2022 recap: Desi songs that went global this year

As we wave the year goodbye, we reminisce the trends that left us in splits or made us shed a tear. Social media left everyone in a tizzy and so did the things that caught people’s attention. Here is a look at some desi songs that went global due to their fan appeal, catchy tunes or iconic steps.

The pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns hit the entire world hard. While we stagger to normalcy, China is still facing the brunt of the virus along with millions of its citizens. Faced with food shortages, several Chinese took to social media platform Douyin, dressed in sarees and kurtas, with an empty bowl in hand and sang the words to the Mithun Chakraborty-starrer Jimmy Jimmy Aaja Aaja. The song was composed by late musician Bappi Lahiri. In Mandrin, the song roughly translates to ‘Give me rice’.

Featuring actors Sidharth Malhotra and Katrina Kaif, the song took the international media by storm. It was first performed by Norwegian dance crew The Quick Style at a wedding. They created the hook step that was later recreated by many celebs, including host Jimmy Fallon and singer Demi Lovato. Even a group of children from an NGO in Uganda shot to fame with a recreation of the song.

Composed by AR Rahman and sung by Nooran Sisters, the song took off this year when an old clip of the singers performing it live went viral and triggered a barrage of creators and dancers that posted videos dancing to this high-powered song on social media. Recently, DJ Snake and Spanish music producer Wade teamed up to create an official remix of the original hit titled Guddi Riddim.

Featuring actor Nora Fatehi, O Saki Saki caused a dizzy across social media platforms in India and the world as users took to dancing to the song’s hook step. It quickly climbed the trend list with both young and old dancing to the number. An NRI bride, accompanied by her father, performed on this song at her wedding as part of her father-daughter dance as well. Sung by B Praak, Neha Kakkar and Tulsi Kumar, the song was composed by Tanishq Bagchi. It was originally composed by musician duo Vishal-Shekhar and is a remake of the 2004 hit number from the film Musafir.

Srivalli (Pushpa: The Rise 2021)

This song appeared at number 10 on Google’s list of the most-searched song this year. Srivalli, sung by singers Sid Sriram and Javed Ali from the 2021 film Pushpa: The Rise, features actors Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna. People from the neighbouring country of Pakistan along with Canada and the US searched for this song as well. Some creative users have even remixed this song with singer Justin Bieber’s Love Me and performed to it.

Saami Saami (Pushpa: The Rise 2021)

Another song from Pushpa: The rise that went viral was Saami Saami. While Indians all over the country and the world took to recreating the iconic step by Madanna, one young girl caught everyone’s eye. Even Snoop Dogg re-shared the video on social media praising it, while Madanna appreciated the little dancer as well. Another video featuring a group of Russian women also went viral as they danced to the song on the streets of Moscow.

Chaand Baaliyan (2020)

Ranked number three on Google’s most-searched song in April, Chaand Baaliyan by singer Aditya A went viral on social media two years after its initial release. It quickly became a fan favourite for content creators to use as the background score for their mini vlogs among other videos. While several singers posted their version of the track, the video that caught everyone’s attention was a cover posted by Dutch singer Emma Heesters.