MUMBAI: VYRL Originals’ latest song, Aaya Na Tu has managed to strike the right chord with the audience. Featuring Arjun Kanungo and Pakistani singer Momina Mustehsan, the song is a heartfelt tale of being left behind in love. Universal Music Group India and South Asia and EMI Records India Senior Vice President Vinit Thakkar calls this a magical collaboration as he shares the story behind it in an exclusive chat with Radioandmusic.

Tell us about ‘Aaya Na Tu’. How did this collaboration with Arjun Kanungo happen?

It’s actually a very interesting story. I met Arjun one day when he had come with one of my legendary artist Rishi Rich. We had a normal conversation. I asked Arjun about what he has been up to off lately. On this, he said, ‘nothing, just looking for interesting ideas and songs to do.’ I, then, told him that we should try and see if we can work together. On this, he replied, ‘I would love to.’ But, at that point in time, neither he nor did I had any idea of what we were going to do. Later, when the idea of Aaya Na Tu came to my mind, I called Arjun and told him, ‘I have a very interesting idea. Would you like to do this?’ On this, he said, ‘Yeah! Sure, who is the artist?’ and I said, ‘Momina’ and he said, ‘I have heard of Momina, but can you give me some time to get back to you.’ He actually got back to me after five minutes and said, ‘I’m on’.

You are also working with Pakistani singer, Momina Mustehsan with this single. How did you get her on board?

We were simultaneously in touch with Momina and we wanted to present her in a very different way and do something very interesting with her single. I had earlier thought that if Arjun and Momina like the idea of collaboration, it might just turn out to be great as it had everything right in terms of the collaboration. So, after Arjun said yes for the collaboration, we called Momina and asked her if she would like to do her first single as collaboration with a very young and talented artist from India, Arjun Kanungo. She knew about Arjun and she said ‘I would love to.’

 Since both of them were ready, Arjun then sent me a song, a basic melody within two days. I was super surprised at the speed at which he turned it around. And when I heard the melody, I was like ‘this is amazing’. I made my team listen to it. Everybody loved it. We then played it to Momina, she loved it and that’s how the whole Aaya Na Tu came about.

How was the experience of working with both Arjun and Momina?

We are working with both Momina and Arjun for the first time, but I can tell you that it has been such a wonderful experience to work with both of these artists. The good part is that they are not only talented, intelligent, but they are amazing human beings. Arjun and Momina are extremely practical, hardworking and committed. I never felt that this was the first time that we were working with two new artists. It was a fabulous experience. In fact, today, I can comfortably say that I can call both Arjun and Momina as my friends.

Since, its launch, VYRL Originals has launched many new artists like Rahul Mishra and others. How has the journey been so far?

 I think the journey so far has been fantastic. It’s very encouraging that all our partners, be it streaming, television, radio, everyone has supported us in this journey. I think the consumers have given a fantastic feedback with all the new artists that we have launched so far. We are excited as well as happy the way things are shaping up. We will continue to push ourselves to do better with every single and push the envelope and bring great songs, great videos for the consumers.

What are the upcoming projects VYRL Originals is working on?

There is a lot of interesting stuff that we are doing about which I am unable to give details. All I can say is that we will continue with our enthusiasm and passion for launching new artists, working with established artists and doing interesting collaborations like we did with Arjun and Momina. So, a lot of such interesting singles are in the pipeline and we are looking forward to it.

Aaya Na Tu produced by VYRL Originals and EMI Records India has garnered over 12 million views on YouTube.