Top Tamil Songs of December 2023

Here are the best Tamil songs released for the month of December 2023. 

If you are a musician submit your new music here.

1. Lovendra Cassandra

Composed, Arranged and produced by Marshall Robinson 

Singers: Sathyaprakash, Shilvi Sharon 

Lyrics: Marshall Robinson 

Additional Lyrics: Kavyanayagi, Shilvi Sharon 

Voice Over: Alexander Babu 

Language: Tamil

Genre: Indie Pop

Mood: Happy

I was wondering, why does this voice-over sound so familiar? It had to be the supremely talented Alexander Babu who is one of our finest stand-ups. He has this perfect imitation of the Tamil Brahminical dialect and Marshall Robinson wisely uses this as the intro for a song that is also written with that same dialect in mind, I had a ROFL moment with the whole "lovendra cassandra, en veetla venandra". Marshall goes on to compose, write, produce and arrange this song and it is one clever project overall. 

Elvis Gabriel is the guitarist giving it a reggae style, and I can relate to ARRahman's "Mustafa Mustafa" from its style and tempo. The melody has some shades of Reethigowla Ragam, me and that is why this semi-classical pop fusion style is so heartwarming and fun. 

The song is so ebullient thanks to the rhythm programming and singing style which is so casual. The second stanza has the Mridangam by Sumesh Narayanan incorporated to give it an even closer touch to Classical Carnatic music. Kudos to Abin Pushpakaran at Blu Academy for mixing all the tracks and giving us this enjoyable product. Shilvi Sharon breezes through with her English lines. The additional lyrics are written by Kavyanayagi and Shilvi. 

@marshallrobinson.music @meenakshigovindhrajan @lovendracassandra @dsathyaprakash @shilvi_sharon06

2. Velagaadha

Music Composed & Arranged by Sean Roldan

Singer : Kapil Kapilan

Lyricist: Mohan Rajan

Female Voice : Aparna Harikumar 

Music Producer: Ashwin Raja  

Language: Tamil

Genre: Filmi Pop

Mood: Romantic

Sean Roldan's glorious 2023 continues with this fantastic song coming in December. This is from a new movie that will release in 2024 and the first single has already made a massive impact among fans. The combination of actor Manikandan and Sean Roldan could work out very well here too in the movie "Lover" just like it was flawless for the movie album " Good Night". Kapil Kapilan is taking the world of South Cinema by storm as he sings playback for all languages. 

Sean Roldans weaves a simple but soulful melody and Kapil is the vehicle to land the song at its rightful destination. The slight Lo-fi and electronic pop influences are not something that Sean attempts often, but he gets it fused with a hummable melody making it a great listen. Mohan Rajan is the lyricist, telling the subject "velagadha enna vitttu valagadha". I like this word 'velagadha' so much more than the stronger word we often hear ' pogadhe'. The song is composed and arranged by Sean with Ashwin Raja producing it. 

The feeble but beautiful voice of the female belongs to Aparna Harikumar. The stanza is just rich and it makes the heart just grow fonder. Towards the end, Kapil just goes on to improvise, and in a way, it works just like how Arijit has been doing over the years. Ashwin George John is the recording engineer, Rupendar Venkatesh is the mixing and mastering engineer and the music management is by Silver Tree. 

@kapilkapilanmusic @rseanroldan @mohanrajan_lyrici @nikhila_sankar @rupendar_venkatesh @rupendar_venkatesh @ashwin_george_john @ashwin.raaja @aparnaharikumarh @silvertreeoffl 

3. Yaarum Kaanadha 

Singers - Kapil Kapilan & Keerthana Vaidyanaathan

Lyrics - Karthik Netha

Composed and arranged by Govind Vasantha

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music

Mood: Romantic

Govind Vasantha has had a fabulous year in Malayalam Cinema in 2023, and he has a few upcoming movies in Tamil too that has created initial excitement. 'Fight Club' produced by Lokesh Kanagaraj did get some interesting movie reviews and the music by Govind helped matters. The song that I loved the most from the album is this blinder sung by Kapil Kapilan and Keerthana Vaidyanaathan.

Nadhan begins in some sort of retro style playing the Clarinet and soon enough we get the playful Mandolin by Durwin D'Souza. Kapil's voice is beautiful in this and he is only getting better every year. The song is composed, arranged and produced by Govind and I did feel that the tone sort of resembles the famous song "Chori Chori Jab Nazrein Mili" from the album 'Kareeb'. The moment when Keerthana joins and sings in harmony with Kapil is something to treasure. Keerthana impacts me so much with her delivery and style, which has an element of longing and sadness. 

