Listen To Anoop Desai’s Bollywood-Pop Dance Track “My Name”

Becky Bain | March 23, 2010 12:30 pm

Many of American Idol‘s Season 8 contestants have easily found their niche audience after leaving the show—Adam Lambert with the pop extremists, Kris Allen with the rock-lite crowd, and Allison Iraheta with grrl rock fans. And after listening to 6th place finisher Anoop Desai’s Bollywood-inspired club jam “My Name,” we think there’s plenty of room for Anoop to snag his own spot on the pop and R&B charts. Listen to his debut single below.

Anoop Desai – “My Name”

“My Name,” co-written by Idol Season 6 contestant Brandon Rogers, is an extremely promising indication of what we can expect from Anoop’s debut album All Is Fair, due this May. Although he wouldn’t be the first artist to mesh together Bollywood sounds with pop and R&B (everyone from M.I.A. to Jay-Z to The Pussycat Dolls have treaded similar waters before), there’s currently nothing quite like “My Name” on Top 40 radio.

Anoop tells People that his lead single has a double meaning many listeners wouldn’t naturally pick up on:

“On one hand, it’s a response to kids that used to make fun of my name when I was little. I wanted my first contribution to be something that said, ‘Hey, my name is now cool, not something to be ashamed of. It’s also about false bravado. Each song on the All is Fair album describes a mindset or a time in my life. ‘My Name’ is about going to a club and trying to act like a big deal. Really, that mentality stems from some lack of confidence, but I think we’ve all done it at some point.”

We don’t think Anoop is feeling so insecure anymore—the dude boastfully name drops his own name throughout the song. (Hey, when you have as unique a name as Anoop, you gotta use it whenever possible.) It certainly seems like Desai always gave off an air of confident swagger, even back in his pre-Idol days performing with his college a cappella troupe, the UNC Clef Hangers. Want some proof? Here he is singing T-Pain’s “Buy You A Drank” (thankfully sans any Auto-Tune).

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