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Badshah mentors a new league of digital creators at leading app Josh’s CreatorThon in the Maldives

- Anurag Tagat

In this year of 2021, with the new normal still desperately awaited by many for their own reasons, musicians perhaps stuck to doing what they know best – writing, recording and releasing songs. In a pre-pandemic time, touring, merch and brand deals were also quite sought after, but digital reach remained a constant thorn, pricking artists whenever they had everything else downright – production, collaborations, hell, even solid songwriting.

The ultimate sweet spot and luxury afforded to artists, then, would be to never have to even think about those thorns. Over the last six years or so, Badshah reached that level, arriving to become a darling of major record labels, Bollywood and millions of listeners around the globe. The success of songs such as “DJ Waley Babu” (2015) and “Kar Gayi Chull” (formally released in 2016 for Hindi movie Kapoor & Sons) arrived on the back of honing his skills since 2006 as a musician.

Following a major stint with fellow Punjabi hip-hop artist Yo Yo Honey Singh in Mafia Mundeer, Badshah went solo by 2012. While the success of party-ready anthems like “Kala Chashma” (from Baar Baar Dekho’s soundtrack 2016), “Tareefan” (Veere Di Wedding, 2018) and “Garmi” (Street Dancer 3D, 2019) catapulted Badshah to the top of Indian mainstream music consciousness, he also released his solo album O.N.E. (Original Never Ends) via Sony Music in 2018 and followed up with a self-released record called The Power of Dreams of a Kid in 2020. “When I went to the clubs, I’d only see them playing Akon and international music. I wanted to bring Indian music to the clubs,” he says over a phone call.