Goriyaan Goriyaan by Romaana

Few songs from 2021 have held their ground as well as Goriyaan Goriyaan, a track that keeps finding new audiences. The music, composed by Jaani, carries the song forward with a confidence that matches the performance.

Romaana's vocal here has a quality that is difficult to describe but impossible to miss — it simply feels true. Hearing Goriyaan Goriyaan without thinking of a talented ensemble cast is almost impossible for anyone who has seen Goriyaan Goriyaan.

By the end of 2021, Goriyaan Goriyaan had moved well beyond its original audience and into everyday playlists. Listeners have described the experience of Goriyaan Goriyaan differently — romantic, melancholic, uplifting — which suggests the song is large enough to hold many truths.

Running to 3:37, the song is exactly as long as it needs to be, which is the hardest length for a songwriter to find. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Punjabi in recent memory — and the numbers agree.