The kind of indulgent, dramatic pop that dominated teen audiences in the late 2000s and is making a comeback now in the form of slightly more conceptual and introspective albums (think the new Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey stuff) has always been labelled as a guilty pleasure. It does that very produced, clean style of song-making a bit of disservice at times, mostly because the huge amount of heartless, vapid nonsense that took over the airwaves for a while and made even trying out that kind of sounds a crime. It’s fair to say that after passionately criticising the genre, many of us went home when no one could see and played this music to enjoy it. And that’s ok. The point of it is to have some fun and find some emotional resonance along the way. Mumbai singer-songwriter Nidhi Wagle doesn’t care about anyone’s pretentions and goes the whole hog on her single ‘Blinded’. And surprise surprise, it’s fun as hell.

Nidhi’s modern, clean and versatile vocal delivery is what carries the track. The sometimes woozy backing instrumentation is a nice foil for her sharp delivery and tone that cuts through everything. The piano and muffled drums sound like they’re in the next room, but they (along with some equally distant strings) bring that evocative, dramatic feeling to life really well. And when she wants to let loose and throw it a squeaky clean run or two, she gives herself freedom. Her subject matter of relationships lost and mistakes made therein is exactly what one must sing about with such a sound. There’s even some distorted guitar right at the song’s end to give her passionate last refrain some bite. This is solid stuff, no matter what anyone might think about sound or ‘vibe’. You’re going to have one of those evenings where you want to sit and feel emotionally indulgent and think about certain times you felt wronged; throw ‘Blinded’ on and have a blast.