It’s been a long time coming, but internet phenomenon Vennu Mallesh has finally released his second single: ‘Wish U Enjoy New Year’. And it’s in a much different vein to his first track.

The first time anyone heard of Mallesh, it was through the release of his first single ‘It’s My Life (Whatever I Wanna Do)‘. Almost immediately following its release, Mallesh became a Youtube hit. This was because of a mix of people genuinely liking the song, people finding it amusing and people watching it just to mock it. Either way, Mallesh developed a cult status almost overnight.

And with ‘Wish U Enjoy New Year’, Mallesh has been brave enough to move in a different direction to the one he established with his first single. Where once there was a backing vocalist, now there is only him. Where once there were many lyrics, now there is only a handful. And whereas the instrumentation was only the backing before, now it is the key to the song.

Lyrically, Mallesh fails to deliver the goods with this track. There are few lyrics and they don’t quite match up to those of his previous song. Fans of his previous track may find it a bit difficult to adjust to this track because of this.
Despite the lyrics though, the song is surprisingly catchy. I have, since hearing it, had the first verse of the song stuck in my head and have been unable to shift it. It’s dreadfully annoying, but it’s undeniably effective.

The instrumentation is quite interesting and is actually quite enjoyable. Sharp, bhangra-rock instrumentation signals the start of the song and then forms the best parts of the song. The synthesiser middle section, for example, is genuinely enjoyable and bears a resemblance to the synthesiser used in ‘Cars’ by Gary Numan. Even Mallesh’s accompanying dance is impressive.

Though people (or ‘hell wishers’ as he calls them) may mock Mallesh again, primarily based upon his lyrics and his ‘vennglish’ (a term coined by Mallesh when people were pointing out his poor use of English; he simply responded by saying that he invents words and phrases as he needs to), the instrumentation deserves recognition. Though it’s not enough to make this track great, it is commendable and enjoyable.

The track is available for purchase from iTunes and you can listen to it here.

5/10