Guidelines for having fun

Express News Service

Earlier this month singer-lyricist Vineet Singh Hukmani became the first artiste in the world to have six, number one singles on the European Independent Top 100 music charts in 2021. And on Thursday, he released a topical funk-pop track called ‘WTF. Where’s the Fun’ pays an ode to the memories of going to cinema halls and multiplexes to watch movies.

WTF is also an ode to movies being fun, he says, “The video was made to create the link with missing ‘big screen fun’. However, fun is different things for different people so I did not want the literal meaning of the lyrics to be generically about the movies.”

For Hukmani, fun means going out to eat or drink on a whim, drive to nearby places for long weekends or just land up at a friend’s place and surprise them.  Set against the backdrop of movie theatre screen, the video of WTF showcases iconic scenes of cinematic characters in sync with the song. WTF uses both real and digital layered drums, basslines bordering on disco grooves with a modern-day vocal sound.

The overall mix is a retro vibe. “I wanted to do a song in the funk-pop genre, as with each release this year. I chose hot funk because this genre refuses to fade away with time. The sound changes a bit over the years but the essence sparkles. Secondly, I wanted to do a song that made people dance and blow off steam. No one should stop enjoying life. If we take precautions like wearing a mask and keeping social distancing, we can overcome dreary situations,” adds the self-taught artist, who believes in learning new things from people around, be it singing, diction, mixing, mastering or marketing.”

The song emphasises the question ‘Where’s the Fun’ but also replies saying — it’s right here when you want it to be. Lyrically, it also provokes the ‘hoarders’. “People have a lot of party clothes but don’t dance in them. They have a funky ride but don’t drive in it. They have 1,000 numbers on their phone but don’t call their friends! It intends to push the listener to put their locked up possessions to some ‘fun use’,” says Hukmani, adding, that he is a reformed hoarder who is still learning to let go. “Just the other day, I gave away some great clothes, shoes, and gadgets because I was not able to use these in the pandemic. But the people I gave them to were very happy,” he adds.