A year after ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ and its breakout track ‘Queen of the Night’ changed the course of her career, singer Zeba Tommy finds herself at another interesting point in her musical journey.

With another Wayfarer Films project, ‘I’m Game’, Zeba is looking back at a period she describes as nothing short of a “whirlwind”. From becoming a familiar voice to a much wider Malayalam audience to winning the Kerala State Award for Best Playback Singer at just 24, the past year has brought milestones she had spent years working towards.

Yet, interestingly, Zeba says she never quite saw ‘Queen of the Night’ becoming the phenomenon it eventually did.

“I had no idea how much that song would blow up,” she recalls.

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The song, an entirely English track in a Malayalam film, came with its own uncertainty. Zeba knew Malayalam listeners were increasingly open to different sounds, but she was unsure how an English song would be received.

“I think every gym plays that,” she says of ‘Neon Ride’, another Jakes Bejoy collaboration, before turning to the experience of ‘Queen of the Night’. “It had to release and get to the place where it was for me to be like, ‘Whoa, yeah, okay.’”

Finding a voice of her own

Music, however, had been part of Zeba’s life long before ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’.

She began learning Carnatic music at around six and later picked up Western music on her own. Growing up, Shreya Ghoshal was her first major vocal idol, and Zeba admits she once wanted to sound like her.

It took years of singing and experimentation for her to arrive at a different realisation: she did not need to sound like someone else.

“I should try to figure out what I sound like,” she says.

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That instinct has since shaped the way she approaches music. Rather than confining herself to one genre, Zeba describes herself simply as “versatile”, moving between film music, independent music, songwriting and live performances.

Of all these spaces, however, the stage remains where she feels most at home.

“I think I feel the most myself on stage when I’m performing live,” she says.

The two-day making of ‘Queen of the Night’

One of the more unexpected details about ‘Queen of the Night’ is how quickly it came together.

Zeba was asked not merely to sing the song but to write it based on a character and story from ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’. For someone accustomed to drawing from personal experiences while songwriting, writing from the perspective of a fictional character became an unusual challenge.

The story and visuals, however, gave her enough clarity to get into the character almost immediately.

“I wrote the first draft in a day,” she reveals.

After one small revision involving a line or two, the song was completed the following day. The entire writing process took roughly two days.

The experience also gave Zeba greater confidence in her abilities as a songwriter.

“I got a lot of confidence in myself as a writer after ‘Queen of the Night’,” she says.

From ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ to another Wayfarer project

The success of ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ was followed by another significant recognition. Zeba won the Kerala State Award for Best Playback Singer at 24, a moment she describes as confirmation that she was moving in the right direction.

For an artist, she says, it can be easy to question the path ahead. The combination of ‘Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra’ and the State Award gave her what she calls a “breathing space” moment.

At the same time, she does not want the recognition to make her complacent.

Her approach is simple: keep moving and ask what comes next.

That next phase now includes ‘I’m Game’, marking another association with Wayfarer Films. Zeba says being part of projects backed by the production house is significant, particularly because she grew up watching Dulquer Salmaan and considers herself a fan.

In fact, she has a rather honest answer when asked what would happen if Dulquer walked into the studio during one of her recording sessions.

“I’ll probably just be like forgetting your notes,” she laughs.

From trailer bit to full song

Her ‘I’m Game’ collaboration with Jakes Bejoy and Baby Jean also came about in an unexpected manner.

The trio had previously worked together on ‘Neon Ride’ from ‘Officer on Duty’, a song that went on to become a popular fixture on workout playlists.

For ‘I’m Game’, the new track was initially not even planned as a full-fledged song. Zeba, Baby Jean and Jakes were working on a portion intended for the end of the film’s trailer.

But the recording worked so well that the team decided to develop it further.

“It was initially not supposed to be a song,” Zeba explains. “It was just done as a portion for the trailer.”

The portion eventually became a complete song for the film.

For Zeba, it also represents another step into genres she is increasingly curious about, including hip-hop, EDM and pop.

Looking beyond playback singing

While playback continues to be an important part of her career, Zeba is also increasingly turning towards her own music.

She has been writing Malayalam originals and has already completed production on one of her songs. She is also working on collaborations with other music directors, including a Telugu project with Govind Vasantha that features a duet with Benny Dayal.

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It is a direction that allows her to explore a side of music that is more directly her own.

And if there is one ambition she has yet to tick off, it is perhaps the clearest indication of where she wants this journey to go.

“I want to probably do a fully original set to a big crowd,” she says.

After a year she describes as a “whirlwind”, Zeba Tommy appears to be looking at what comes next with a word that is considerably calmer: hopeful.