Ko (soundtrack)

Ko is the soundtrack to the 2011 Tamil-language political thriller film of the same name directed by K. V. Anand, starring Jiiva, Ajmal, Karthika and Piaa Bajpai. Featuring musical score composed by Harris Jayaraj, who previously worked with the director on Ayan (2009), the album features six tracks, with lyrics written by Pa. Vijay, Madhan Karky, Kabilan, Viveka, Vanamali, Sricharan, Emcee Jesz. The audio was launched at a public event on 12 January 2011 with the cast and crew. Sony Music India released the album through digital and physical formats. The soundtrack album for the Telugu-dubbed version Rangam was released by Aditya Music on 9 March 2011.

Background and release
The music compositions sessions took place in Macau where he had tuned all six tracks for the film. On the occasion of Diwali (5 November 2010), a teaser featuring the song "Enamo Aedho" was released to acclaim from critics and audience. The song was initially titled as "Kuviyamilla" which lyricist Madhan Karky termed as "out of focus" in Tamil, that refers to the protagonist Ashwin's (Jiiva) occupation as a photojournalist. But was later renamed to the original title. It further depicts his love for Renuka (Nair) as well as Saro's (Bajpai) affection towards him. The album featured a song sung "Munpaniya" sung by Bombay Jayashri and Sriram Parthasarathy (later deciphered to be "Venpaniye") which Jayaraj claimed as one of his favourites from the album, and a club song sung by Emcee Jesz, Vijay Prakash, Tippu, Solar Sai and Ranina Reddy that featured appearances from several Tamil film personalities, including Jayaraj.

The teaser's success prompted media to claim the soundtrack was "red hot" in audio sales due to the pull of the particular song, with the producers quoting up to inr 10000000. Later Sony Music India acquired the film's music rights, and the audio was initially set to be released on 10 December 2010, but postponed. The soundtrack was launched on 12 January 2011 at the Image Auditorium in Chennai, with the presence of the cast and crew and other celebrities, with a press meet held the following day at the Green Park Hotel. The event was telecasted on Kalaignar TV on 26 January 2011, coinciding with Republic Day.

Reception
The soundtrack received mixed reviews from critics. C. Karthik from Behindwoods.com gave 2.5 out of 5 claiming that Harris tried to re-create the magic of Ayan (2009), and "achieved it to an extent". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff gave a 2 out of 5, complimenting "Enamo Aedho" as "sweety and melodius" while other numbers are being "mish-mashed versions" of Jayaraj's earlier hits. A reviewer from Indiaglitz said, "Ko's music is vivacious with different genres of romantic songs, hip hop and nevertheless even poetic." Karthik Srinivasan from Milliblog reviewed "KV Anand may be a master storyteller, but his music sense continues to be strictly average; Harris doesn't help either." Vipin Nair of Music Aloud gave a rating of 7 out of 10, calling it as "a middling score from Harris Jayaraj".

Irrespective of the mixed reception, the song "Enamo Aedho" was reviewed positively by film critics and received a breakthrough for its lead vocalist Aalap Raju, who initially worked as a bass guitarist, and becoming a playback singer.