Love Aaj Kal is the soundtrack album to the 2020 film of the same name directed by Imtiaz Ali which is a spiritual successor of his own 2009 film, and starred Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan in the lead roles. The film's soundtrack is composed by Pritam and lyrics written by Irshad Kamil, both of them worked on the predecessor as well. The album was released under the Sony Music India label on 14 February 2020.

Release The album was preceded by the first single, "Shayad" which released on 22 January 2020. The song was performed by Arijit Singh; Pritam considered the song as "an ode to young love" and through this, he wanted to create a soundtrack "that imbibes its timelessness" like the predecessor's soundtrack.

The second song "Haan Mat Galat" was released on 29 January 2020. The song was rendered by Arijit and Shashwat Singh. On making the song, Pritam noted that they wanted a "light and exciting" song that stayed with the audience as well as capturing the essence of the film. He considered the song to be the point of view of youngsters in the current generation and their reaction to the pre-conditioning enforced them by the society and how they reached the tipping point where the refuse to shape and reshape themselves as per the society and instead choose to carry on with the acceptance of "right and wrong".

The third song "Mehrama" was released on 7 February 2020. It is an emotional duet number sung by Darshan Raval and Antara Mitra.

The complete soundtrack featuring 13 songs was released through Sony Music India on 14 February 2020, the same day as the film.

Reception Vipin Nair of The Hindu stated that while the original 2009 film's soundtrack had been the composer-lyricist's best works, he rated this soundtrack higher owing to the quality of the songs and lesser Punjabi influences. Debarati S Sen of The Times of India noted that Pritam lives upto the standards he set with the 2009 film's soundtrack, for the spiritual sequel. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama wrote "The music of Love Aaj Kal has consistency written all over it, barring a couple of songs which are misfits." Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com called it a "catchy soundtrack".

Track listing

Accolades AwardDate of ceremonyCategoryNominee(s)ResultFilmfare Awards28 March 2021Best Music DirectorPritamBest LyricistIrshad Kamil – ("Mehrama")Irshad Kamil – ("Shayad")Best Male Playback SingerArijit Singh – ("Shayad")Darshan Raval – ("Mehrama")Best Female Playback SingerAntara Mitra – ("Mehrama")International Indian Film Academy Awards3–4 June 2022Best LyricistIrshad Kamil – ("Shayad") Mirchi Music Awards19 March 2022Album of The YearLove Aaj Kal Listeners' Choice Album of the Year Best Song Producer(s) – Programming & ArrangingArijit Singh, Somanshu Agarwal, Sunny M. R. and Zafar Iqbal Ansari – ("Shayad")

Personnel credits Credits adapted from Sony Music India:

Music – Pritam Lyrics – Irshad Kamil Music Production – DJ Phukan, Sunny M. R., Arijit Singh, Sourav Roy, Aditya N., Saurabh Lokhande, Utkarsh Dhotekar Vocal Production – Akashdeep Sengupta, Tushar Joshi, Arijit Singh, Antara Mitra Music Arrangements – Sunny M. R., Arijit Singh, Sourav Roy, Aditya N., Tushar Joshi, Saurabh Lokhande, Utkarsh Dhotekar Music Programming – Somanshu Agarwal, Zafar Iqbal Ansari, Arijit Singh, Johan Polke Sound Design – DJ Phukan, Sunny M. R., Ashwin Kulkarni, Aditya N., Tanuj Tiku, Akashdeep Sengupta, Aniruddh Anantha Vocal Conductor – Aniruddh Anantha Music Production Manager – Anurag Sharma Chief Sound Engineer and Shoot-Mix – Ashwin Kulkarni Sound Engineers – Aniruddh Anantha, Harjot Kaur, Aaroh Velankar Recording Engineer – Ritvik Shah Songs Premixes – Sunny M.r. & Ashwin Kulkarni Mixing and Mastering – Eric Pillai (Future Sound Of Bombay), Shadab Rayeen (New Edge Studios) Technical Assistance – Anirban Sinha Chowdhury, Michael Edwin Pillai, Abhishek Sortey, Dhananjay Khapekar, Tapas Sahoo Musicians Backing Vocals – Akashdeep Sengupta, Shashwat Singh, Nihal Shetty, Harjot Kaur, Ashwin Kulkarni, Aniruddh Anantha, Aman Agarwal, Vivienne Pocha, Shazneen Arethna, Marianne D'Cruz Aiman, Chandana Bala Kalyan, N'Faly Kouyate, Ibrahim Sidede, Lydia Ogoti, Hannah Wangari Additional Vocals – Akashdeep Sengupta Chorus – Akashdeep Sengupta, Aniruddh Anantha, Anurag Sharma, Ana Rehman, Harjot Kaur, Shreya Phukan, Mandy Gill, Mukund Shrikant Suryawanshi Vocal Design – DJ Phukan Harmony Design – Akashdeep Sengupta, Aniruddh Anantha, Aditya N. Acoustic Guitars – Arijit Singh, Tushar Joshi Electric Guitars – Aditya Shankar Benia, Prachotosh Bhowmik, Roland Fernandes Guitars – Pawan Rasaily, Aditya N., Sudhir Choudhary, Roland Fernandes, Raghav Chaitanya, Josh Smit Bass – RajKumar Dewan, Among Jamir, Roland Fernandes, Sunny M. R., Ernest Tibbs Drums – Alan Hertz Woodwinds – Nirmalya Humtoo Dey Flute, Viola and Violin – Shirish Malhotra Strings – Tapas Roy Percussion – Gary Novak, Alan Hertz Tabla – Sukanto Singha, Ishteyak Khan Sarangi – Dilshad Khan Saxophone – I D Rao Ukulele – Ashwin Kulkarni Kora – N'Faly Kouyate Thumb Piano – Anand Bhagat, Rapasa nyatrapasa Otieno African Harp – Nyatiti Live Dubs – Zafar Iqbal Ansari, Tushar Joshi, Kaushik Das, DJ Phukan, Sunny M.R., Shubham Shirule Live Rhythms and Percussions – Vibhas 'Titu' Rahul, Anand Bhagat Live Xylophone – Anand Bhagat

See also Love Aaj Kal

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