Chirag Todi is a songwriter, guitarist, singer and composer based in India. He founded Heat Sink a couple years ago, which put him on the map. His compositions won awards and accolades, which further gifted him some fantastic collaborations, for instance with maestro A.R. Rahman on an original song, You Got Me. They’ve collaborated on more songs with industry titans Clinton Cerejo, Bianca Gomes and Mickey McCleary, and shot professional music videos for these releases as well.
Being a guitarist at heart, Chirag thrives through collaboration. When the world shut down in 2020, even though he ventured into his solo project during the first lockdown, he got in touch with various artists and producers to create new songs, which gave birth to his debut EP, Panodrama. A multi-genre six-track EP, it featured some of the finest artists in the country. He then took it out for a spin last year in May when he toured the country, where he turned heads with his music. His last two releases also marked various firsts. Paper Boats took a turn towards the jazz ballad space, followed by another tour with the collaborators themselves. And more recently, his track Spiced Lemonade marked his singing debut with Dot. We spoke to him about the same below.
What is the song about?
Living in the moment and going with the flow is sometimes the best thing in a relationship. Spiced Lemonade takes the listener through a casual day in a romantic relationship where they’re aimlessly spending time together without being concerned about what’s to come.
How did the collaboration come about?
I composed a pop sketch with a catchy guitar riff and sent it to Divyang to create a produced demo. I then shared it with Dot. and she immediately came on board and put words and melody to it. We met over Zoom calls to finish the composition. We got Marc Damania from Netherlands to play the bass on it. Divyang Arora produced and arranged the track from Ahmedabad. The entire collaboration was done remotely. After the final recordings and production, we got Nirmit Shah to mix the track and Drona Acharya to master it, who are both based in Bombay. Divyang, Nirmit, Marc and I have worked together on Desire, and brought in a strong rhythm section and sound to Spiced Lemonade as well. Dot. And I met in Bangalore to shoot the artwork with Saasmit.
What is in the pipeline for you?
This song is part of my upcoming album which entails collaborations with several prominent indie artists across India and boasts its diverse genres and themes. I am planning to do an album launch tour along with gigs leading up to the launch.
And what’s in store for Spiced Lemonade?
Dot. and I are planning to join each others’ upcoming gigs as guest artists to perform Spiced Lemonade live. The tour will be followed by the music video shoot which will be released later to re-ignite the song. The video will be out before Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies movie where Dot. stars and her music features in the film as well. The music video will be directed by Hawwa and will cast Santana, who are both part of The Archies.
Words Hansika Lohani
Date 13-04-2023