The concept of music reality shows have evolved over time with the introduction of new trends, MUSBA HASHMI brings you a report

From the age-old Sa Re Ga Ma Pa to the newest Rising Star 3, music reality shows have mushroomed over years. With a variety of concepts they have successfully made their way into everyone’s hearts and each of them promises to offer something different and engaging. Some of them have even introduced the concept of live singing and live voting to make it more intewractive while some still follow the traditional path.

The mesmerising voices and the energy of the contestants are enough to make you fall head over heels for them. Singer-composer Amaal Malik, who is judging Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Lil Champs feels that this increase in music reality shows has also increased the competition in the industry.

 “At one point of time when there were only about three to four reality shows in the space, it was like a shortcut to stardom but today there are many reality shows and it is difficult to make your identity. Today every channel has one singing reality show. It is important to be grounded and one should not take their competition and talent for granted. Being under the guidance of music experts from the industry obviously nudges the contestants and helps them better but at the end it is about the hard-work they put in. Participating in a reality show definitely  helps the contestant to be seen, it develops their confidence and exposes them to a better environment but I also firmly believe that the journey starts when you step into the real world, struggle to make your songs heard and run behind music directors and producers,” he tells you.

Shekhar Rajviani who have been a judge on many shows and have closely witnessed the evolution of music reality shows said: “From being a judge and a mentor in more than 12 music reality shows, I have had the opportunity to closely witness the journey and growth of this phenomenon. Originally conceived as niche, small sized shows, singing reality programmes have grown over the years into massive platforms for people from every walk of life to showcase their talent and get a chance to shine. We now see newer formats emerging with each new show, but what remains the same is the basic foundation of what it takes to be a good singer and performer and that pure talent must ultimately win above all else.”

He tells you that like any other format, music reality shows have to keep reinventing them to maintain the spark and uniqueness. “Live singing has definitely raised the bar in reality shows. Like any other format, this too has to keep reinventing itself and the challenge of performing live is a great way to make the truly superior singers stand apart from the huge number of talented individuals that our country boasts of,” he says.

Bhoomi Trivedi, who was the mentor of Love Me India (live singing reality show) feels that live singing shows are interesting but difficult. “The best and the hardest part of live shows is that there are no retakes and it is unfiltered. The show is for an hour but there is so much hard work and rehearsals that go into it. We have to practice for hours to perform live. For people, it is just one hour of entertainment but for us it is hours of work. The good thing about this trend is that contestants get on the spot votes and everyone can see how many votes and support a contestant is receiving,” she tells you.

Abhijeet Sawant, winner of Indian Idol Season 1 tells you that these shows provide a great platform for the aspiring singers to showcase their talent. “These reality shows are a great platform for every singer to come out, sing for people and gather your own audience. But after that it all depend on the people and the plus point is that now the struggle has also reduced to an extent. Earlier the playback singers used to struggle for 10-11 years to get that much needed fame, this kind of struggle has already gone or we are just skipping this struggle and now we are able to directly step in to somebody's studio, so this is one of the advantages we have now,” Sawant says.

Rising Star which was the first to bring the trend of live singing into light is back again with its third season. The show will be aired on Colors TV from March and will bring ahead the unheard voices from all over the country.