‘Enjoy Enjaami’ controversy: AR Rahman distances from music label Maajja

On the third anniversary of the “Enjoy Enjaami” song on Tuesday, 5 March, well-known music director Santosh Narayanan took to Instagram and X and put out posts claiming that the artists involved in making the song had not made any revenue.

For those not in the know, “Enjoy Enjaami” is a Tamil song composed by Narayanan, performed by singer Dhee, and featuring rapper Arivu. The song turned out to be an instant hit after it was launched by Academy Award-winning music composer AR Rahman under the Maajja Music label and its associated global music festival, YAALL. It has amassed 487 million views so far and is racing towards the 500-million mark.

Interestingly, Rahman was said to be a part of Maajja. And as soon as Narayanan’s posts went viral on social media, some netizens started trolling the music maestro for his involvement.

However, Rahman has now clarified that his involvement with Maajja, the music platform he launched in 2021 — and its global music festival YAALL was limited to mentorship.

Rahman said he too received no financial benefit from “Enjoy Enjaami”. He added that he agreed to be a mentor because the platform aimed to take Tamil music global and cater to the international audience.

“I don’t have any financial benefit or shareholding in the company,” Rahman clarified. “(I) just did this out of goodwill … All the videos of me mentoring were pulled out long ago.”

Reacting to AR Rahman’s statement, Santhosh Narayanan shared that Rahman has always been a pillar of support without any expectations through the entire Maajja fiasco, and he was also a victim of many false promises and malice.

“Thank you, sir. Many indie artists including Arivu, Svdp, Dhee, and many others including myself have also never been remitted our revenues in any form and have been bullied with emails,” Narayanan wrote.

“I understand that emotions are high and would urge you all to support the indie artists in this juncture. I will definitely triple-click on the entire episode with my mentor Pa Ranjith and rapper Arivu in the coming days and as many of you know, I wish the best for them with love and want to make sure all indie artists get their fair dues met soon. Here we come," he added.