A call that's opened up the 80s pop Strait

Stevie Wonder's 'I Just Called to Say I Love You', which had topped the US Billboard charts in 1984, is suddenly storming Indian playlists again this Baisakhi/Vishu/Poila Boishakh. And why the sudden (re)discovery of this soppy 80s ballad? Because of a headline-grabbing 40-odd-min-long phone call in which the caller reportedly 'assured' the person on the other end, 'I just want you to know we all love you.' The proud mum-in-law figure, who made the content of this rather intimate phone call public, has not elaborated who the 'we' in the declaration was. The caller's organisation? His countrymen and women? Or was it just a royal plural? We also don't know whether the assurance was reciprocated. But the recipient of the message being Indian has led to the wonder of the Stevie classic being revived.

It's only a matter of time that Badshah - or, more aptly, Bahraini rapper Flipperachi, considering the geopolitical context in which the call was made - will turn up with a monster remix, 'I Just Called to Say I Love You 2: Hormuz Ceasefire Remix'. It could even burst open the 80s gaana strait and bring us delightful 2026 covers of Lionel Richie's 'Hello', Billy Joel's 'We Didn't Start the Fire', another Wonder wonder 'Part-Time Lover', and Europe's 'The Final Countdown'. Nationwide caller tunes can be that Lionel Richie-Diana Ross nugget, 'Endless Love'.