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Eager to be the frontrunner who establishes India’s pop music scene, Armaan on how his latest album is a sincere reflection of his craft

When one considers his list of achievements as a 28-year-old musician, the name of his recently released music piece seems rather paradoxical. Armaan Malik, however, encourages us to take his album, Only Just Begun, at face value. “It’s only now that I am being able to showcase the pop sounds that I have always wanted to put out in the world,” says the musician with award-winning songs like You and Control under his belt. He confesses that while his creativity got an outlet when he was working on his English singles, he knew there was abundant room for expression when it came to his Hindi numbers. 

“It was always important for me to introduce my sound in my language, and I hadn’t gotten the chance to do that until now. I was essentially occupied with film commitments and assorted singles. So, [I looked at this album] as a platform to showcase my range of artistic versatility.”

Malik would attest to the fact that there is immense power in the personal stories of musicians. About 90 per cent of his album, he says, traces back to moments from his life. “Kasam se was the song with which I proposed to Aashna [Shroff, fiance]. It was the outpouring of emotions I felt at that point, and translating that into music was a liberating experience. Hopefully, my album can be people’s companion, in different moods. There’s a lovely travel song called Door chalen kahin, Kasam se is an eternal love song, Humnava talks of falling in love with your best friend, and explores the familiar pyaar-dosti angle.”

It was, however, at the behest of brother Amaal Mallik—also the executive producer of the album—that he included the song, Marne se pehle. Amaal was convinced that a hint of sorrow would be essential in the making of an album that could be called truly cohesive. “It’s a sad song about heartbreak. Amaal said, ‘When you’re talking about love, you can’t not talk about pain’. In that moment, I [didn’t] feel that pain. But he was certain that I needed to express the entire range of emotions associated with love. Having that hint of darkness was also important to complete the spectrum. And he was right—it is among the most loved numbers of the album.”

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