Akshath Won’t Let Himself Become a One-Hit Wonder

Like many who picked engineering simply by default, Akshath Acharya jokes (almost proudly) that he knew less in his final year than he did on day one. What studying to be an engineer did teach him, though, was the art of jugaad—that uniquely Indian knack for finding quick solutions with limited resources. So when the pandemic hit and his classes shifted online, the budding singer chose instead to spend hours and hours figuring out music production, mixing, and mastering via YouTube tutorials. And thank God for that, because without it, he probably wouldn’t have gone on to make one of the most viral hits of 2024. 

Last year, Akshath had the whole country humming along to “Nadaaniyan,” a tender pop ballad that swoons over the quirks, sweet nothings, and wide-eyed innocence of young love. The song, which stuck to a relatively simple, no-frills production style, topped Spotify’s Global Viral chart, racked up over 150 million streams on YouTube, and even got over 2 million Instagram users to lip-sync its lyrics. More importantly, it gave Akshath the confidence to believe this is what he was meant to do. 

The making of a moment: While Akshath had steadily been growing his online presence with tracks like “Jadoo,” a hazy synth-pop take on infatuation, and “Kho Gaye,” a moody reflection on lost connections, it was “Nadaaniyan” that truly cinched his path as a rising star. “Initially, when I put out the teaser for this song on Instagram, I had only written the chorus,” he admits, pointing out that many spur-of-the-moment decisions led to what eventually became his most widely loved track. “I added the ‘Kaise tu’ line about 15 minutes before I shot that reel, and it became like this immediate hook.” Once the teaser took off and calls to release the full version grew, Akshath jumped into action, eager not to lose momentum. “I wanted a specific sound of a classical guitar, so I borrowed one from a friend. It was this 1981 guitar that was so old and hadn’t been serviced in a while, so it had crazy intonation issues,” he says, recalling how the beat-up guitar turned his recording session into a test of patience. “The process of recording with that guitar, which shouldn’t have taken more than half an hour, took me three or four hours, because I would have to record one note, then retune the guitar, and then record the second note. It was so badly out of shape, but it ended up sounding so good.” 

What happens after you go viral: While the breakout success of “Nadaaniyan” put Akshath on the global map, it also came with a catch. “The virality on Instagram 100 per cent helped the song, but the over-virality probably was a double-edged sword, because it creates a quicker saturation. And this isn’t just something I noticed with my song, but with a lot of songs that end up completely flooded on Instagram with reels.” But even as he finds himself in an industry where the lifespan of a song ends the moment it becomes part of the background noise, he doesn’t seem to mind too much. “I have [felt] those thoughts entering my head, like, oh, there should be another song that does as well. But then I tell myself that input is in my hands, output is not.” 

From reels to real life: Taking off on his debut India tour last August, Akshath was finally able to see the real-world impact of something he had, until then, only done behind a screen. “I’m someone who overthinks a lot,” he says. “I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder.” Witnessing throngs of fans across the country singing along to his every lyric was all he needed to quiet the doubts. “It was nice to see that in a lot of places, the impact lasted much beyond ‘Nadaaniyan.’ Of course, people were singing “Nadaaniyan,” but they were also singing ‘Jadoo’ and ‘Sahare,’ and cheering when I said I was going to perform “Saza.” That gave me the belief that the numbers will do whatever they have to—but at least you’re making music that’s having an impact.” He especially recalls a moment from a recent performance where he performed his newly released track “Rozana” for the first time. “There was a couple who told me they’d been dating for around 10 years, but had a huge fight and broken up. [After the breakup], one of them started sending the other my songs, and they began [reconnecting] through them. Eventually, they bonded to the point that they got back together—and are now stronger than ever. Now, they both listen to my songs together.” 

Following the feeling: Now that he’s grown more sure of his place in India’s burgeoning I-pop scene, Akshath is charting the course ahead with a slate of new tracks like “Rozana” (which he believes is his most endearing song yet), that will hopefully soon translate into a full-fledged album, and a renewed instinct to trust his gut. “When you’re fresh in production, you want to make the coolest-sounding song or write the most poetic lyrics. But now, having been through all those phases, I’ve realized that all that really matters is whether your final product delivers the emotion you wanted it to—and everything around it serves that one thing.”