Punnagai Poove Music Review

Punnagai Poove

If we were to be asked who's the busiest music director in Tamil cinema today, then the answer is incredibly simple. The answer is Yuvan Shankar Raja, who now has an amazing six albums out at the same time in the market ("PopCarn," "Punnagai Poovae," "Mounam Paesiyathey," "April Maathathil," "Bala," and "Kaadhal Samraajiyam"). The best album out of all of those is still "Mounam Paesiyathey" but I'm hoping "PopCarn" -- released very soon -- will top that.

"Punnagai Poovae" -- an album for a new director who's working with new actors -- at least for now doesn't. It's still a very good album, and the music is actually, in several places, very fresh, very Western, and very innovative. It's, for the most part, the lyrics that bring this "Poovae" down. But still, there are some very good songs on this album.

I was listening to one of the "Punnagai Poovae" songs, and my father walked in and asked me what English song I was listening to. I told him it was a Tamil song. He was very surprised -- that's how Western some parts of "Poovae" are.

A good album with a strong innovative Eastern-Western fusion. Also, YSR usually has a very distinct paint-by-numbers song structure; he's broken free of that and has experimented with song structures as well. It's really interesting to watch this young man grow as a music director in this way.

Oh yes, in keeping with the Western style, this is an album of very short songs. Two of the songs are bit songs, and not a single one of the other songs is longer than four-and-a-half minutes. This leads to clean quick enjoyable listening.

Repeated listening might well make me change my opinion and upgrade the album to a 3.5 / 4, too. Keep posted.


1. Yen Kaadhal -- Yuvan Shankar Raja.

Very innovative. Very fresh. Hummable listenable song. I totally enjoyed this song until we get to the English rap interlude. I have nothing against rap, but the lyrics in the rap are hilarious -- "So why? You never know we rock up in the mother / Ooh-aah, I make 'em watch a twenty-four track, then I / Light your body, I know you got the body" and stuff like this. Still, considering most of the Tamil population isn't going to understand what those rappers are saying anyway... Okay. YSR sings fine, the music is innovative and sharp, and the lyrics -- for the Tamil sections -- are decent. A song I enjoy. A good start to the album. Very Nice.

2. Jogging Seiyum Caesar (Bit Song) -- Shalini.


And here comes possibly the weakest link in the "Punnagai Poovae" armor. The music is usual "faux-sexy," and the lyrics are flat-out dumb and hilarious ("Ziz-zag nadaiyil vanthu / Zoom-zoom paarvai thanthu / Lub-dub veettil nindru / Ivannthaan noottril ondru"). These dumb dumb lyrics and the really not that different from heard-before music mean I don't enjoy the song too much. It is a bit song, so I'm not minding the song too much, though. Between a Mediocre and a Nice.

3. Oru Poonkili -- Srinivas, Prasanna.

And then comes the required folk song. Since it's a folk song, once again the lyrics aren't that good. The beat is nice, but not as innovative and fresh-sounding as some of the other songs. Okay to listen to, but it's not going down in my list of favorites. Nice.

4. Siragaagi Ponathae (Bit Song) -- Susithra Ganga, Kovai Ranjani.

I listened to the first many lines of this song, and I was thoroughly enjoying the melodious beat, the nice lyrics, and the soft singing. And then all of a sudden, there's this whoosh sound, and the song gets much harder -- and much less pleasant to listen to. It's still a good song, but I would have preferred it if it had remained soft throughout. Nice.

5. Thilaakkaeni Gaanaa -- Karthik, Tippu.

Okay, and here comes the song that I know is going to be the biggest hit with the youth population out there. Great beat, nice music, and great singing by both Karthik and Tippu. The problem for me, once again, lies in the lyrics. The lyrics are very average, and at one point, Tippu begins singing, "Wakku wakku wakku." What is that? But the quality of the music and beat and the fun nature of the song are making me disregard the lyrics a little for this one. Very Nice.

6. Vaanam Thoovum -- Harish Ragavendra, Kovai Ranjani.

And boom, we get to the best song on the album. It's a melodious slow love song. Strong lyrics, strong music, and strong singing (of course) by Harish Ragavendra. Kovai Ranjani also does well. I like the lines, "Kaadhal tharum vaedham neethaan... / Naervili thanthathu, vaalkaiyin aarambam." Just a great song. Excellent.

7. Yaeno Uyirmaelae (Bit Song).

And we have another great song. This one's a bit song as well with some great lyrics, great singing, and some really nice music. It should go really well with picturization as well. Very Nice.

8. Venus Venus Pennae -- Devan, Harini.

The two songs that are going to be the biggest hit with the youth audience from this album are "Thilaakkaeni Gaanaa" and this "Venus Venus Pennae" -- another very Western, very modern, very fresh innovative youth song. But once again, despite the great music, the lyrics keep this song from achieving an excellent status. The English rap which comes in the middle of this song also comes complete with ridiculous lyrics, and even the Tamil lines aren't so great in this one. But still, the music is so fresh and innovative that I like this song a lot as well. Very Nice.