Is Farhan Akhtar's new album luck by chance?

Farhan Akhtar doesnt need anyone to tell him that he is a great actor and director His movies speak for themselves Dil Chahta Hai changed the landscape of Bollywood and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag made us gape in amazement But he is also a singerAfter singing for the film Rock On and performing across the country with his band he has now released his first album Echoes We heard the whole album which the Apple Music description says is one where the versatile Bollywood star gets personal and this is what we thought The production standards are great with the mixing and mastering done to perfection but Akhtars voice is bland lifeless and flatThe writing is tepid and clicheacuted But what made it worse for this writer was that every song reminded her of a song she had heard before For example the track Pain or Pleasure was so similar to that classic by Wilson Picketts Mustang Sally that we had to hear the original to make sure we werent overreacting Its a bit startling to have that happen with what is meant to be a debut original album It would seem that Akhtar has let his inspirations which could have been the music he heard as he was growing up we can hazard a guess The Doors Tom Petty and Sting to seep into his music a bit too much Our final word Listen only if you are a big fan of Akhtar We reached out to a few experts to find out if their experience matched oursIts a vanity projectAmit Gurbaxani Music writerHe is good director and a decent actor but to put it politely a lessthanawesome singer I havent listened to the whole album but I heard Rear View Mirror The track has over 25000 views on YouTube on which he sings in a rather affected way Im quite sure that hes well aware that many people dont think he should be singing but he and his fans probably dismiss such critics as haters gonna hate Why has he released an album of original English songs that nobody really asked for Because he can afford to In short its another celebrity vanity project that will receive way more press than other better releases by the hundreds of Indian independent acts out thereThis album is a business moveSidharth Raveendran member of Tadpatri TalkiesVocalist for hardcore act Pacifist runs a metal music podcast called Haramcore IncHe is trying to leverage the music from his movies to pass himself as a live act and this album will add more content to get bookings This album is a business move The music sounds like a failed SoBo band playing rock and he is trying hard to be Jim Morrison from The Doors The voice is the most offputting and the lyrics are very milk and toast average actually He has the means to get an Agrade studio and hence the quality of production is great The backing tracks are clean and its mixed well But the riffs remind you of other songs one particularly reminded me of Jimi Hendrix Its a bit of a khichdiA crude mixture of soundsAkshay Kapoor Founder and Editor The Indian Music DiariesAs Farhan Akhtar releases his debut 11track album it is important that we talk about what good music does to the listener it makes you bob your head instantly takes over your mind and makes you want to hear the music incessantly Farhans music is far from that It is uninspiring and seems like a crude mixture of the sounds of all of his favourite bands The lyrics seem weirdly put together the choruses are vapid and none of the songs have even a tinge of genuine passion behind them in spite of stellar international production It seems unclear to me why Farhan would choose to write in English Hindi would have been so much better and more expressive Art for arts sake should be discouraged and Farhans music fits into that category according to me It doesnt matter if you hear this album or not It does nothing for the listener no one will remember it in a year nor does it add any substance to the pool of beautiful music coming out from independent musicians in IndiaCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates