From plagiarism and weddings to publicity stunts the Indian music industries saw several incidents that grabbed eyeballs in 2020.We did a bit of rewind of all that made good and bad noise over the last 12 months in the world of music :
Neha Kakkar
She seems to have ushered a new age of publicity in the world of Indian pop music, which has been unprecedented, by tying up events in real life with her musical career. Neha, without doubt the most popular female voice in India at the moment, released a new song, "Nehu da viah" just before her wedding on October 24, with singer Rohanpreet Singh. Then, in December, she posted a picture on Instagram along with the news that she was pregnant. A few days later, on December 19, she took to Instagram again, to announce that the pregnancy photo was merely a promotional campaign for her upcoming album, "Khayal Rakhya Kar". That's some labor of love for quick publicity!
Armaan Malik
He bagged his first MTV Europe Music Award for his debut English single "Control". The 25-year-old won the Best India Act award in November.
"I want to thank all my 'Armaanians' across the world who voted for me without whom this would not have been possible. They just shower me with so much love and I feel like the luckiest guy on the planet! Last but not least, this win is dedicated to all those young Indian kids who dare to dream and work hard to make them come true, this is for you. Dream on," he had said after the victory.
Badshah
The rapper faced plagiarism accusations over his single "Genda phool" soon after it released in March. Once the song was dropped, netizens pointed out portions of the song had been taken from Ratan Kahar's Bengali folk song "Boroloker biti lo". In return, Badshah deposited Rs 5 lakh to the veteran folk artiste's bank account.
In August, Badshah courted controversy again. This time he got named in connection with the fake social media followers scam. While the Mumbai Police looked into it, the rapper denied any involvement in the scam.
Sonu Nigam
After actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death in June, many celebrities opened up about nepotism and power play in Bollywood. Sonu Nigam was one of them. The singer didn't take any name but called himself a victim of a power play by a top Bollywood actor. He also alleged that the music industry is run like the mafia. Although he did mention T-Series chairman and MD, Bhushan Kumar, in a video, and warned him "don't mess with me". On July 30, Sonu unveiled his own music label.
Aditya Narayan
This year, Aditya made more news getting married than he has ever done by starring in Bollywood films (as child artiste as well as grown-up star), hosting reality shows, or pursuing a career as a singer. Right from his marriage announcement to updates on the wedding and ongoing honeymoon, Aditya has kept netizens busy following all the blissful things happening in his life. In a year marked by misery, Aditya found a great way to share some joy, if not with music then with happy tidings in real life.
(With IANS Inputs)