The Singles Jukebox

A sight better than the last go-round on the Jukebox…

[Video][Website]
[6.17]

Will Adams: A solid line-up of performers, but those synth stabs — thudding on almost every downbeat — sap any potential energy.
[5]

Gaya Sundaram: I love this song structure, but A .R. Rahman does it little favour with the overpowering synths. The music during the “verses” distracts from what are the real heroes of this song — the lyrics and singing. Lyricist Thaamarai uses a simple vocabulary for “Thalli Pogathey,” but the pure Tamil words, when strung together, create a striking image in the listener’s mind. The closed-captioned English subtitles do a pretty good job of interpreting the poetry, though (they also taught me a new translation for “bloom”!. Berklee graduate Sid Sriram imbues the song with the quiet yearning of the words — he sounds so good that I am actually annoyed at A. R. Rahman for (partially) drowning him out. I know this soundtrack will be popular, and even good — but whether it can top Rahman and director Gautham Menon’s Vinaithandi Varuvaya remains to be seen.
[7]

Brad Shoup: Deliberate, maybe a little draggy, but Rahman’s got expert singers to lope alongside the synth stabs.
[7]

Juana Giaimo: Sid Sriram’s voice is warm and gives the repetitive and steady synth chords a human sensibility. The voice moves up and down aimlessly, but always finding its own path. ADK’s verses at the end doesn’t add a lot, but they aren’t annoying either. Above all, there is a sense of harmony and freedom, personified by Aparna Narayanan’s closing vocals. 
[7]

Ian Mathers: Does it feel to anyone else like this song is steadily building towards a climax that never really comes? Yeah, there’s the bit when the singing gets a bit faster, but the production just keeps on vamping in the background. The video makes it seem a bit like this is the aural equivalent of a behind-the-scenes feature, anyway.
[4]

Iain Mew: Once I came to read the translated subtitles, I found that the words were more urgent than I had imagined. Its gorgeous arrangement and Siriam’s vocal conjure so many drifts of fluffy cloud, after all. It works as a time-is-running-out moment poised on action too, though, particularly the way that it ends just as ADK and a burst of melody sounding vaguely like “Sorry” are about to blow the clouds away.
[7]