Badshah’s star continues to be on the rise as his latest release Paani Paani 187 million views on YouTube in just three weeks
He is among the top rappers in the country but Badshah insists he doesn’t work for stardom. It’s also the reason, he adds, why the fear of losing stardom never bothers him.
“I don’t work for the stardom. I work for the music that belongs in my veins and I know I will never lose that. It is God’s gift to me,” claims Badshah.
Currently, life is a cruise for him. His run of chartbusters over the years has included Mercy, Paagal, DJ Waley Babu, Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai, Kar Gayi Chull, She Move It Like, Wakhra Swag, Garmi and Genda Phool as his star continues to be on the rise. He has appeared in Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as one of the highest-paid celebrities in India. Controversies around plagiarism charges and the purchase of fake views, which hounded him last year, have also been forgotten.
At 36, the musician who started out in 2006 with the group Mafia Mundeer, only sees his fan base grow overwhelmingly.
When we ask Badshah, whose real name is Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, which one of his numbers would he call a showstopper, he diplomatically tags all of them as ‘tide-turners’.
“All my tracks have been tide-turners in different ways. From Saturday Saturday and Abhi Toh Party Shuru Hui Hai that were my introduction to Bollywood to DJ Waley Babu that I believe changed the standards of how pop music could perform in this country. From Paagal that went viral across the world to Genda Phool that was such a strong representative of Indian colours and sounds to the world, I will always be proud of every sample of my work,” he declares.
With desi elements becoming the flavour in our films and pop culture lately, Badshah has also started infusing Indian music and instruments in his compositions lately, evident in Genda Phool and, his latest release, Paani Paani.
What goes into making the style of music he creates? “A lot of things. Of course, as mentioned before, I am constantly working on bringing back unheard sounds and samples. It's sometimes cracking the right hook that every single listener can identify with, irrespective of region or age. Then the beat that makes people groove, dance and making them forget their troubles when they tune into my music,” he replies, adding that his motive is to make people smile.
Does he feel like he is the badshah of music in the Hindi film industry? “That’s for the audience to decide. I will continue to deliver my best and present the best audio-visual experiences to the Indian audience in the meanwhile,” he concludes with a grin.