Akasa, Singer and Yash Narvekar, Singer & Music Composer recently joined us on our special series NewsX India A-List. In the exclusive interview, the singer duo spoke about their latest collaboration ‘Yaad Naa Aana’, how the song came into existence, their lockdown diaries and much more. Read excerpts here:
Speaking about their new single ‘Yaad Naa Aana’, Akasa said, “Actually, it is our second collaboration. We did a song called ‘Feel The Vibe’, two years back. Yash and I have known each other for a long time. We were in the same college and we sort of worked together in a reality show, where we realised that we are the black sheep, the backbenchers and the ‘underrated’. I appointed myself as our unofficial cheerleader. Coming back to the song, we were all actually a part of this song camp, where I had a session with someone. I had actually just performed, got off the stage, took a flight to this session in the morning and there were some issues with the scheduling. I was sleepy, had no coffee, I was just grumpy. Meanwhile, Yash was sitting with his guitar. I was thinking to myself, ‘I hate everything and everything sucks.’ He was singing this song and I asked, ‘what are you singing?’. His reply was nothing, he was really downplaying it. When he sang it, my mind was blown. I told him that this is beautiful. I asked him who wrote it, he actually wrote and composed it. He asked me if I want to sing this song. We went into the studio very randomly and we did that session. He came up with my part. Mind you, my grumpy mind did not want to sing. I told him that you put your vocals down. When my voice is fine, I will sing. He was like just sing, we will do it properly later.”
“There were some weird circumstances because I was actually method singing. Whatever I was singing, I was going through in my life. I had the person in front of me, who I would imagine. That’s how the song got made. Cut to, I was told that we are releasing the song a year later. Since I have had the demo version, I have been obsessed with it. The fact that it came out, not only that, people are loving it. The vocals that you hear are the same- grumpy,” she added.
Yash jokingly added, “I didn’t change it. Otherwise, the emotion wouldn’t have come. If we had recorded it again, it wouldn’t have been the same. We recorded the song spontaneously. Even I didn’t re-record. Where we recorded was not a proper studio. It was like a home, where we had put up bedsheets to soundproof everything. Even the mic was of very cheap quality. It was that kind of a set-up. Somehow, the way both of our voices were sounding and the feel with which we sang, we realised that it wouldn’t sound the same again so we kept the same vocals.”
When asked if he ever thought that the song would become such a big hit, he responded, “We were at this camp at this point of time. Our job for those three to four days was to just enter that place, make songs and not think about what is going to happen. There were such talented people around us and such great people around us that the chances of your song cutting through the whole clutter and being picked up by the label, I didn’t really expect that to happen. But, I knew one thing. Once I had Akasa on the track, once we recorded it, once the camp and everything got over and I started living with the song, I realised that there is something special about this song. I was just hoping that Sony gives me this call and says that we are doing this song. That’s exactly what happened but the beauty is that it happened now. The timing is what struck me. Even the way they shot it, about this couple in a lockdown in their house together, she’s doing a Zoom call and he is walking through in a banyan and boxers, eating a sandwich. Stuff like that, right now, I can relate to it much more than last year if it had been released back then.”
Talking about what and whom they have missed the most during the lockdown, Akasa said, “Both these lockdowns were personal hell for me. I have always been an out and about person. I had a break-up in the first lockdown. I had a break up again in the second lockdown with a friend as well. I was just missing them. If I am being very honest, I think I miss normalcy. I miss going to a café with my friends and sitting without our masks and hugging them and not having the waiter come with a mask on his face. It’s that silly little thing but I miss normalcy. I am done. I want to go back. “
Meanwhile, Yash added, “Just like she said, when I got out, which I rarely do, but when I go for a jog or something, I got this constant fear on my mind that there are people around you. That wasn’t ever a fear. It was always a good thing. You are always scared of a person coughing. You are wearing two masks and you are obviously running so you cannot breathe so you have to find a spot to lower your mask and quickly take a few breaths. In general, going anywhere and meeting people. I love meeting people. I can spend time with anybody. In this lockdown, I moved out of my house also because I was working. Both my parents are above 60 years of age. I didn’t want to risk them because I was going for sessions, making music and meeting people. I moved out and started living in my studio. That was a big challenge because I have never lived without my parents. I think I was very lonely at the start of it. I am alone now. I am not lonely. That’s why I am enjoying this time. I have started enjoying my own company. At the same time, I miss being around a lot of people going on music festivals and stuff like that but that is something, which can be counted as a luxury, especially with the kind of issues people are facing. I cannot be complaining about these things when people are facing life-threatening issues. I am just happy that I have a room, I am healthy and my parents are fine.”