MUMBAI: Not a very long time ago, a young talent entered the Bollywood music industry with a dream to create a body of work that one would look back at fondly even after a decade.

It hasn't been a decade yet, but this bright man is deftly climbing the ladder of success with every song he lends his voice to. It is none other than 'Tere Liye' singer Jubin Nautiyal.

Nautiyal was never hungry for a song that would get him fame, unlike his contemporaries. His aim continues to become a better singer with each passing day. "I want to sing songs that people would remember," said the enthusiastic 'Dil Ka Funda' singer.

To sing every song so that it is worth recalling with pride, the singer has been competing with himself. "My competition is with my earlier songs. I want to outdo my previous work. This is why when the composers tell me that I have done a good job while recording, I give it another shot to make it better," revealed Nautiyal.

The singer believes that one should do justice to the song in hand rather than opt for many songs. One should also be selective with his/her work according to him. But, when it comes to him being choosy, he tries to keep restrictions away from selection. He states that it is a lesson that he learnt too early in life.

"My first Bollywood song with Amjad-Nadeem 'Ek Mulaqat' was a Sufi song. Before they got me on board for that song, they had recorded it with someone else. I heard that version of the song and thought it was brilliant. However, they convinced me to sing it again and the song sounded really cool. I was giving up on the song because I thought the song did not need another voice. That incident taught me not to restrict myself ever," he recalled.

In fact, the 'Meherbaani' singer feels that one should keep his eyes and ears open to a music composer's vision for a singer. The entire exercise helps a singer learn more about himself. "Pritam Da and Jeet Gannguli Da look at my voice differently, so do Rajesh Roshan and Amit Trivedi. All the composers that I've worked with have a different vision of my voice in their mind. This helps me learn more about my voice."

This is also why Nautiyal does not want to keep the oft abused term 'My singing style' anywhere close to him. "When we all began as new singers, we did not know what our singing style was. Holding on to a style means killing creativity. This is also where an artiste's downfall begins. Had Kishore Kumar or Rafi Saab stuck to the word style we would have never been able to hear so many of their beautiful songs."

Though Nautiyal has been getting accolades for his work in the Bollywood industry, he believes it is the criticism that has brought him so far. The singer will be performing in his hometown Dehradun as well as in Kolkata in the coming month, but he is trying to focus on his playback work more than on ground events at the moment. He believes that Mumbai tends to forget people too soon and wants to stay in the city longer than away from it.

Nautiyal currently has a lot of Bollywood offers and he is completely enjoying this phase. His latest songs are 'Le Chala' from 'One Night Stand' and 'Gumnaam Hai Koi' from '1920 London'. He is also working on 'Raaz 4' with music composer Jeet Gannguli.