People want to hear fresh voices these days: Shaan

Mumbai: Bollywood playback singer Shaan has been in the industry for over a decade now and though fans get to hear him less nowadays, he says he is not choosy about work but things have changed as people want to hear fresh voices.

"There was a time established singers had a chance. But a time comes when people want change... New voices come in. I am happy I have been there for over 20 years," Shaan told reporters here at an event last evening.

"It is not that I am choosy but things change with time," he said. In the recent past, Hindi film music has witnessed many new singers. Among them, Arijit Singh has managed to make a mark for himself with superhits like "Tum Hi Ho", "Mast Magan", "Gerua", "Soch" among others.

When asked if Arijit has now become a huge competition for him, the "Chaand Sifarish" singer said, "No, he has gone way ahead. I would not call him competition. He is doing very well. When a talented person goes ahead it's a good thing for music."

Shaan and music composer Amaal Mallik have come together for "Tum Ho Toh Lagta Hai", a romantic single produced by Bhushan Kumar. Lyrics are penned by Rashmi Virag and the video directed by Aleya Sen, featuring Saqib Saleem and Taapsee Pannu.

"Today Amaal has captured the whole world with his music. He is doing very well," Shaan said. Singer-composer Amaal said he is happy to have teamed up with Shaan for this song.

"The freedom with singles is a song is made first then the story and sometimes we sit together and do the story and song. We balance it out. With singles you can make a simple nice song and you can make a story around it," he added.

Producer Bhushan Kumar of T-Series said it's great that singles are getting popular once again.

"The non-film music was a very big thing in 90s. We want to provide platform to talented people. Today, non-film songs are as popular as film songs. Last week we launched a song with Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and it got three million views in four days. So, it speaks volumes," he added.