The interlude is glittered with Govind's solo violin and then the clarinet. Durwin also plays the guitars and Nadhan is on the flute. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Govind Vasantha, with recording engineers Hariharan (20 db), Divine (2 barq) and Lawrence (BLD design studios). B Velavan is the musicians' co-ordinator. 

@kapilkapilanmusic @govind__vasantha_ @keerthanavaidyanathan @karthiknetha_official @durwin_dsouza

4. Annikku Raathiri

Singer: Mali

Lyrics: Madhan Karky

Music Composed by Mali

Music Produced by Harshan Radhakrishnan

Genre: Synth Pop

Mood: Quirky

She is a giant in the indie space and undoubtedly one of India's finest. A small part of me also is proud that she can sing in Tamil thanks to her lineage. Here is Maalavika Manoj a.k.a Mali, singing and charging up my soul in "Anikku Rathri". Some attempts are being made to revive the indie scene in Tamil, but when Mali comes down south and collaborates with writers like Madhan Karky, it is a big boost for the industry. 

This song in the synth-pop style is something that never gets explored much in Kollywood, so kudos to Mali and Harshan Radhakrishnan for giving us this sound. The song is composed and written by Mali but Harshan programs and produces it with style. The lines are simple and easy to sing along unlike some of the complex vocabularies that movie music would demand like "iruttu santhula morattu aalu oruthan , mela keela paarthane, sudden a ulagam en ulagam , intha ulagam vera maari maaruthu". The situation is scary the whole world built by the song is terrorising a woman, but I like how the music is more quirky than scary or carrying angst. Sid Shirodkar is the mix/master engineer. 

@thinkmusicofficial @madhankarky @honeymoonhenny @deepikka.anand @dhikshakishore @risku_205 @bhav_john @vishal_ravi1506 @tdc.thedancersclub 

5. Vaichol

Performed by Krithika Nelson

Written by Krithika Nelson, Mahakavi Bharathiyar

Produced by Prashanth Techno

Language: Tamil

Genre: Alt-Rock

Mood: Energetic

Krithika Nelson is a multi-faceted artist and though she has nothing to prove to anyone, I am glad that 2023 had 2 outstanding singles released by her including this one. if "Nee Mattum" was a slow and steady melody that touched the softest parts of the heart, this single wakes you up from your slumber and sends adrenaline pumping. The project is an ode to the Great Poet Mahakavi Bharathiyar and it is self-funded. 

It is a sign of a skilled composer when they are capable of scoring across genres and styles. What else do you expect a song to sound like when you have the inspiring words of the Mahakavi Bharathiyar? Krithika possesses the vocal thrust to deliver a song like this and she gives a Sunidhi Chauhan-ish or maybe Vasundhara Das-esque performance here. It would still be incomplete without solid production and some hair-raising arrangements and that is where the talented composer/producer Prashanth Techno comes in.

The electric guitars by Keba Jeremiah and bass by Naveen Napier offer some extremely stylish platforms on which Krithika stands tall and sizzles. The interludes come in and keep the energy right up at the top Prashanth gives adequate support on keys and rhythm programming. Avinash Sathish is the mixing engineer. The whole concept was created, designed, scripted and shot by Brandrona Ideahub

@madrashe @prashanthtechno @kebajer @avinashsathish @brandrona_ideahub

 6. Idhuvellam

Music Director: Shaan Rahman

Singers Gowry Lekshmi & Shaan Rahman

Lyrics: Karthik Netha

Language: Tamil

Genre: Electronic Pop

Mood: Quirky/Dance

This has to be one of Shaan Rahman's best new Albums since 2021 as I have already featured another amazing song among the best of 2023 called "Goppuraane". Gowry Lekshmi is at the peak of her powers delivering this beauty and I would want to watch the movie "Kannagi" just for its songs. The solo flute gives it a classical texture, and then the flowy Pianos join in the background. Gowry gets her A game on when she sings the beautiful lines " Ithuvellam mayakkama, vidaiyilla vilakkama". Katrthik Netha is the man to be praised for such thoughtful writing. 

After the initial few lines, the song is a journey that Gowry takes us on, with the vision of Shaan coming through. This is one sensational masterclass by Gowry on vocals and she shows what all a singer can do to make a song that much more catchy and breathtaking. Shaan joins in on backing vocals. The heavy Pianos make the latter half of this song some glorious global pop that we grew up listening to in the 1990s. Shaan ups the ante on the programmed strings and keys and during the outro, there are moments when Gowry pauses while singing the anupallavi, and just then the flute intervenes to create some magic. 

