Singers expected to dress and look a certain way is an additional pressure, feels singer-composer Payal Dev.

“We are expected to look and dress a certain way and I feel it is an added pressure. Like you cannot turn up at an event in normal clothes, looking casual or without makeup. Apart from singing, you have to look good, too,” Payal said.
However, she is all praise for Arijit Singh for not adhering to the trend.

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“There is one exception, which is Arijit Singh. You will never see him wearing loud makeup and showy clothes, he looks just normal and that’s his style. Every singer has their style. Styling is very important but I feel but music is even more important. At the end of the day it’s your music that will matter and not your look.”

Payal collaborated with rapper Badshah last year for the song “Genda phool”, which became a viral hit. How does it feel? “I grew up listening to ‘Boroloker biti lo’, my mother used to sing it. I never thought I would get an opportunity to sing the song this way and it would be a superhit! It’s a big thing for me,” replied the singer.

However, along with success came the share of controversy because the makers did not initially give credit to veteran folk artiste Ratan Kahar, the original creator of the song. Plagiarism charges came up.

“It (the controversy) didn’t affect me. I’ve grown up listening to this song, as I just mentioned and I’ve always known it as a folk song. We all know that nobody can have a ‘right’ on folk songs. Of course, we would have given him the credit but Ratan Kahar ji’s name is not registered anywhere as the creator of the song. This was a misunderstanding that happened. However, Badshah Bhai has helped Ratan Kahar ji after whatever happened and Sony also released another version of the song with him,” she said.

Payal’s latest association is the music reality show “Indian Pro Music League”. The singer-composer went down memory lane to recall her bitter experience in a music reality show after which she never took part in any. However, Payal is happy to be a part of IPML.

“I’ve never done a reality show ever. I remember my mother once wanted me to be a part of a singing reality show, probably in 2007. I went there and there was a lot of rush and long queues, but my mother insisted that I stick to it. I reached till the final auditions but my experience was not nice. I told my mother that I’m not interested in doing a reality show again. After that I started preparing for playback music,” she recalled.

“Now, Indian Pro Music League has offered me to be a team captain and I’m so happy. It’s a nice platform that brings so many talented artistes together. This is how I wanted to take part in a music reality show!” Payal said, about her experience of working in the Zee TV show.