For artist Jay Stellar, pursuing music as a career choice is not an easy thing. But neither should it be easy, as then, everybody would just be doing the same. “It comes with a lot of sacrifice and there is literally no going back.” Catching up with the artist just in between his promotions for his new song Pacha Parishkari, Jayasoorya SJ or Jay Stellar proved to be a picture of resilience.
Pacha Parishkari, now available on all major platforms, is his newest collaboration with rapper ThirumaLi. The global craze for Latin music continues with this fresh release. Inspired by baile funk, a subgenre of reggaeton, the song fuses Latin rhythms with the artist’s Malayali heritage. The theme decided on was that of a superficial fashion star, in other words, a pacha parishkari. In his own words, “We wanted to denote a generation and a time period where music used to be very cool and a lot of new music like disco and all were introduced to Kerala movies.” Pacha Parishkari, a reworked version of the song Ullasa Poothirikal from the film Meen, is produced under the Saregama music label.
Breaking into the industry
In an age where therapy is an important part of the life of a modern man, it is the creation process that contributes towards Jay Stellar’s happiness. For him, releasing all his pent up creative energy acts as a great stress buster, even if it consists of just playing the piano or composing a tune. “Rather than putting too much pressure on the outcome, if you enjoy the process, I think that’s the greatest thing you can experience as an artist. I take a lot of leap of faith when I do a project and that’s how it goes for me.”
The Malayalam music industry is definitely not an easy nut to crack. But Steller has it all figured out, “I think having a sound that resonates to who you are is the best way to be alive in any music industry,” Heavily focused on movie soundtracks, the independent music scene is still up and coming and to stay in the race, it is best to develop,” an identity that people can listen to” pretty early. Along with having the edge, the artist also boasts 210k monthly listeners on Spotify! Crediting his song Legacy with ThirumaLi behind his crazy reach, the artist also opened up about his song Swaha from Vaazha, his most ambitious project till date.
“Swaha was meant to be an independent release so me and Rakz Radiant, the rapper and collaborator on the song, we already had a tune, a beat structure and a verse.” For the song to make its way into commercial cinema, a meeting with producer Vipin Das seemed to be the long end of the stick.
Introducing catchy beats with Kerala percussive elements, Swaha offers a fresh take on hip hop and adds a layer of colour to the film. In Malayalam, “Swaha” informally means “I’m done,” reflecting the song’s humorous take on overcoming setbacks. It’s the perfect track to listen to when you need a boost.
KCL, Childhood and a Rhythmic expedition: Jay Stellar’s sojourn
With “Eda Mone Kollam Poli Alle” it is also Jay Stellar’s first experience creating music for any sports team. It’s one thing for a song to be played during breaks, but it’s a whole different experience when it becomes the rallying cry for victories, sixes, and catches! Elaborating on this, the artist also shared an unbelievably honest experience on the KCL match grounds.
“I was sitting with a lot of kids, like a lot of kids were behind me. I did not know them, they did not know me. And I think it is during the interval or something, after the first innings, they played the whole song. And one kid behind me, this kid was singing this song. He was just walking, running around and singing this song completely. That really blew my mind because when kids sing this song and they’re like so interested, they’re so thrilled with this experience of sportsmanship, I mean, I don’t know how to explain it, but that was a really great feeling for me.”
Jay Stellar’s childhood is easy to imagine. He remembers carrying around cut-outs of Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, and Justin Timberlake when he was younger.
Never having missed a single telecast of interviews on 9XO and VH1, it is his cousin that got him hooked on to production as early as 2008. The artist says, “He introduced me to his friend, who is a pianist, and he said that this guy uses a software to make music. So I was so eager to know about it and I eventually got that software downloaded. And that’s how I started making music because I started with trial and error.” In spite of pursuing a whole degree in biotechnology, it is music that became his true calling and stayed with him throughout.
Talking about Thericho, the hit producer admitted that things don’t always go as planned. Even though they anticipated a lot for the song, it did not get the attention they were hoping for. He reflected,” Most of the time, it is not because of the quality of the song. It is because of the way it is marketed. I feel like music is just like real estate property right now because it stays in the digital world forever and everybody makes money out of it. The label makes money out of it.”
“Artists make money off of it like it is digital real estate. And the way you market this product and the way people give their attention to this product are very important. You can market a song in a certain way and it should reach the right people and the right people should give their attention to it because now everything is an attention -based industry”
A message to future independent artists
As a co-founder of The Kalaman Collective, Jay Stellar wants to be instrumental in the growth of independent artists who want to make their mark in the industry.
His message is, “Never stop. I guess a lot of people quit very early because they put all their cards into one basket and they try to make a quick hit but what I understood is that you should always stay humble and you should always trust the process. Most importantly, I guess you only lose when you quit and that should be the mindset if you are an artist. Millions of new artists are creating their songs and uploading to all these distribution platforms so there is a lot of noise. That is also a very good opportunity for artists as in between these noises they can try to become the best music.”
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For more information on ThirumaLi’s new releases, read here.