@shaanrahman @gowrylekshmih @karthiknetha_official 

7. Seemakariye

Music Composed, Arranged and produced by Leon James

Singers - Sanjith Hegde

Lyrics - Karthik Netha

Language: Tamil

Genre: Light Music

Mood: Romantic

I will be looking forward to seeing the movie "Saba Nayagan" and with Leon James' music, things do look interesting. This song is my favourite from the album. When I hear this joyful romantic song, I do sense some traces of Abheri Ragam. The song is composed, arranged and produced by Leon, and I hope he has a better year in 2024 than he did last year. The live instrumental arrangements are quite interesting as we have the solo violin by Sayee Rakshith conjoined with the guitars by Keba Jeremiah. 

There is some similarity between Sanjith's Anirudh's vocal tone especially when I hear Sanjith singing in Tamil. This song gets a coolness quotient purely from Sanjith Hegde's casual and savvy vocals. Lali Talluri doesn't leave any stone unturned as he mischievously plays the flute. The interlude gets a load of swaras sung by backing vocalists Shenbagaraj, Santosh Hariharan and Aravind Srinivas. 

I love the continued quality in the composition as we head to the stanza, especially the line " Nee boologam kekkatha raaga talam". Karthik Netha is the lyricist. David Joseph plays the drums and he is prolific and all the additional rhythms are played by Leon. The humming by Sanjith accompanied by the Violin towards the end is extremely catchy. The tracks are mixed by Avinash Sathish and mastered by Leon at Shambala Studios. Roshan Doshi is the music manager. 

@leon.james @sanjithhegde @sayee.rakshith @davidthejoseph @aravindsrinivas_official @shenbagarajg @kebajer @avinashsathish @santoshhariharanlive @karthiknetha_official 

 8. Otti Vaaraney

Singer: S.P.Charan

Lyrics: Muthamil

Music Composed and Arranged by Ghibran

Language: Tamil

Genre: Retro 

Mood: Dance/ Nostalgic

Ghibran has been a little off by his high standards, with no great albums or songs released in 2023. Thankfully he shows a glimmer of hope with this 1980s-sounding song, from the movie "80s Buildup". I guess we have to give full marks to Ghibran for composing this in that style reflective of the period and for making SP Charan sing the lead vocals. This gives the closest touch to an Ilaiyarja-SPB song we would have heard and enjoyed in the 80s. 

The Ghatam comes through as the main percussion instrument thanks to Shruthiraj, but to have the flute by Jai and the female chorus humming as crucial elements in the interlude is a master stroke by Ghibran. Kalyan, Ricky and Ghibran handle all the rhythm programming and we have the coordinated work of Hary Nair, BM Bharath, Derrick Paul and Sahul on all the additional song arrangements. I love the line " Otha solla naanum kekka mandi pottu enguren" both musically and lyrically. Muthamil is the lyricist. 

SM Subhani plays all the ethnic strings and the guitars, with Dr V Sritharan on the Violin. As always we have Gold Devaraj as the Music Assistant and Dr. Sritharan as the Music Supervisor. Andria Miranda and Brihto David are handling Production Management, Balu Thankachan @ 20dBBlack is the mix/master engineer

@ghibranofficial @spbcharan @thebaluthankachan @harynair @golddevaraj @

9. Ulagai Vella Pogiraal

Artist: Harini

Lyrics: Vivek

Music: Thaman S

Song Programmed by - Jayram & Sairam 

Arranged by - Osho V 

Song Composition Conceived by - Sruthi Ranjani & Sandilya Pisapati 

Language: Tamil

Genre: Semi-classical

Mood: Happy

The movie "Annapoorni" has been getting mixed reviews, and the music too blows hot and cold. This one however stands out as a good hummable song and it does pique my interest to go and check out the movie as well. S Thaman has been relatively quiet in 2023 with very few hits, and hopefully, 2024 will be a successful year. 

Haritha's Veena solo sets the tone and we know we can expect a semi-classical song in the offing. I do hear some fragments of Kaapi Ragam, as I am reminded of Vidyasagar's classic hit "aalangkuyil koovum rayyil" which also is set in the same scale. The similarity runs deeper because we have the same saccharine-laden Harini giving playback for both these tracks. The song competition is conceived by Sruthi Ranjani and Sandilya Pisapati with Thaman being the leader of the pack and creating the final produced version. 

Sai does all the terrific additional rhythm production. We have the terrific interlude by Sandilya on the solo violin and such mastery is always expected from this guy. Yamini and Sruthi back up on harmonies and in the stanza we get even more richness thanks to the live instrumentals. The arrangements are done by Osho V and the apt lyrics are penned by Vivek. Lalit Talluri and Ramesh play the flute and Sunny handles the tantalising Mandolin and the Indian strings. The song is mixed and mastered by Shadab Rayeen with assistance from Pukhraj & Anoop. Osho V and Biju are the recording engineers. 

