Outlast

With each subsequent body of work, pop singer-songwriter Tejas—who uses only his first name when he performs—explores new territory, both lyrically and musically. On second album Outlast he’s got love on the brain as always, but this time around he covers everything from his struggles with mental health to his relationship with his adopted home city. Sonically, the set—which he co-produced with live bandmates, drummer Jehangir “JJ” Jehangir and bassist Adil Kurwa—traverses genres as wide-ranging as funky disco and adult contemporary balladry. The overarching theme, however, is represented by the title track, which is “about not winning the game but playing it for a longer period of time, about how trends come and go, but you will remain,” Tejas says. Outlast, he tells Apple Music, is also the conclusion to a trilogy he began with his 2014 EP Small Victories and 2017’s debut album Make It Happen, each immensely personal releases on which he now feels he’s said “everything I wanted to say”. Here’s his track-by-track breakdown of the final chapter.
“Lead” “I always envisaged this to be the opening track because of the way it starts, with this very big fanfare that reminds me so much of Star Wars. It’s very hopeful. It’s one of my favourite songs on the record for the simple reason that it’s about my parents. You know how people say you’re basically 80% of your parents, you have their traits. I have my mother’s paranoia, I have my father’s pride, and the only thing I’ve been able to add to it is an apology for being that way. But I have to take the good things that they’ve given me as well. And think about what kind of legacy I want to leave as an artist.”
“The Bombay Doors” “I was always scared of moving to Bombay. Then after I finished my university [degree] in Pune, I was like, there’s no other place on Earth that I can go and live. It’s been eight years now. Everybody’s got that love-hate kind of thing with Bombay; I just wanted to try and depict that. There’s a line that goes, ‘Who dropped the bombs on us?’ The pun is that the payload mechanisms of old bomber jets are called ‘bomb bay doors’. I found that to be quite intriguing, because doesn’t the city feel like it had a bomb dropped on it sometimes? It’s chaotic, and there’s a beauty to it as well, which I’m absolutely in love with.”
“Figure 8” “I love dance music. I think I have the feet for it but I’ve just never given it the time. And I think maybe this song is like me egging myself on to do maybe a dance music video or something. It’s one of my favourites because it’s so catchy and so pop but I think what I was trying to do with this song was subvert the dance/pop formula a little bit. I basically wanted to say, ‘Why can’t singer-songwriters also do dance music?’ [There’s a line that] says, ‘Who says you can’t be educated while you’re in motion?’ Not every dance song is about how ‘tonight is the night’ and ‘the party never stops’ or whatever.”
“Forget Conversation” “This song is about sex and how sometimes there’s a tendency in my generation to over-explain things or hyper-analyse things and do a lot of meta-analysis and meta-discussion. I’ve often found that to be reductive. Sometimes you just need to let the body do the talking. This is probably the most contemporary sounding of all the songs I’ve put out. For the mix, we referenced [artists like] Zayn [who have] this minimal approach to songwriting.”
“Is Anyone Listening?” “It’s about my mental health. It talks about how no matter how smart or how intelligent you may think you are, you can never rationalise depression or anxiety. I had anxiety attacks all through last year. Even when I’m in one, I tell myself, ‘You got this, you’re fine, you can figure it out, you’re smarter than that.’ But it’s useless. Because it’s literally brain chemistry, you can’t really fight it, you just have to go with it. I just wanted to write about that.”
  “Story” “I started writing this song nine years ago. It’s about my first serious relationship. We dated for about six months. She ended things and I couldn’t get over it. I wrote many songs about her. And then I was just like, ‘Okay, I’ve got to move on. I’ve got to conclude this. Let me write one last one to find some closure.’ Invariably, I could not finish the song. I liken it to a book that is so good and amazing to read that you don’t want to finish it, but you can’t put it down. That’s really the sentiment.”
“Outlast” “It’s maybe the best song I’ve written in terms of what it means to me. It feels like probably my most mature piece of work. Maybe it’s because it’s carrying the album in its title, and it’s very representative of who I am. The chorus says, ‘We’ll outlast them all.’ The idea is of not trying to make something because it’s trending right now. I’m trying to work on something that’s unique and special and stands the test of time.”