I is the soundtrack album to the 2015 Indian romantic thriller film of the same name written and directed by S. Shankar. A. R. Rahman composed the original songs and background score for the film. The album consists of seven tracks, which include a remix and a reprise. Recording of the songs began in 2012 and was completed by 2014. Songs in the film vary in genre like EDM, bhangra, opera, urban. The original version of the soundtrack has youth oriented voices. The original version of the album was released on 6 September 2014. The audio was launched at a grand function at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai on 12 September 2014, with Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Chief Guest. The dubbed Hindi version of the album was released at a promotional event held in PVR, Mumbai on 31 December 2014. The dubbed Telugu version of the album was released digitally on the same day.
The soundtrack as well as the score received a very positive critical reception and it was declared one of the top twenty best selling albums of 2014 by iTunes India. At the 2016 Filmfare Awards, A. R. Rahman won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director whereas lyricist Madhan Karky won Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for his lyrics to the song "Pookkalae Sattru Oyivedungal". Shreya Ghoshal was nominated for the same track under Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer. Lyricist Kabilan was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist for the track "Ennodu Nee Irundhaal". However, Sid Sriram won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song.
Development
A. R. Rahman was selected to compose the original songs and background score for the film. In early July 2012, singer Vijay Prakash recorded the track "Pareshanayya" (Telugu version of "Mersalayitten"). In January 2013, the song "Aila Aila" was recorded. Karky called it as the "most challenging song" he had ever worked on. As some part of the film's story is about modeling, his team created a compilation of six-seven commercials that play to this song. According to Karky, "The lyrics of Aila Aila was the most difficult to pen as each line will have two different meanings, one is what you hear and one is what you are going to watch on the screen". The five and a half minute track blends genres like pop, bhangra, opéra comique elements and electronic beats. In an interview with The Hindu, S. Shankar stated that he wanted unusual music for I with extensive experimentation. He called the experimentation most evident in this track especially the operatic part. The song slightly touches underlying feeling of romance. Portions of the track "Ennodu Nee Irundhaal" sung only by Sunitha Sarathy were recorded on 14 February 2013. Rahman was supposed to have sung "Ennodu Nee Irundhaal" but chose Sid Sriram because the latter sang it well and Rahman felt that Sriram didn't earn the deserving recognition through track "Adiye" from Kadal, thus gave a second opportunity. Lyricist Madhan Karky's third song in the film was recorded by mid – September 2013. In May 2014, Rahman through his bulletin board system of Reddit stated that the film songs have more youth-oriented voices. The track "Mersalaayiten" was recorded by Anirudh Ravichander and Neeti Mohan in the span of July – August 2014. On 4 July 2014, the recording of all the songs for both the versions – the original Tamil version and the dubbed Telugu version were completed. Pravin Mani was involved in post-production of the album for two months. He was recruited for the work of recording ancillaries and corrections. Madhan Karky explained the meanings of the Tamil words he had used in the song "Ladio" on his Twitter page.
Release
On 24 March 2014, Sony Music India acquired the audio rights of the film. The official soundtrack album cover of the film was released on 6 September 2014. The audio launch was planned for a release in Canada, but the film's producer, V. Ravichandran, asserted that the music of the Tamil version would be released at a grand event at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on 12 September 2014. On 1 September 2014, Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed himself as an invitee at the forthcoming event; also Kannada actor and singer Puneeth Rajkumar and Telugu actor Rana Daggubati was as chief guests. Ravichandran said Rahman would present the songs in a fashion similar to a live music concert.