For the last six months Sonu Niigaam has been spending a lot of time in the US. He wanted to get away from Mumbai and also spend time with his friends there. Now, post that break, he has returned to Mumbai to fulfill his commitment as the brand ambassador of a radio channel. It’s one the few assignments he has taken up in recent times. Apart from this, he has rejected most songs or shows offered to him. He has even turned down friend Ganjendra Singh for a show.

Sonu says, “I’m not in that mental space right now where I want to take up something and be obligated to it. I want to do my own thing at the moment. There has to be something really interesting for me to make a commitment. I might feel differently a year later though.”

He admits one of the main reasons for this was that not many good songs were coming his way. “Most music composers are singing for themselves now. They take the best songs in an album. That makes sense commercially because then they can do concerts as well,” says Sonu, adding, “I don’t want to be at the mercy of anyone. I’d rather do my own thing and work with composers who respect me.”

Things changed for him drastically after a bomb blast at his show in Karachi in 2004.
“I asked myself ‘was this the only purpose of my life?’ I don’t want to spend my life counting the number of songs I have done. So I decided to take a breather and travel. First, I set off for the Himalayas and then went to LA where I’ve been spending time with many of my friends who live there,” he says.

From ghazals to bhangra, devotional to film songs and albums, Sonu has done them all. He says, “I have been working really hard since I was very young. Not only because I was ambitious but also because I kept getting a lot of work. Now, I want to be respected for my work.”