Makara Sankrama by Johnson

There is an honesty to Makara Sankrama that separates it from most Malayalam songs released around the same time. The music, composed by Johnson, carries the song forward with a confidence that matches the performance.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Makara Sankrama, Johnson clearly belongs in the second group. The chemistry of a talented ensemble cast is embedded in every moment of Makara Sankrama, making it as much a performance as a song.

Released in 2020, it arrived at a time when Malayalam music needed exactly this kind of sincerity. The song rewards full attention but also works as company in the background — a flexibility that most tracks never achieve.

The concision of Makara Sankrama — just 3:37 — is part of what makes it work. There is nothing here that should not be. It is, simply, one of the better songs to come from Malayalam in recent memory — and the numbers agree.