Jasleen Royal has a T-shirt that says ‘F*ck the Algorithm’. At her Mumbai home, on a summer afternoon, she tells Billboard India, “I don’t want to be restricted or limited by the algo at all.” People have told her about what works and what doesn’t work for an artist on the ‘algorithm’. “I’ll do whatever I want to do. I’m not listening. You’ll see me in that t-shirt soon,” she adds with a laugh.
On other things tech, Royal shares that she hasn’t used AI for making any music so far. The singer-songwriter has, however, heard a lot about people who are not musicians using it to “crack a song.” She thinks “it’s cool, but it’s not.”
As a kid in Ludhiana, Royal hated going to weddings. Introverted and shy, she was dragged to a lot of Punjabi weddings by her parents, against her will. Somewhere along the way, Royal absorbed all of the music at Punjabi weddings into her subconscious, and “Nachde Ne Saare” from Baar Baar Dekho (2016) was born. The dance-leaning track – rooted in Punjabi folk and Bollywood maximalism – a decade later, is still a mainstay on desi party playlists.
Royal says she has chosen to invest in herself. “I emptied my bank balance. I don’t advise you doing that,” she shares. For her singles “Heeriye” feat. Arijit Singh and “Sahiba” she admits to going overboard with production costs, in her vision for indie to be grand and give it her all.
In her early days navigating the city’s gruelling entertainment industry, Royal had some interesting trysts with cold calling. Anurag Kashyap, Swanand Kirkire, Amit Trivedi, Sneha Khanwalkar – all form a connecting loop – leading up to her first playback single “Preet” for Khoobsurat (2014).
Remixes however, make Royal’s blood boil. Due to the “full buyout” mechanisms of film and label deals, where artists have no ownership. “It troubles me. I can’t sleep at night. Thinking one day my song will just be… erased or something will be made out of it which I have no control over,” she explains. Which is why she prefers the independent route, “It’s given me mental peace. The fact that nobody can do anything to my song without my permission. I would not do that to anybody else’s song,” she adds.
The “Love You Zindagi” vocalist has come a long way from being a Delhi University girl who was “faking it.” “I was trying to fit in. We had those iPods and I deleted everything I used to listen to. Because everybody was listening to The Beatles and Pink Floyd, but I had no idea who they were,” she says, reminiscing about her college days. She did really love Avril Lavigne, though, citing “I’m With You” by the Canadian pop rocker as one of her favourite songs.
The best bit of advice Royal has ever received? From none other than global phenomenon Coldplay’s frontman Chris Martin: Be kind to yourself and be patient and be the light. “Yeah, that’s a core memory. If I’ve learned even a little bit of what kind of artist I want to be in life, I want to be like him,” she affirms.
