Singer Sona Mohapatra recently criticised Jasleen Royal’s opening act at the Coldplay concert that took place in January this year. Several attendees of the concert mentioned that Royal’s performance was ‘bad’ and ‘out-of-tune’. She even refused to call her an ‘artiste’ or even a ‘performer.’
In a conversation with Indie’N Folk Project, Sona shared that when Jasleen was slammed and people claimed she couldn’t sing, it was ‘heartbreaking,’ and that Jasleen sounded terrible at the concert. She said that it was a ‘huge’ stage and an opportunity. “It seemed like someone informed her last minute and there was no band or so, while in reality there were backing singers and a full-fledged band in place,” she added.
Sona added, “It is a lack of foresight and backing merit when it comes to corporates and labels. Maybe you are a good song writer, but it doesn’t mean that you are a good performer as well.”
Further, the Bahara singer stated that just because Jasleen made a video with Dulquer Salmaan (Heeriye), which garnered views, corporates only focus on the number of views. She emphasised that this doesn’t necessarily mean you are a good performer, as there are many worthier performers.
“If there was an actual system of merit, that artiste…”Sona paused to correct herself and refused to use the word ‘artiste.’ She said, “No…” She also declined to use the term ‘performer’ for Jasleen, refusing that as well. “That individual would never be on stage. The heartbreaking part is that the world caught it,” said Sona.
Sona said that it was a ‘heartbreaking’ moment for everyone and they were not celebrating. “I didn’t feel like, ‘If I was there I would have done better’, I was simply feeling bad. You can judge a person by the number of viewers. I don’t know what was the gauge by which she was chosen for it,” she concluded.
