Jasleen Royal opens up on backlash for her Coldplay concert opening act in mini-doc ‘Dare to Dream’-OxBig News Network

Jasleen Royal at Coldplay’s Mumbai and Ahmedabad concerts in January

Singer Jasleen Royal has opened up on the backlash she faced for her opening act in Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour concert in Mumbai on January 18. Many concertgoers who attended the Coldplay concert had criticised Jasleen’s performance, calling it ‘off-key.’

On Sunday (April 6), the singer released a mini-documentary called Dare to Dream on her YouTube channel that documents her journey with Coldplay during their India tour. The 17-minute video features Jasleen taking us through the preparations for her opening act in the concerts in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

In the video, ahead of her performance on Day 2 in Mumbai on January 19, Jasleen seems visibly shaken as she scrolls through social media, wondering what went wrong the previous night. She is seen comforted by members of her team and technical staff. “What was the problem? Why were my in-ears bursting?” Jasleen asks the staff. “I’ll leave the creative part to you, but when it comes to the technical part, we are sorry,” says a member of the technical team.

Jasleen then admits to feeling anxious ahead of the second performance. “After a certain point, I can feel it like ‘it’s time to go home’. There’s a lot of pressure. I’ll die; I swear I’ll die,” she says.

Later on, ahead of her performance in Coldplay’s Ahmedabad concert in Narendra Modi Stadium on January 25, Jasleen reveals she felt anxious if people would accept her, if they would think she didn’t deserve to do the opening acts.

“I didn’t want people to think ‘She didn’t deserve to be here.’ Or ‘Why is she here? We just want Coldplay. We don’t want her music.’ I am a self-taught musician, so I know I’m not perfect. I keep learning myself every day, but I just want to put up a great show so that people have a great experience. I am just trying to put forth my best effort. I also want them to be like, ‘Oh, hey, that was also a great opening act that we selected from India.’ So that’s it; that’s all the pressure I am taking,” she says.

The rest of the documentary narrates how Jasleen realised her dream of collaborating with Coldplay, a journey that began in the first season of India’s Got Talent in 2009.

33-year-old Jasleen is best known for her songs in Shershaah, Gully Boy, and Runway 34. Her indie singles, like ‘Din Shagna Da’, ‘Heeriye’, ‘Sang Rahiyo’, and ‘Sahiba’ have become charbusters.