Esho Nadha by Baby Aswathy

There is an honesty to Esho Nadha that separates it from most Malayalam songs released around the same time. Behind the melody is the work of Joji Johns, whose composition choices give Esho Nadha its distinctive texture.

The voice of Baby Aswathy carries Esho Nadha effortlessly, which is the highest compliment a song can give its singer. For fans of a talented ensemble cast, Esho Nadha is one of those songs that immediately conjures specific scenes and emotions.

When it came out in 2020, Esho Nadha felt timely. Years later, it feels timeless. Listeners have described the experience of Esho Nadha differently — romantic, melancholic, uplifting — which suggests the song is large enough to hold many truths.

The 4:16 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Malayalam in recent memory — and the numbers agree.