In a musical landscape constantly evolving, Vikram Bam’s ‘Make A Fool’ stands out as a genre-blending track that brings together Bollywood, rock, and pop influences, all while tackling complex themes of love, vanity, and self-reflection. In this interview, Bam shares the creative journey behind the song, exploring inspirations that range from classical art to experimental genre fusion. From how a Caravaggio painting shaped the choreography for the music video, to how family influences and a Berklee education expanded his musical horizons, Bam offers a glimpse into his process. Discover how ‘Make A Fool’ not only captures a distinct sound but also delivers a raw, emotional resonance, challenging perceptions of love, vulnerability, and self-worth.
“Make A Fool” blends Bollywood, rock, and pop influences. What inspired you to combine these diverse genres in this particular track?
It’s hard to say really. It’s kind of like being a kid in a chocolate factory. There’s so much going on up in the head to choose from. Once you decide to switch off that voice in your head telling you ‘this combination of chocolates isn’t something people will find tasty’, you start really expressing. Only caveat is that you have to avoid turning into the kid from who falls into the chocolate river and presumably dies. How is that a kids movie, really? This track needed to feel super dramatic. A Bollywood song by definition is something made for cinema. You’ll always find these really intricate passages in Bollywood music inspired by the orchestral jazz era in the United States and a lot of European symphonic influences. This isn’t a Bollywood song, but I just wanted to hear that level of drama. After that whatever came was sort of just picking out chocolates. Genre is an afterthought when you follow that thought process.
Can you share a bit about the role that Caravaggio’s painting ‘Narcissus’ played in shaping the theme of the song and its music video?
Well Narcissus came in during the rehearsal of the video really. We were throwing around ideas about what the dance should be. The video needed an opening shot, something for that keyboard intro to be about. Narcissus kind of naturally came up as a starting point for the choreography and then the ideas snowballed from there. It fits you know? It’s everything you need to know about the song in one pose. Caravaggio had a knack for presenting you with these really unsettling images that hypnotised you into a whole different world. I hope the track does the same thing.
How has your experience at Berklee College of Music influenced your approach to songwriting and production, particularly with a genre-defying song like “Make A Fool”?
I keep telling everyone this, Berklee really is a one of a kind place. It’s the fact that people are encouraged to experiment and put in situations that push their creativity. I wrote this song when I was there actually. I learnt how to start breaking out of traditional chord structures over there, start really exploring how jazz harmony has influenced genres like gospel and Neo soul. It was all very new to me, I was very Rock-Classical-Bollywood. But I loved the sound of these unexpected chord changes and thought all the cool people do stuff like this. So I tried to do it. Now I have made it uncool. I apologise to cool people everywhere.
Your family’s label, Sagarika Music, has been a big part of your journey. How has working with your family impacted your music style and career choices?
Choices? If you’ve ever been part of a family business you know the words career and choices don’t necessarily go together. The sentences “Do the laundry” and “Why haven’t you been promoting your song properly and if this is the level of practice then please just get a job somewhere” generally follow each other on a daily basis. I say that jokingly, but it does make a difference. The thing is, all the music my mother and her collaborators made while I was growing up was very much in stark contrast to the stuff I wanted to make. But it seeps in you know? I realised how much I love this music that our label has made much later and how much all the artists on the label have influenced my music and thought process. So this whole ‘genre bending’ thing really is just a super musically confused mind. But I’ve always been behind the scenes you know? I know what that looks like really well. I’ve grown up around productions and shoots and recordings and I’ve been doing small shoots and recordings and releases of my own now and then to train this stuff up. That’s a luxury I’ve been afforded by virtue of the people I’ve been born to. It’s not one I take for granted. I really wouldn’t be much without this environment I grew up in.
The track reflects your journey as an artist. How does “Make A Fool” express your personal experiences or musical evolution over the years?
I really should play you that first demo I made for this song. That’ll say everything about my artistic growth. I’ll level with you, I can see this in hindsight. I was always a really good writer, but I was never really much of a performer. My strengths always lay in conceptualising and writing. But for my vocal and instrumental abilities to catch up to the stuff I was imagining in my head took a while. Not a small amount patience. The basic idea is the same as that demo. Words are the same. But I have this weird philosophy that I should be able to perform or understand how every element in a track I’m producing is performed. So you hear the bass in this song, that’s a result of just sitting and hammering out Motown basslines. The guitar solo is all about me trying to weave in and out of structured and more free flowing soloing. The beats are about me learning more about combining different sounds and exploring rhythmic space. I can go on and on. Even the video is a bit of a step forward. I’ve never really thought of myself as someone who can do the hair and wear the good clothes and pull off a ‘sexy’ video. I’m a clown, that’s my forte. I don’t really know if I’ve pulled if off yet, but it’s me pushing myself out of my comfort zone a bit more. I’m just going to keep doing that and hope people like it.
What message or emotional response do you hope listeners take away from “Make A Fool,” especially regarding the themes of vanity and love?
Look, this song is about dramatising the concept of one sided love. So when you’re in a situation like that, it feels this dramatic. So as long as people look at this as a peek inside a certain feeling someone in a very particular situation goes through, we’re good. Nothing in this song really is calling anyone an asshole. It’s just bringing out the helplessness that you feel in there. Feel like people don’t have the space for nuance nowadays though. You scroll through Instagram and Facebook seeing people and traits being labelled as narcissistic and it’s easy to label the people who we think possess any of those traits as that. The truth is that you see someone as selfish and self absorbed in a one sided love until you realise that both sides of one sided love are just as self absorbed. It’s a hurricane of emotions where neither side is really truly happy. Ironically enough, the helpless side of this equation could benefit from a little vanity of their own. That really is the perspective you should take away from this. This kind of love doesn’t allow for people to be human. Love isn’t something to be imposed on someone, it’s just mutually figuring out each other and learning to love what someone really is rather than who you think or hope they are. This whole thing is what happens when you lose sight of that. So I hope people feel the helplessness in this and decide that it really isn’t any way to conduct a healthy life.
