In the Spotlight with Anoop Desai
The Industry Connect
Season 8 American Idol contestant, Anoop Desai, is back in the spotlight after releasing his debut music video, “All Is Fair (Crazy Love)”. The video, which premiered on Billboard.com on February 3, shows Desai’s desperate attempt to swoon his lover, though not without being shot through, electrocuted, and set on fire.
“When [director Jeff Tomsic and I] first got together and decided to do this video, we had a couple calls talking about the message of the song and how to convey that in a way that wasn’t boring,” the singer says of the video’s concept. “The song is about being too blind to see that what you’re doing is not necessarily the best thing for you at that time. It’s tongue-in-cheek, it’s a little over-the-top, but it’s something that is funny and gets the message across. I really wanted to have something that wasn’t going to be ordinary…it wasn’t going to be the typical club scene. [I wanted] people to understand what the song was written about and have it be visually appealing and fun at the same time.”
“All Is Fair (Crazy Love)” is the second single to drop from Desai’s EP, “All Is Fair”, which was released in May of 2010. Since then, the artist has released two singles and one music video, worked behind-the-scenes to write his songs, and performed in venues around the nation.
Throughout the past two years, Desai claims that the hype of being an artist, including its difficulties, is truly all that he expected it would be.“The hardest thing for me is the public part of it...being who I am and trying to be true to myself, which is always who I want to present my fans with,” he comments. “Being out there all the time and putting your emotions into song can leave you a bit vulnerable sometimes. That’s the hardest part of being an artist is getting over that vulnerability and accepting it.”
More than anything, the artist credits American Idol for preparing him for the sharks of the music industry. “Vulnerability is all that show is. You’re putting yourself out there musically, performing on TV and standing in front of people and getting judged. It really is a great preparation. I’m not sure that I’d be as in-tune with what I have to do were it not for Idol. I’m definitely grateful for that,” he says.
Desai auditioned for season 8 of the hit reality show and became the first contestant in the show’s history to advance as the thirteenth finalist. Though a fan of the show, the singer admits that he has yet to catch an episode since the departure of judges Simon Cowell, Kara DioGuardi, and Ellen Degeneres.
“I haven’t yet to be honest with you,” he confesses. “I just moved to Atlanta and my TV was late getting here and I haven’t gotten a chance to get a DVR. I’m sure I’ll get a chance to catch up with it throughout the season.”
Though moving prevented him from seeing the first few weeks of Idol’s new season, relocating to Atlanta offers Desai opportunities unlike any other. He states, “I’m getting a lot of great support in Atlanta. The thing I love about being down here is that I get a very community-oriented sense about this town. I was working a lot down here on “Zero”, which is the name of the trilogy of EP’s that I have coming out. I was working with DJ Trauma and a lot of producers in the area, and it just made sense for me to relocate. It’s a cool town, it’s close to my home, and it’s thriving. The cool thing about Atlanta is that it’s growing. People are discovering that this is a place for pop, for rock, for country, for everything. It’s a really cross-genre nexus, which is really cool.”
Even prior to his relocation, the singer announced his work on an upcoming trilogy project. “Since the last EP came out, I’m trying to hone what I do as a writer and as a producer as well. The result of that is that I have 3 projects coming out this year, so it’s a really busy year for me writing and producing and doing stuff in the studio,” he says.
The project, entitled “Zero Trilogy” is slated for release in mid to late March. “Each project is book-ended by a remake of a classic soul song and at the backend is a remix of one of the songs that was on my first EP. [The goal is] to really give people a sense of evolution, but staying grounded in the things that inspire me,” Desai shares.
He adds, “I’ll have about 25-30 tracks coming out on 3 EP’s (Zero, Zero Point One, and Zero Point Two) all coming out in 2011.”
As for what fans can expect later in the year, Desai states, “It’s all about getting this first mix tape done and out. We’re taking a lot of time with it because we want it to be perfect. The second and third are coming out later this year, so I’m sure it’ll be a pretty steady stream of recording, writing, and hopefully performing a lot.”
Credits: Anoop Desai, Lillie Mae, The Industry Connect
© Veronika Tacheva, 2010. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without written permission from the author is strictly prohibited.
