Renao could have easily become a badminton champ but then he found his calling in life — music. The Bangalore-born, London-based pop artiste has been making top-quality music for some years now and social media has warmed up to him since his single Nobody appeared on the scene.
He has an absorbing double EP with a slightly mysterious title — A Space Between Orange & Blue. Renao, aka Rahul Prasad, has colours on his mind to showcase his relationship with what he calls home. Here’s what the singer has to say.
Walk us through the conceptualisation of the double EP A Space Between Orange & Blue.
The project came about when I wanted an orange EP and a blue EP and as I started conceptualizing that it dawned on me that those colours make brown. I knew it was time to let the world know where I am from and how proud I am of being from India. It just made sense to make honest music about my experience as a brown person moving to a Western country to pursue a dream.
When your earlier music was released, critics were quick to say that your fan base was increasing on TikTok. But when it comes to making music, what’s your relationship with social media and do you even think about how things would play out on social media platforms?
Unfortunately, yes. As an artiste in 2023, social media is a big part of the job and I wish it wasn’t. It has played a big role in me being discovered and having my first song go viral, but that has become increasingly common and doesn’t mean as much as it used to. I finally had to accept that the only way I can achieve longevity is to focus on making music that means the most to me. So I tend to worry less about social media as I know as long as I keep making the music, the rest will follow.
How much has your stint at university, learning music, shaped the process you have?
To be honest, not much. I didn’t really learn much at university. I learned a lot about myself which has played such a huge part in how I make music now.
Growing up in India and living in the UK. How are the two lives different and how do these two lives get reflected in the new double EP?
Well, India is such a progressive country at times, I don’t think the way I dress or dying my hair would have been received well when I was growing up. But every time I come back home it seems to change and feels so good. I think when I was growing up, I couldn’t really express myself the way I wanted to or had the tools to do so. It wasn’t until moving here that I started exploring my identity more which seems very ironic.
India has moulded me and the UK just added to that. I feel like songs like Older really reflect how it’s a lot harder to have difficult conversations in an Indian family and as I grew up I knew I just had to get it out and have honest conversations with my family. Songs like Wild Wild West really explain how I feel being an Indian person in England.
What kind of music did you grow up on and when did you realise that you have reached a voice/sound that you can call your own?
I grew up listening to a lot of Fleetwood Mac and John Mayer. I think once I realised I could sing at uni I took a year experimenting with loads of different styles until it felt like me.
India has a lot more to offer than Bollywood music. Has that been the case for you?
I was never around Indian music growing up, but my grandmother always played the radio in the morning in Kerala so I was really exposed to a lot of that. I feel like musically I wasn’t introduced to a lot of stuff and now I keep going back in time to listen to the disco era of India.
I guess your grandmother is involved with one of the tracks on the album. What does she think of the music you make?
She always sang this song to me as a kid, I knew I had to have something personal to me about India in this song. Her voice and that song couldn’t have been a better choice to do that. She loves that song, she doesn’t really still understand what I do though!
Now that you are becoming more established on the music scene, what role does criticism play in your life?
I am more worried about the things the people closest to me say about my music than anyone else. My circle is small, if they tell me it feels like me I know I’m making the right music. Everyone’s a critic these days, so I tend to drown it out.
Picture: Blackksocks