'Lockdown was the longest we have stayed apart'

Dance group MJ5 recently made their debut as a boy band with the track 'Bawaal'

Shared love for dance and music brought together college friends R Kartik, Himanshu Gola, Rohit Singh, Vishnu Kumar and Dennis Anthony. They formed an all-male dance group called MJ5 and rose to fame after claiming the title of 2013’s ‘India’s Dancing Superstar’. Their iconic locking and popping style has helped them garner close to three million subscribers. The group also holds the world record for having almost 26 different variations of the moonwalk.

The dance quintet has now forayed into the world of music with the track ‘Bawaal’. Composed by Dixant Shaurya and Nitish R Kumar the song tries to send a message about adopting a positive mindset in the midst of negativity. Metrolife caught up with the group in the wake of the success of their debut track.

How did you decide to enter the world of music?

We have always danced to music by others and have always wanted to dance to our own song. Music and dance are interconnected and we always wanted to explore creating our own music.

When the lockdown happened, we were all in different parts of the country and didn’t meet each other for almost a year. We decided to finally get down to this when we did meet.

How did you all spend the lockdown?

While we have all grown up in Delhi, we are all from different parts. We were all home. We practised on our vocals, worked on songwriting and learnt to cook. This was the longest we have been apart from each other, and for some of us, it was the longest we were home in a really long time. We stayed in touch on Whatsapp throughout.

Tell us more about ‘Bawaal’.

We wanted to create ‘bawaal’ with whatever song we made, and that is the idea that we have tried to bring with our song. It had to be a song that brought our full energy and we thoroughly enjoyed making it.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating as a group?

There is a saying that goes, “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go as a group.” We are five boys so we do fight, but we also know to sort it out and enjoy each others company. At the end of the day, five is better than one.

How have you evolved as a group since 2013?

After we won, we travelled a lot, which helped us learn a lot. We practice together every single day even today. We were friends before we came together and we have watched each other grow up. Now, we want to start collaborating with other artistes, entertain our audience, and take us to a global level.

What’s next for MJ5?

We would love to create some regional music and continue creating content for YouTube. We are working on a talk show.

We all have also recently turned into fitness freaks, so we would like to do something in that area as well. Oh, and we would love to collaborate with Tiger Shroff!