Nothing better than this
‘What Goes Around... Comes Around’ by Justin Timberlake
JT intertwines a lot of Hindustani motifs in this song, from chord progressions to instrumentation. We love how the completely Western song was able to introduce a different culture into the mainstream, especially as we were growing up. We did a rendition back in 2009, that still is iconic in our eyes.
‘Om Shanti Om’ from Karz, by Kishore Kumar
Lots of brass, gang vocals, and obscure songs — sounds like the perfect recipe for an acappella track (hint hint!). Kishore Kumar sounds almost like two different voices through the song, and the rendition to us feels experimental at a time when hit songs weren’t as pumped up and excited, but rather traditional love songs. Sounds like our kind of jam!
A calming vibe
‘Easy’ by The Commodores
Light acoustic feel to this one, and a thinner score for us to take advantage of, and showcase the background vocals on acappella.
‘Bol Na Halke’ from Jhoom Barabar Jhoom by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
A group favourite! Tabla and percussion work super well here, and allow us to show that acappella really is about using your whole body. We also love how Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s voice carries here, and we imagine adding some harmonies to some sections to contribute!
Hot right now
‘Blinding Lights’ by The Weeknd
Fast-paced, action-packed, and lots of synthetics make for a completely different mix. We’d probably make this more R&B and slow it down, almost a remix. The end result would still do justice to The Weeknd’s incredible vocals!
‘Illegal Weapon 2.0’ from Street Dancer 3D
Love the steel drum for beatboxing, and the flute-like instruments in the background. There isn’t much else to go off of, but one thing acappella is great for is creating something out of very little.
Wildcard entries
‘Bad Guy’ by Billie Eilish
Initially, this feels just like a single bassline and harmonic vocals, but we envision a cover of this song to have arpeggios to contrast the bassline, as well as probably sampling from Justin Bieber’s remix!
‘Taare Zameen Par’ by Shankar Mahadevan
The bells, children’s voices as gang vocals, and multiple lead vocals allow for an acappella group to take advantage of the number of moving parts here, and put a spin on an otherwise simpler 2-chord song. In fact, we’re soon releasing a music video for this song mashed up with a Coldplay classic. We won’t say too much, but needless to say, we’ve always been a fan of this song!
We would love to know how you are keeping busy at home. Tell us what you are listening to, at metro@thehindu.co.in