songs. But that doesn’t make it less satisfying of a process. It can be fun to embody a character as defined by films and emote in your singing to resonate with the character. 

Q. Any specific preparations you did while singing Bollywood songs or Tamil songs?

Every song is unique and so every recording experience is different. I often don’t get a lot of time for specific preparations – we learn the song and record it within a matter of minutes. Being able to own a song in such a short period is definitely an art that I’m still working on and it’s a steep learning curve.