Anshul Garg opens up on his musical collaboration with Selena Gomez

After delivering tracks like Guli mata and Zaalima Indian music producer Anshul Garg shares that he is set to release a song in collaboration with American singer Selena Gomez next year Garg who had until now not confirmed his association with the singer tells midday that they are set to shoot soonIn this interview he shares why his keen interest in artistes from the west is beneficial for Indian music and its musiciansEdited excerpts from the interviewHow did your association with Selena come aboutI did my first international collaboration for a song called Guli Mata When I made that song and made my team hear it they opined that half of the song was incomprehensible But we know that when south music became popular in the north many people from that area also did not understand the lyrics but grooved to the music nonetheless Also while traveling abroad I heard a lot of French and Afro music and enjoyed them So I was keen to be part of international collaborations Eventually the song did pretty well on the global charts In fact we received an award for it in the UAE recently I subsequently collaborated with other international artistes and kept building relationships with them and their management teams Now apart from Selena we are in talks with to three to four big artistes In 2025 or 2026 I should be able to bring them to IndiaWhat can you share about the song that yoursquove done with herSelena is an icon and everyone I meet knows who she is Even in India she is a celebrated name She has never come here though Wersquove locked the song and have decided which Indian singer should render it but thatrsquos a detail I am not permitted to reveal just yet Itrsquos a Hindi and English number and wersquoll have clarity around when it can be released after we shoot it next year probably in MarchWhat sparked your interest in creating fusions with artistes from the westA lot of people told me to train my attention on the Indian market and criticised me for changing the positioning of Indian music Theyrsquod tell me that this development would lead people to forget our own music But I believe the things I am doing will help take Indian music to the global stage When Irsquom in Los Angeles I donrsquot hear any Indian songs there While I am at a restaurant Irsquod like to listen to at least two to three Indian numbers Hopefully in the next five years we will see that happening Punjabi numbers are becoming so popular in the west It will boom in the next three yearsSo I feel Indian music will be the next big thing in the world You will see international artistes becoming inclined towards Indian music and international actors putting Indian songs on their social media reels Thatrsquos going to happen really soon What makes you so confident about this statementIrsquove been in this industry for eight years and have seen the conversation around Indian music change in the last two years Irsquove been talking to many artistes abroad and they are all keen to come to India and collaborate with the musicians here Martin Garrix is collaborating with Arijit Singh nowHave there been instances when you collaborated with an international artiste but had to shelve the song because it didnrsquot feel rightMany times Recently I collaborated with a female Russian artiste We were in discussion for months and suddenly I felt it wasnrsquot right If I get bored of the song too soon then I will shelve it We aim to be at the Grammys Hopefully we should be nominated in 2026 or 2027 For that we need to be very sure about what we do Working on an international number takes time because therersquos a whole lot of paperwork involved We also want to ensure that the Indian and international parts are appropriately included Itrsquos a process that takes eight months So we make five to six songs with all the artistes that we work with and shelve most of them We retain only one or twoIs there any artiste yoursquore keen to join hands withDrake and The Weeknd Those will be very exciting Getting them to India and having them sing a line or two in our language will also be very exciting