Indian musician Renao on the challenges of being an artiste in the U.K. Premium

Artiste Renao talks about his debut EP and his journey as an Indian musician in the United Kingdom.

Badminton by day, music by night.

That is how Rahul Prasad a.k.a Renao wandered into the world of music. Growing up as a talented badminton player, Rahul who had represented Karnataka at the national level, was pretty sure the Olympics was where he was headed. That was until he attended an Avicii concert.

“It was my first music concert and I learnt all his songs so I’d be cool in front of my friends,” he candidly admits, adding, “I was blown away by the experience! When I got back home, I spent my spare time on YouTube trying to figure out the special effects and the entire electronic music experience.”

Like many a sportsperson, Rahul was exempt from regular classes. “The option to appear for PU exams without attending classes gave me ample time to train; on the flip side, it left me without too many friends and that is when I turned to music.

By the time he was 19 and ready to enrol in college, Rahul was the state topper in badminton and among the top 10 in the country. “I knew I had to choose and though I was better at badminton than music, I couldn’t think of giving it up. That decision saw me relocate to Leeds in the United Kingdom to study music production.”

Once there, Rahul began to appreciate the nuances of ambient EDM (electronic dance music). “I saw other artistes were also playing instruments or participating as backing vocalists for their music; it encouraged me to take up voice lessons too.”

For almost a year after that, Rahul began to work on the kind of music he wanted to make as well as perfecting his sound. Towards the end of 2021, he posted his song , ‘Nobody’ on TikTok. “It was just the last 30 seconds of the song, but when I woke up the next morning, it had garnered 400,000 views! It was unthinkable!”