Mohit Chauhan is busy working on a new album these days, one that he hopes to release by the end of this year. The Matargashti singer spoke to us recently about current music trends, his aversion to singing remakes, and more. Excerpts:

Mohit is clear about not singing recreated versions ofold hits. In fact, he even turned down an offer to sing one. Voicing his opinion on the same, he says, “It’s not like I don’t like singing old Hindi songs. I have sung Kishore Kumar ji’s songs on my online channel, but I don’t like the way old songs are recreated. Music directors are deconstructing the songs and remaking them with rap and other elements that probably don’t even go with the song’s essence. As a result, the purity of the original song gets lost, and I don’t support that. These songs need to be treated aesthetically and with a lot of love. ”

Mohit shot to fame with independent music. Be it Dooba Dooba or Boondein, the former Silk Route vocalist’s songs are among the most heard compositions on the indie music scene. Talking about the indie music scenario today, Mohit says that nowadays it gets difficult to differentiate between non-film music and film music.

“Probably the music labels feel that these are the songs that will do well, but the fearlessness to play with different genres is missing on the indie scene today. When we used to create music as a band, there were so many independent musicians and bands that had a distinct style. I think music companies and labels need to identify, pick and push musicians who have the potential to think out of the box and create a unique identity,” he says, adding, “One needs to have a free mind and the ability to delve deep inside to create something beautiful, original and close to their heart.”

Mohit says, “Social media cannot be the measure of a song’s popularity. Jo sangeet-premi hote hai, woh waise bhi gaana sunenge, bhale hi woh gaana social media me popular ho ya nahi. Social media is like instant noodles —it provides instant drama and entertainment, but isn’t a platform to assess good music.”