Mithoon on content creators making bad covers of his songs: It bothers me

Classic songs being remade has always been a subject of debate and in most cases, the recreated versions face criticism from audiences as well as the original singer and composer. But what bothers music composer Mithoon is when Youtubers, influencers and content creators tweak his songs into covers and they are not up to the mark.

Referring to one of his most popular tracks, Tum Hi Ho from Aashiqui 2, the musician says he ahs lost count of the times the song has been recreated in various forms.

“There are Hindustani recitals of the song, violin covers, flute covers and so on. At one point, the American artiste T-Pain also picked up the melody and reproduced the song, after which we had reached out to him legally because we didn’t obtain official rights. I understand you can’t control such things after a point, but definitely it’s not that I accept all of those versions, because many of them are not even properly done,” explains Mithoon.

There is a “certain spirit and detailing” of the song, asserts the singer, which cannot and should not be tampered with. He elaborates, “I’m not getting into the legality or licencing, but I know that all the original credits have to be given priority before any kind of reinterpretation is done. And even then, there is something that is sacrosanct and divine about the melody of the song, which should not be touched.”

The musician further elucidates how while working on a song, specific details are taken into consideration to make the song sound the way it is. “There’s a word in my song which is very uncanny, it’s Kyunki. It comes right before Tum hi Ho. It’s not a very musical word and the way I wrote it, it’s supposed to be a catalyst between the line before that and then going into the chorus,” he continues, “But in 90% of the covers, I’ve observed that word is never sung the way it is supposed to be sung. And that bothers me. I know it’s not a crime and only a few people will get it right, while others won’t. But if a recreation is not done right, it definitely is not my song.”

Asked if he feels perturbed by the whole concept of recreating music, Mithoon says enough conversations have already happened on this topic.

“We all know very well that original music is what actually inspires us — listeners and creators. Maybe five years ago, this was really the trend. People were really talking about this. At present, there is enough original content coming out and I personally believe in creating fresh music. That’s what gave us Sanam Re, Aashiqui, or Kabir Singh,” he says, adding, “I have no reason to take the route of the recreations myself, unless it’s done for a thematic reason.”