Paying tribute to playback singer KK by remembering some of his forgotten yet beautiful songs from an illustrious career spanning close to 26 years.

KK's sudden passing was a huge shock to fans, and especially for 90s kids like me. We grew up listening to his songs right from Chhod Aaye Hum Woh Galiyan to Dus Bahaane to Khuda Jaane and so on. When I went to his discography, I was easily able to identify close to 70 songs of his which have been on my playlist. But here are five of his underrated songs which I absolutely love!

#1: Dil Tod Ke

KK was one of the singers whose strength was songs with emotions like sadness and pain. In this song from the 2015 film Ishq Ke Parinday, he takes the emotions in the simple yet deep lyrics to another level with his voice, using minute vibrations to emote the pain strongly.

#2: Are Are Are

KK's collaborations with composer M. M. Keeravani have produced gems like Aawaarapan Banjaarapan. This song from the 2012 film Makkhi is probably the opposite in terms of emotion when compared to KK's forte of sad songs. But KK uses his ease of hitting high notes well to communicate the innocence in the protagonist's love for the girl. The Telugu version sung by Haricharan is also great, but KK just owns this one.

#3: Dekho Raste Mein

This song from Hum Tum Aur Ghost is here primarily because of the collaborators - lyrics by Javed Akhtar, music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and vocals by KK and Shreya Ghoshal; all of them are my favourites. It's a signature tune by the composers and the singers completely surrender to their vision, and that enhances the beauty of the composition.

#4: Nazrein Karam

The Bhatt camp produced a lot of movies in the early 2000s, and most of them had great songs even if the movies weren't as great. This song from the 2009 film Jashnn starring Adhyayan Suman and Anjana Sukhani in lead roles and with music by Sharib-Toshi is one such great song from a forgotten film. Like Mohit Chauhan was the voice of Ranbir Kapoor's character in Rockstar and Arijit was the voice of Aditya Roy Kapoor's character in Aashiqui 2, KK was the voice of Adhyayan's character in this musical. He just gets the groovy vibe spot on, with Shreya Ghoshal coming in for a small cameo.

#5: Aksar

Another song with a similar context as the earlier one, this song from Hijack starring Shiney Ahuja and Esha Deol has an upbeat rhythm. However, the film released without any publicity and sank immediately, and therefore not many people have heard this song.