Ready for the world

Jasleen Royal

While a mammoth tour was always on the cards, Heeriya maker Jasleen Royal admits that the success of the recently released Dulquer Salmaan starrer has given her reason to expedite the process. "We are calling it the Heeriye Tour," says Royal, adding, "We are mounting it on a large scale and have been rehearsing dedicatedly. We want to give the attendees a larger-than-life experience. We are heading to 10 cities. Most of the playlist will comprise my independent music, but we'll offer a fresh take on it. The songs won't be like they appear on streaming platforms."

Amid Taylor Swift's ongoing highly successful Eras tour, we ask Royal what it would take for an Indian icon to enjoy the kind of worldwide attention that the American pop icon does. "[In India], the problem is that because we're always doing playback singing, the face of a song, for the audience, is always that of the actor. And only the face of a song enjoys a fan-base. That's what we [are trying to change] via independent music. Heeriye has given me the confidence to [promote myself]. A lot of people told me to give it to a film. But I took that leap of faith. It has become my biggest song to date. With this tour, we just want to give people a wholesome experience. If it goes well, we will be able to set the [bar] for the independent music scene. Indian artistes are as big as international artistes, when it comes to the music industry."

Today in music

September 18, 2014: Taylor Swift bagged the top spot on the US singles' chart with Shake it off. It was Swift's second No.1 single in the United States