Pop Carn Music Review

Pop Carn

Ever since I heard that "PopCarn" had music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja, I've been looking forward to the album. It's an album that's supposed to have Eastern-Western fusion, and I thought if there's any music director who could do that theme well, it's YSR.

And on several levels, several songs in "PopCarn" satisfy. "Kaadhalaagi Kaninthathu" is no doubt one of the best songs I've heard in a very long time.

And as a whole, the album is very good. Unfortunately, "PopCarn" does not meet the (possibly unfair) very high standards I set for it. It's an album I like a great deal, and already have listened to many many times, but it's not excellent. It's no "Nandhaa," for example.

So it's a great album, just not a historic one.



1. Amma Inga Vaa.

Oh why, Yuvan? Why? Why do you have to write such soft melodious music, and when you have some okay lyrics to go with it, why would you give that song to someone with an unmelodious voice like Nasser? This is a good song -- except for Nasser. His voice just isn't suited for singing, I'm sorry. He wrecks the song and really brings it down. This is a: Between a Mediocre and a Nice.

2. Antha Seema Durai.

The song starts as a nice village song with something to say. But then the REAL song starts and what we have is the usual dappaanguthu folk love song with dumb lyrics. It's not bad; it's just not my kind of song. This album is not meeting my expectations AT ALL yet. It's a: Nice.

3. Kaadhalaagi Kaninthathu.

Listening to the other songs, I was bored by "PopCarn." And then, I put in this song, and my God -- I sat rapt, hooked on every word. What else can I say? Excellent lyrics, excellent music (which build slowly to a heck of a climax as the song progresses), and excellent singing by SPB; this song is, simply speaking, another feather in his cap. It's just beautiful, and is probably the song I most like released in recent times. Just beautiful. Best song of the album? Almost certainly. I can't wait to see this one picturized. Excellent.

4. Kaneeyan Ponkundraan.

And here we have a semi-Carnatic semi-Western number with some very interesting lyrics. The song is about how all the songs of the world are, in the end, the same. It's a very good (if not likely to be popular) number, and even involves a duel between a mridangam and a Carnatic vocalist. However, the worst part is that at the end of the song, the functional Carnatic music gives way to folk, and the lines "Bompuchukkum Bompuchukkum," and nonsense like this. Yuvan, the song's pretty good until the end, and then it's not. Very Nice.

5. Theme Music.

Some nice music here for the theme. It's around two-and-a-half minutes long of instrumentals. Some very soft nice stuff that was good for the ear. However, nothing spectacular, and somehow, there doesn't seem to be a perfect line of continuity through the music; it seems more like a collection of different music than one musical piece. Nice.

6. Naan Vachaen Laysaa.

And what would a modern music album be without at least one suggestive slightly raunchy song? "Naan Vachaen Laysaa" fills that role in this album. It's got pretty good music, okay lyrics, and good singing by the two leads. It's not going down as one of my favorites, but it's all right. Between a Nice and a Very Nice.

7. Poovellaam Paaraattum.

Some new innovative music, a great beat, great singing, and some okay lyrics (though sometimes they get really funny -- "Boys and girls, neettunga / Old ways-kku tata ... / Oh white folks, naamellaam / Oh singing stars-thaan"). This has a great beat, though, and is very danceable. This one's a: Very Nice.

Pudhukottayilirundhu Saravanan Music Review

Pudhukottayilirundhu Saravanan

Yuvan Shankar Raja’s growth in Tamil film music is exponential. The youngest of all music
directors creates magic with fully westernized music and mesmerizes the youth nowadays. Also
the producers are more interested in bringing youth to the theatre by doing youthful subjects
and undoubtedly Yuvan is the right choice for scoring such films and he is doing a good job all
the time. The most important thing is he is capable to score any kind of song Melodies, Fast
numbers, Gana songs, Classical, Remixes etc., currently he is the minimum guarantee music
director of Tamil film music. After great hit albums like Kadhal konden and Kurumbu Yuvan has
come up with yet another youthful album “Pudhukottayilirundhu Saravanan”.

1) Naatu sarakku
Singers: Danush, Ranjith, Lavanya

This is usual College Gana song and a good dance number. This song is definitely going to
become hit like “Manmada Rasa”. But the lyrics are a bit Vulgar. Usually heroes like
Kamalhaasan,Vijay and Simbhu sing some songs for themselves and Danush gets added to the
list by this song. His voice is okay for a Gana song. Even his voice is good and fits the rhythm of
the song. The beats in the song is that of “sight adippom dum adipom” song. The “thaarare
thaarare” chorus bit is good. It has become a trend now to end such songs with some funny
dialogues and it is done in this song also.

2) Malargale
Singer: Bombay Jayshree

This is a classic soulful melody and the best song in this album. If the tune and the music make
50% impact the rest is the sweet voice of Bombay Jayshree. Apt voice chosen. The song starts
with a sound of disturbed water. In the pallavi he uses soft beats in the background and when it
comes to saranam you can listen only the voice and some sounds without any beats in the
background that elevates the feel. The song ends with the sound of vessel disturbed. He has
used some material sounds more than musical instruments in this song. The sound effects are
good, real and crystal clear.

3) Where do We Go
Singer: Yuvan Shankar Raja

Unfortunately, this song lasts only for 3.5 minutes. It sounds like a soft rock song. The guitar is
well used in this song. Yuvan himself has sung this song and proves that he is a good singer
too. He is becoming monotonous in singing and doesn’t try different but only this kind of songs
suits his voice let him better continue the same. I think Yuvan is fond of this chant “Who ho ho
ho” because often he uses this is many of his songs particualry the songs that he sing himself
and in this song too.

4) Pudhu Kaalam
Singer : Ranjith, Chinmayee

This is another melody song in this album but similar to “malargale” but it is duet and the voice
gives a complete fresh feel to the song. Ranjith who has sung additional tracks of the film
”Kadhal konden” has sung this song well. Chinmayee's voice is sweet,sweeter and sweetest and
her pronunciation is good. The lyrics are also good. The soft beats sounds for the whole song
and as like his father he has used group violin pieces at the end of each line in the first saranam
and it is well composed and good to listen. But later in the second saranam for the first line the
song ends with a flute bit but stops there then the song continues without any instrument piece
in the end of each line it would have been better if flute bit is used at the end all the lines in
second saranam.

5) Baby baby
Singers: Carla, Yuvan

It is a 100% westernised song. You could not believe that it is a Tamil song until you hear the
Tamil lyrics .The song starts with English lyrics sung by a foreign singer Carla and then Yuvan
continues and fills the rest of the song. Again the guitar is well used in this song. The
saxophone interlude is good. The lyrics are average. The song ends with sounds of different
percussions which is well organized and composed. You like at the moment you hear but easily
forgettable song. Again he has used “woh ho ho” chant in this song also.

6)Pudhukottai saravana
Singers:Kunal, Hema sardhesai, Nitish

This is a fast number and a western song again. The guitar interludes are good. The lyrics is
good first part goes like giving advice for a person how to manage and live in a strange foreign
place and the rest is like admiring the beauty of the places.

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.