When you can't sing

This musician made a pandemic year one of his most productive, while sharing not just music but opinion on news and controversies via hit memes

Raghav Meattle, 29
Singer-songwriter

With live gigs having come to halt in Mumbai by mid-March, most musicians left the city for their home towns, ruing the lack of work. A few, like singer-songwriter Raghav Meattle, decided to make the most of this time at home.

"This year has actually been a very productive one for me. I didn't have time earlier to do the many things that I wanted. I decided to keep my head down and work—this included songwriting and trying different ways to be out there," says the Delhi resident, who shifted to Mumbai a few years ago, after he appeared on reality show, The Voice. He also started working with Big Bang Music last year to get more insight into the music business. But it was in 2020 that Meattle decided to spend more time on himself and his social media. "I started doing an Instagram Live every night during the lockdown, conducting a chat show with other musicians for my followers, about music and the Indie music scene. This would have been impossible in my pre-pandemic schedule, as I would have been dead tired by the time I came home from live gigs." Daily Insta lives, which he sometimes did with a friend or guest on, led to an increase in Meattle's visibility, and led to a growth in listenership and popularity. His songs were streamed 1.2 million times on Spotify this year. It proved that even a pandemic can't stop an artiste's growth.

Along with connecting with his audience, Meattle has also been using Instagram to share his opinion on all things relevant, newsy and even controversial, albeit in a funny way. "I try to say a lot of things but in a nuanced way, rather than vent. We need to use comedy well." His memes, which have kept followers in splits all year, also feature pictures of a young Ratan Tata, whom many netizens have claimed looks like Meattle right now. "I think I became 'more me' on social media this year. I got to know my audience, chatted with them, and showed my goofy side. And that truly has helped make it a great year."

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