@musicthaman @singerharini_official @sandilya_pisapati @sruthiranjani @lalittalluri @shadabrayeen

 10. Ther Thiruvizha

Song Composed, Produced and Arranged by A.R.Rahman

Lyrics Vivek

Singers - Shankar Mahadevan, A R Raihanah, Deepthi Suresh, Yogi Sekar

Language: Tamil

Genre: Folk/Dance

Mood: Happy/Ecstatic

This folk dance number comes from the new Rajini movie that is yet to be released. It has been a while since Superstar and AR Rahman collaborated and so there have been a lot of expectations. Considering that, the single does satisfy the hype. Shankar Mahadevan is the lead vocalist who starts right from the pallavi and he gives the perfect aura of a Rajini song. AR Raihanan, Deepthi Suresh and Padmaja Sreenivasan are the vocalists who work in close coordination in the stanzas and they all do a fabulous job each giving a certain flavour. 

The song has Mambalam Sivakumar playing the Nadaswaram and Saroja on the Tar Shehnai.

When you have a folk song, the percussion instruments need to be elevating that experience and that is what we get here too. Hariprasad, Ranjith, Sundar, Kavin Raj and Krishna Kishore play the percussion while T R Krishna Chetan does the rhythm arrangements. The part I love the most is the chorus segment singing the title line with vocalists Amina Rafiq, Soundarya Bala Nandakumar and Padmaja Sreenivasan singing the same line with different styles every time. This part alone makes me wonder if there is some Sindhubhairavi Ragam involved. 

The interlude has this extended percussion jugalbandhi along with the "kummiyadi" segment. A.H.Kaashif is the music supervisor and the vocal supervision is done by Nakul Abhyankar and Suryansh. The recording engineers are Sreekanth Hariharan, Sarath Santosh Ameya Mategaonkar, with mixing by Nitish R Kumar and mastering by Suresh Permal

@arrahman @deepthisureshofficial @raihanahshekar @shankar.mahadevan @yogisekar @lyricist_vivek @padmaja.07 @kishorbeatz @tr.krishnachetan @soundarya_offl @nakulabhyankar

11. Vinakkal

Music Composed & Produced: Sreejith Edavana

Lyrics: Navin Kannan

Singer: Deepak Venugopal

Language: Tamil

Genre: Alt-Pop

Mood: Contemplative

It is exciting to know that someone would score 24 songs for the same movie because Sreejith Edavan plans to have 6 songs in each of the 4 South Indian versions of the movie "Cicada. He has composed and produced the songs and I have already featured one Tamil and 1 Malayalam song before this. 

This one is performed by Deepak Venugopal and the lyrics are written by Navin Kannan. The guitars are strong and form the core of the song along with the bass in the background. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Adeline Simon Chittilappilly @SA Studio, Tripunithura. 

@sreejithedavana_official @deepak_venugopal_ @navinkannan @menonvandana

12. Un Oliyile

Composed by GV Prakash

Singer: Sean Roldan

Lyrics: Kaber Vasuki

Programmed by Vagu Mazan, Aswin Sathya

Language: Tamil

Genre: Ballad/ Pop

Mood: Pathos

The song seems to be a welcome and refreshing coming from GV Prakash who has lost his way a bit over the years. His lineup of albums is fantastic working with Sudha Kongra again and then Vetrimaran and then Pa. Ranjith. This album could be a game-changer and I like this song the most. 

It is also a good choice to pick Sean Roldan as the lead vocalist who too is performing better as a playback singer compared to 2022. Kaber Vasuki, the super-talented writer and musician has written the lyrics here, and along with Sean's tonality, the song's pathos gets conveyed beautifully. The fantastic programming on Keys is done by Vagu Mazan and Aswin Sathya. 

Vagu who is this gifted multi-instrumentalist plays the guitars. Ukulele, Harp, Dobro, and Balalaika, are string instruments from around the world. The melodica that plays in the background is also performed by Vagu and it reminds me of Sting's "Shape of My Heart". Lait Talluri's serene flute solo plays in the interlude. The pathos continues with the small but suitable stanza. The tracks are mixed and mastered by Jehovahson Alghar, Divine Labs and recorded by Aswin George John at Sounds Right Studio

@thatswatitis @gvprakash @rseansoldan @kabervasuki @vagu_mazan @lalittalluri @aswinsathya @ashwin_george_john