Mikey McCleary on Indie English music, Lucky Ali, & the process of making music in the pandemic

The second season of NEXA Music, spearheaded by global icon AR Rahman , is now in motion as Maruti Suzuki India Limited follows the tremendous success of Season 1. NEXA Music Season 2 is ready to roll out their first song, “Rollercoaster,” composed by the renowned music composer Mikey McCleary along with the super winners of Season 1- Simetri Sisters, Nisa Shetty and Heat Sink taking the anticipation one step further. The winners of Season 1 are given the opportunity to raise the curtain of the new season on this ground-breaking platform, with the second season’s opening song ‘Rollercoaster’ making NEXA Music a platform that is first of its kind. Mikey McCleary is an award-winning composer, songwriter and music composer/producer who has worked extensively in the Indian music industry as well as internationally with an assortment of artists ranging from the Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman to actress/singer to Priyanka Chopra ( _Quantico_ ) has composed the opening song “Rollercoaster”. McCleary has done a fair bit of work in the Hindi film industry as well, with films like Margarita with a Straw , Shaitan , Shanghai , and _Shaandaar_ , with _Nautanki Saala_ being his first full-out film as a music director. In an interview with McCleary, the musician spoke about his favourite project to work on, music during the pandemic, Nexa Music, and more. Following are the excerpts from the conversation; What do you think of Nexa as a platform to uplift Indie English Music artists? I feel it’s needed, very much needed because India is such a huge country, with such diverse people, so of course, not everyone is listening to Hindi music or Punjabi music. There are people who have an ear for English music, but they reach out to international creations for that, because within India, English music which is of course Indie, isn’t very massive. In such a scene, Nexa provides a much-needed platform and reach to English music artists, as well as to an audience that does want to hear such music but is unable to discover it.

How was it collaborating with the season 1 winners, Nisa Shetty, Simetri, and Heat Sink? It was great of course, but if I am, to be honest then there wasn’t a lot of collaboration in the sense, that there wasn’t a lot of back and forth, between their inputs and my inputs. It was collaborating in the sense, that they did their part as singers, and I did mine as the composer and creative lead. We were working remotely, so I basically just gave them sections they had to sing, which they did and that was pretty much it. So it wasn’t a really collaborative process, but it was nice, I mean they are great artists, but as far as the creative decisions go, I was the one making it. You’ve worked in several Indian films, like Shaitan, Margarita With A Straw, etc. Which was your favourite project to work on? Honestly, I think Margarita With A Straw out of all the Indian films I’ve worked on because it was obviously the one that was made more for a global ear, and its sensibilities were more to my liking, but of course it’s like comparing apples and oranges, so all of them are dear to me, but this one because they was a lot of creative freedom to work around with, so I enjoyed it more personally. You said earlier in an interview, that the reason you came to India, was Lucky Ali? Yes, that’s true. He is phenomenal, and I’ve just finished and have started to release a new album with Lucky 2-3 months back, and it’s called Intezzar. There’s another one as well, that is supposed to release soon in a couple of weeks, known as Mohabbat. I’ve already released 3 albums with him, and I’ve always had a great connection with him, so it’s always a fun process. I find it extremely joyful to sit with him in a studio and work over some very interesting music, however, this time around, it was remote, largely due to the pandemic, but still, we’ve created some very enjoyable music together. How do you think the process of creating music has changed in the pandemic? I think it has become remote obviously, everyone is working out of their homes, so naturally, you miss the joy of coming together and jamming, but there’s also pros, like due to the remote working that the pandemic imposed on us, now a let’s say, violinist sitting in New York, can think of collaborating with a musician in India. So it’s opened many doors like that, and brought the world closer together in that sense. To sum it up, there are pros and cons, so you should just look at the silver lining, and find the joy in that. Takshi Mehta is a freelance journalist and writer. She firmly believes that we are what we stand up for, and thus you’ll always find her wielding a pen. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News ,  India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram