Jun 16, 2023, 1:10 PM IST
JayK is here to break the techie stereotype by setting foot into the music world with ‘Dam Doom Daiyya.’ Being the driving force behind various technological advances, we see his new avatar that convinces us that there is something more to the man.
‘Dam Doom Daiyya’ collaborates with Lyca Productions and poses an entirely new multi-lingual setting, alternating between Hindi, Tamil and English. The music video shows a father, played by JayK, who watches his daughter as she evolves into a gorgeous adult. Revealing its details, we at Asianet Newsable had the opportunity to sit down with the team.
In a candid conversation, we enquired about how this new persona of JayK took form, to which he said, ‘‘Ever since I was born, I have been a music lover. Music has been an integral part of my life. I come from a family of musicians. My dad was a scientist but he sang. I have cousins who are MBAs, and they all sing. I’ve always been surrounded by music and musicians. I should have done this sooner.’
He commented on the collaboration that brought about this song. “We all got together last year when we decided that we wanted to make a music video. I had to scout for music video directors.” About Ziming (the director) agreeing to the project, he responded, ‘Before a project gets placed, you always look at the people and JayK seemed like a great collaborator and a fun guy to work with.”
JayK also talked a bit about the process of getting his daughter on board. “I really had to convince her to do this, but once she was sold on the idea, that was it. She is very talented. She just went into the studio and in less than a couple of hours, we were finished with her part of the song. In fact, we also tried to get her in the music video, but she refused,” he stated with a laugh.
The team revealed the process of bringing the music video to life. “It was a collective effort,” Ziming commented, “Pretty early on, we liked the idea of having fun with it and making this over-the-top story of this obsessive father, going through all these fun scenarios.”
When asked about location scouting, Ziming said, “This is more of the practical side of the job. We had a limited budget and so many scenes were shot in the same neighbourhood as JayK, in his backyard. We also had the location for the club scene fall through in the last minute, then another club down the street very kindly opened their doors for us.”
With the music video being diverse in terms of ethnicity, culture or even body positivity, we asked JayK if this was a conscious decision, to which he replied, “It was very conscious. The entire production crew is an International crew, there was so much diversity and we knew we had to take advantage of our resources and be able to show something to a global audience. It doesn’t have to be an Indian audience, any dad, any daughter globally should be able to connect with this.” “We were also blessed with the talent here locally,” Ziming exclaimed.
In response to seeing JayK as a rockstar permanently, he replied, “That’s for the audience to decide. I do plan on being a techie, I don’t plan on quitting my job, that is what is funding the fun.” "This song is very human and was a bonding experience for JayK and his daughter," said Jeff Huang.
Many people pursue a 9-to-5 job but carry a passion. We asked what message the team had for them. JayK replied, “If you have passion, it’s going to take over. It will come upfront and do it for you. You have to continue and own that, to a point where you are comfortable and you have it in you to do it.” Jeff Petru added, “If you’re going to do something and don’t know what to expect, just say yes. It opens a lot more doors than saying no.”
About his upcoming projects, JayK had some really good news for us. “We have a few tracks that are ready. We are trying to conceptualize the music video. One of the things I am focused on is to keep things fresh. The multilingual aspect of this song wasn’t conscious. It just happened as I have been across India and I think and speak these languages. When I wrote this song, it happened naturally,” he said.
“I feel like this is a new category in India where there is seamless transition between two languages in the same song. Even the dad-daughter relationship in a fun, peppy manner, I thought was a fresh take. Hopefully in the next 6-9 months we will put out some new music.”
He also teased us about a Chinese remake of the song that is in the works and hinted at maybe filming one of his projects in India. “We are looking at the next one to be done in India. There are conversations and storylines that we are developing. So, yes, we are going to shoot something in India, stated JayK, giving the audience an exciting future to look forward to.