Let the Jingles play

You must have listened to his jingles and have been humming them while watching the ads on television. Well, have you ever thought if all these jingles turn into full-fledged songs? Mikey McCleary, the man behind creating some of the most popular jingles for brands such Levi’s, Vodafone, Titan, Lakme and Audi, is all set to release an album of his jingles turned into songs this year. He talks to After Hrs about the new venture and teaming up with singers Anushka Manchanda, Shalmali Kholgade, and Monica Dogra:

So how did you come up with this idea?

After having done so many jingles for TV ads, I used to keep get requests to come up with their full versions. That’s when I decided to make full versions of those jingles that sounded more like songs. There will be 10 songs on this album, from the ads of Vodafone, Levis, Titan, Lakme and Audi.

How are these songs going to be different?

I had to add lyrics, musical sections and pieces to the jingles. People can relate to the melody and the words of these songs, but this will be something completely new. It was on my mind for the past one year, but I started working on it only six months back. Directing music videos is my hobby, so for this album I have come up with different videos. There’s no connection to the brands, these songs are definitely not an extension. There’s a lot of variety in this album. The songs are uplifting, melodious and catchy.

How was it collaborating Anushka, Shalmali and Monica?

I am teaming up with some of my favourite female singers — Anushka, Shalmali and Monica. On June 16, we came out with our first song and it already has around 24,000 hits on Youtube. In the video, you can see that for every line, we have used a group of diverse people from Mumbai, there are a few Bollywood celebrities, an autorickshaw driver and everyone else, who is chasing his dream. This album is close to my heart since it has my compositions and lyrics.

Tell us something about your experiences.

I met Lucky Ali in London. He was the one who changed my perception about Indian music. I have worked with AR Rehman too. He is a musical genius. But now I am concentrating on my compositions. I don’t want to arrange music for others. I have worked on background scores in many Bollywood films too. But it’s only when I compose the melody and write lyrics on my own that I feel connected to the work.

What is music for you?

I mostly work on an instinct and go with my intuitions. I never over think about music. I don’t have a recipe of how I plan things for my composition. I never took formal training in Indian music, but I connect with it naturally.