Oct 06, 2026 11:30am IST
Abhay Jodhpurkar On Being Asked To Copy Arijit Singh: ‘We Should Break That Pyramid Structure’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The search for the “next Arijit Singh” has become a recurring conversation in playback singing, but for Abhay Jodhpurkar, the premise points to a larger industry problem. The National Award-winning singer says he has been asked to replicate Arijit Singh’s voice and has even been shown digitally generated material in the singer’s voice as a reference for what a song should sound like.
He says, “Sometimes, I’m told, ‘You should sing like Arijit Singh.’ It’s like a template they want to follow because they think it's cooler and sounds better, just because they like it personally. In playback singing, that's not how it should be, right? It should depend on what the song demands."
He added, "People have played me stuff in Arijit's voice and said, ‘This is what we were looking at. Can you emulate that sound?’ And I tell them, ‘I can definitely emulate it, but let me please render it my way so that I can do it justice my way.’”
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When asked about the constant discussion around who could fill in Singh’s shoes, Jodhpurkar questions why the industry needs another version of an artist who has already established his own identity.
“Why copy another artiste who is already so good? You don't need another Shreya Ghoshal or Sunidhi Chauhan. Let's have people and artists who are very individualistic. They shouldn't be pitted against each other. There's room for everyone.”
Reflecting on the need to break the pattern, he shares, “I feel like now is the time to make room for others, instead of following the pyramid structure. We should break that,” Jodhpurkar says. The difficulty, however, lies in breaking that cycle when a particular voice has become the industry's reference point.
Jodhpurkar believes the answer cannot simply be to reject the existing system. “You can break it only by making another body of work that feels good and, at the same time, challenges that barrier, challenges that thing that is sitting on top,” he says.
He adds, “I feel like the next big change should be originality and being true to ourselves instead of copying other artists that are already interesting.”
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