Eurovision Asia is officially underway. With up to 20 countries from all over Asia and the Pacific potentially competing, the 2018 competition promises to bring a plethora of spice, flavour and South Asian slayage!

India, which has declared an early interest in participating in the pan-Asian contest, is known for its rich culture and vibrant musical tradition — much of it fuelled by ethnic sounds and Bhangra beats. With its 1.3 billion people, it boasts a vast spectrum of musicians and an endless array of established and potential stars.

With that in mind, we have distilled our very long list of favourites to this shortlist of 5 artists who we would love to see rocking that Asian stage. Hold on to your pearls — and get ready for some Hindi-pop realness!

Monali Thakur                                                             

Serving that sultry Kolkata style is renowned actress and playback artist Monali Thakur. The 31-year-old is a household name in the film industry: Her voice is pre-recorded and sung as playback by the nation’s many stars. She’s recorded hit after hit for movie soundtracks and has the accolades to prove it, having won countless awards for her songs and having racked up hundreds of millions of YouTube views.

Thakur embodies everything that is Hindi-pop: groovy beats, an uptempo style, strong live vocals, and, most importantly, identifiably Indian instrumentation. Her style lends itself extremely well to colourful and wild staging and exceptional choreoraphy – as we’d expect from India. Although Thakur isn’t present in the video below, her presence can be felt — and heard.

Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra is an icon. With an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel, fashion spreads in Vogue, roles in major films such as Baywatch and the title of Miss World 2000 under her belt, she would enter Eurovision Asia with all guns blazing. The stunning actress, model and musical artist is a fiery ball of fierce who would explode on stage. She’s so hot that even Pitbull and will.i.am have featured in some of her singles. “Exotic”, below, has clocked nearly 123 million views. And she’s pushed millions of singles globally. Chopra colours mainstream pop music with an exotic party sound – what’s not to love?

Yo Yo Honey Singh

Hailed as the ‘Indian King of Rap’, Yo Yo Honey Singh brings a different flavour to the other performers on the list. The R&B artist sings and raps in his native Punjabi rather than English, staying true to his raw Indian roots. He saw huge success in 2011 with a series of singles topping the Asian Singles Charts and the BBC Asian Charts too. Much like Monali Thakur, Mr Singh — may I call you Yo Yo? — has gained popularity from his presence in Bollywood and his musical influences in soundtracks and films. His style of music would certainly be welcome in the contest!

Kanika Kapoor

Ethnic Indian pop finely balanced with western-style dance — we think we’ve reached nirvana! Kapoor’s instantly identifiable and strongly ethnic vocals blend well with the instrumentation in her songs. Together they create feel-good vibes that would translate seamlessly onto the global stage. Watching her music videos, her natural charisma explodes and she manages to stand out with her playful, sassy moves — even in a mob scene of people dropping playful, sassy moves! Her dance songs play an important role in India’s massive movie industry. One listen and you’ll see why. With attitude, beauty, voice, body and talent — Kanika must mean queen.

Meet Bros

Completing the list are the fresh and current duo, Meet Bros. They started out as actors in Bollywood, but the duo slowly made in-roads in the world of R&B and musical production, a world which they are currently slaying. Now household names, these producers and artists could wow Eurovision Asia with their creativity, humour and pop R&B style. After winning numerous awards in India, and showing great signs of success, there’s nothing stopping them from owning the stage, wherever it may be in 2018. We are sold!

What do you think of our choices? What artists do you think India should consider sending? Let us know in the comment section below. 

Read more Eurovision Asia Song Contest news

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Charli Cheer Up
Charli Cheer Up
6 years ago

This is off topic but if Sri Lanka joins in then I hope they will ask M.I.A 😀

Shona
Shona
6 years ago

That definitely is not a good idea and that won’t happen. potential political drama. Anyway I don’t see Sri Lanka paying much attention to this contests. Just for participation perhaps.

Sophia Stedman
Sophia Stedman
6 years ago

Lilly Singh should rap for the contest

Bella
Bella
6 years ago
Reply to  Sophia Stedman

If we talking about rap Raftaar would also be super cool in my opinion! 🙂

Bella
Bella
6 years ago

Y’all really should check out Avanie Joshie too. She mostly does covers of songs I think but she’s got a beautiful voice! Arijit Singh is definitely my fave Indian singer though. Also I really like Atif Aslam and Ammy Virk. Priyanka is super successful and I’m happy for her success but I’m really not a fan. 🙂

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Bella

You Indian? I thought you were a Swede?

Bella
Bella
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

lol I’m an American 😀

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Bella

You know quite well about Our Music though….I’m impressed

Shona
Shona
6 years ago

Also I don’t know about the singer. But I’d love if they brought a choreography as in Bezubaan phir se plus some sassy Indian dance moves.

Shona
Shona
6 years ago

That’s not kanika kapoor in the music video. It’s Jacqueline Fernandez whose an actress. Kanika is the singer though

Hebbuzz
Hebbuzz
6 years ago

With India on stage in Asiavision, they should reconsider the rule of maximum number of participants performing. Tolly- Kolly- & Bollywoodsongs are so cool with the masses dancing 😉

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Monali thakur’s best effort is undeniably ‘Moh moh ke dhaage’

James
James
6 years ago

Shraddha Kapoor perhaps. She sang the theme song from one of her recent films, Rock On 2, and she has quite the lovely voice. There’s not a lot of actors who can actually sing so this is certainly a plus coming from her.

Also, Farhan Akhtar.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  James

Yeah…she does have a good voice.
Her voice suited perfectly to “Galliyan’

Sads
Sads
6 years ago

I’m Indian, so I can personally say that Arijit Singh would be the best for Eurovision Asia. Fans would like it!

James
James
6 years ago
Reply to  Sads

Isn’t he the guy who sang “Yeh Fitoor Mera”? That was quite a beautiful song.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  James

Yup….and he has had many other hits in India.

Bella
Bella
6 years ago
Reply to  Sads

Arijit Singh is definitely my number 1 also! That guy knows how to sing!

Sads
Sads
6 years ago
Reply to  Bella

Also, I feel like Eurofans would really love the kind of music he puts out. I don’t think Honey Singh, for example, would do well at Eurovision Asia at all, to be honest.

Zale
Zale
6 years ago

I better find a good excuse for Daler Mehndi not being on here.

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Zale

He hasn’t had any recent hits

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Sunidhi Chauhan, Arijit Singh ,Baadshah ,Shreya Ghoshal , Amaal Malik

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  Kris

A few other names to pray for

Jo
Jo
6 years ago

Priyanka is too much diva for me.

EscAU
EscAU
6 years ago

priyanka plsss!

Kris
Kris
6 years ago
Reply to  EscAU

She is too successful to consider the contest

William Lee Adams
Admin
6 years ago

I’m now obsessed with Priyanka Chopra. Her videos are so hot!

Kris
Kris
6 years ago

Well she is a former Miss World !! You should be ready for the heat Willie!!

Mark
Mark
6 years ago

I saw her in Baywatch. Interesting Bond-esque villain.