It is very easy to handpick a few, when asked to talk about the singers during the ‘60s. Probably because of the lack of technology and inadequate means of communication, singers were a scarce lot. With the advent of technology, music has seen a whole new change in the way it is perceived. With YouTube channels springing up with new album releases all through the day, it can be said that there has been a steep rise in the amount of singers in the music industry in Kollywood. Reality shows have also contributed directly to the same, as new talents are recognized on TV, and are allowed to culminate their skills with the help of a voice expert during the show, making them a playback material by the end of the series. The time has gone when it was just P. Susheela or S. Janaki. We hear a lot more new names like Chitra or Sujatha nowadays, thanks to social media being a huge contributing factor to encourage newcomers.
Some of the singers that rose to stardom with the help of social media include the ones that used reality shows to their advantage.
This article would make no sense if I weren’t going to mention Shreya Ghoshal, the singing sensation in India. She sung several songs in not just Kollywood, but in several other film industries such as Bollywood, Mollywood, Tollywood, and so on. She started off as a child contestant in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa little champs, and made her break through Devdas, for which she sang the entire album of songs.
An architect by profession, Shakthisree Gopalan won the SS Music voice hunt title, and during the same year, made her debut for Vijay Anthony’s Sorgam madhuvile. However, she made her big break when A.R. Rahman asked her to sing the title track for Jab Tak Hai Jaan. Being an architecture student, she designed the layout for K.M Music Conservatory, A. R. Rahman’s music school. She also won a National award for the song Nenjukulle from kadal, which she also got to perform on MTV Ungplugged.
After winning the Airtel Super Singer title, Nikhil Mathew recorded his first song, enadhuyire with
Harris Jayaraj. With the song being a hit, several music directors in the Malayalam industry approached him. He has song over 20 songs. He won the Mirchi Awards for the Best Song of the Year category. He also won the Big FM Melody Awards for the Manassil Thotta Singer category.
After winning the Airtel Super Singer Junior title, Alka ventured into Malayalam industry and sung several songs with Srinivas, being her mentor. She is still remembered for her stellar performance at the competitions finale, where she sang Singara Velane from Konjum Salangai. She sang her first Tamil song chillena, for G.V. Prakash Kumar for the movie
Raja Rani.
Parvathy was one of the tough contestants on the Airtel Super Singer show, where she came up to the finals. Even though she did not win the title, there were a lot of accolades that came her way. She has sung for A.R. Rahman’s bilingual, where she sang the Malayalam version, Eiy Kochu Kalla for the movie Pradhi Nayagan. She was originally called to sing for the trial version of the song. A.R. Rahman loved her version after he heard it and asked for her to sing the original too.
These people have made a mark at such a young age, thanks to the technology available that not just creates opportunities, but also gives them the liberty to create opportunities by themselves.
