How Tejas Menon, Mumbai's Ed Sheeran, crowdfunded his second album in six hours

Pic/Rane Ashish

Tejas Menon finds it amusing when someone comes up to him to say they like him for his love songs. "It's funny because I've only written two. One was an angsty piece about an ex-girlfriend, and the other about somebody who takes you for granted," he says of tracks from his first EP, Small Victories, which released in 2014. The fan following came handy when on February 8, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter raised two lakh in just six hours of launching his crowdfunding campaign on Wishberry. He has 20 more days to go, and he is already at Rs 3.87 lakhs.

Although confident that supporters would fund the entire cost of recording and launching his next, Make it Happen, he admits he didn't expect to meet target at lightening speed. "I think the quality of my music worked in my favour," he says, hoping that he isn't sounding vain. "You can relate to it," he says of his music. "It's listener-friendly, the kind you play while driving or doing chores."

The 10 songs draw from pop, rock, blues and funk to R'nB, electronica and soul. The track Kindness is Menon's favourite because he recorded it with idol Vishal Dadlani. "It was inspired by fights I'd have with my mother over religion. It's a three-act song and quite heavy, almost like an argument with God," says Menon, quickly adding that he is agnostic.

That he gave up his advertising job to take up music full-time meant that crowdfunding was key. "Art needs time and space but it also needs funds."

Before he moved to Mumbai in 2013 to pursue music, Menon worked as a radio jockey in Pune. Here, he took up a job as a copywriter with an ad agency. He would play at "seedy clubs", and wasn't the most confident person around. "I'm still not. I get nervous when I perform," he smiles, admitting to practicing before the mirror. But that he sings about his experiences, and people around, makes him quickly comfortable before the mic. "Some of my songs are inspired by the day job I did; there were rules to follow. And that led to moments of frustration, but it also helped my music," says Menon.

Over the last few years, he has played for every kind of audience - good, bad, and disinterested.

"I wrote more than 100 songs to get to these 10," he says of the album that will release in May. Until then, he hopes the love keeps pouring in.