Top Singer Breakouts of 2018: Punjabi Mania presents before you seven names who gained instant popularity with their songs in the year 2018.
With the culmination of a groundbreaking 2018 for the entertainment industry in Punjab, it is the most apt time to take a look at who all have been doing the rounds throughout the year. Given the canvas of the contemporary Punjabi music industry and the superabundant singers, it is a daunting task to review all of it at once.
Therefore, here is highlighting seven names who have created lightning impact or have come into major recognition this year:
Top Singer Breakouts of 2018
1) Gurnam Bhullar – Having made his singing debut in 2014, Gurnam Bhullar had been making his presence feel over the years. The singer had released several single tracks in 2017 but it was only in the second week of 2018 when ‘Diamond‘ not just released but took the Punjabi industry by storm.
It is worth mentioning that Bhullar has not grown alone in his journey. Jass Records, the music label which has released his songs for close to half-a-decade now, has grown as an individual entity alongside Bhullar. Other than Diamond, Bhullar’s ‘Gora Rang’, ‘Phone Maar Di’, ‘Pakk Thakk‘ and ‘Jatt Zimidaar’ remained a vital part of people’s playlists this year.
In which was a stellar year, Bhullar also made his debut as a playback singer, singing in three different genres of songs in three movies. While ‘Fakira’ was a crucial cog in the wheel in Jagdeep Sidhu’s mellifluous ‘Qismat’, ‘Udhaar Chalda’ was a chirpy duet alongside Nimrat Khaira in ‘Afsar’. Talking of Afsar, it was also the title of his third movie in Rakesh Mehta’s ‘Rang Panjab’.
The year 2018 also saw Bhullar shooting his debut movie in ‘Guddiyan Patole’. So, gear up to witness him in a whole new avatar in 2019.
ALSO READ: Report Card | Punjabi Movies | 2018.
2) Mannat Noor – The first thing which comes to mind after hearing the name Mannat Noor is the sight of Neeru Bajwa dancing on the song ‘Laung Laachi’. Sung by Mannat Noor, the song is arguable the Best Song in a Punjabi Movie this year. Other than banging the drum for the movie in the most apt manner, the song also turned out to be a game-changer for Mannat Noor at a personal level.
Post the release of ‘Laung Laachi’, Mannat Noor was seen singing songs in plentiful movies this year. Some of them include ‘Kinna Pyaar’ and ‘Chann Di Chawaani’ in ‘Harjeeta‘, ‘Kurta Chadra’ in ‘Carry On Jatta 2‘, ‘Preeto’ in ‘Ranjha Refugee’, ‘Nachda Palace Tak Jaavan’ in ‘Marriage Palace’, ‘Palkan’ in ‘Rang Panjab’, ‘Akh Naar Di’ in ‘Vadda Kalakaar’ and others.
3) Gurlez Akhtar – Given the number of Punjabi songs which are released in a year, keeping a track of each one of them is a daunting task. In the same way, given the number of songs Gurlez Akhtar has sung in 2018, it is no mean task to keep a count of that as well.
Akhtar, who has established herself as the ‘Duet Specialist’ in the Punjabi music industry, is a go-to name when it comes to searching for a female singer for a duet song. Among all of her renowned songs this year, some of them are ‘Scratch’ (with Gursewak Dhillon), ‘Underestimate’ (with Geeta Zaildar), ‘Jeep’ (with Joggi Singh) ‘Note Muqabla’ (with Goldy Desi Crew), ‘Download’ (with The Landers), ‘Gallbaat’ (with Harh Cheema), ‘Depend on Mood’ (with Jinder Deol), ‘Uddna Jahaj’ (with Jaskaran Grewal) etc.
4) Jass Manak – Having made his debut with ‘Without You’ in April, Jass Manak received instantaneous fame with his second song named ‘Prada’. Released a couple of months after the first one, Prada was received exceptionally well by the audiences in not just Punjab and overseas but across India.
Post Prada, there was no looking back for Manak. In ‘Suit Punjabi’ (September) and ‘Boss’ (November), he released a couple of more single tracks in the year, both of which were appreciated by the listeners. While the number ’13’ is considered to be unlucky for a majority of people, it seems to have brought significant luck for him as all his single tracks have been released on the 13th of the respective months.
Manak also sang a song (‘Toronto’) for the recently released web-series named ‘Gangland In Motherland’.
ALSO READ: 6 habits which the Punjabi Film Industry should discontinue now.
5) Kamal Kahlon & Param Singh – In which came forward as a strange and a rare case, Kamal Kahlon and Param Singh’s ‘Daru Badnaam’ became one of the top party songs of the year across the country and rightly so. The fact that the song had released in 2016 but was noticed in the true sense by the audiences in 2018 spoke about how unpredictable this business can be.
Banking on the success of Daru Badnaam, the duo came up with ‘Jhanjar’ in June. By the end of the year both of them had released a solo single track as well.
6) Himmat Sandhu – Talking of the year gone by, Himmat Sandhu will be mostly remembered for his debut song as a playback singer in ‘Marzi De Faisle’ from the movie ‘Dakuaan Da Munda‘. Sandhu and Dev Kharoud’s combined dominance witnessed the viewers dancing continually in the cinema halls.
Sandhu had four single tracks (all released in 2018) to his name before Marzi De Faisle but it was after this song that all his previous songs also came into recognition. His six single tracks this year include ‘Sukha Sukhdi’, ‘Charche’, ‘Rayban’, ‘Saab’, ‘Dashboard’ and ‘Ankhaan’.
Here is hoping for all these names to continue on their success this year and come up with more such songs!
