Home-grown singer and songwriter Josh Makazo tells us about his breakout year in 2023. Synopsis: Each month, The Straits Times invites music acts to its podcast studio. In this ninth episode of Music Lab, ST's music correspondent Eddino Abdul Hadi hosts home-grown singer, songwriter, and producer Josh Makazo. A rising name in the home-grown music scene, he is one of the most popular artists on TikTok in Singapore in 2023. While he was still serving national service, he released his song - half of my heart - which went viral on TikTok and has since racked up over 5.3 million views. Makazo discusses how his strategy of targeting the fanbase of artistes that he was inspired by, such as Korean-Australian singer DPR Ian, helped his music blow up on TikTok. The two versions of the song that he released on Spotify have also clocked over 6 million streams in all.  In November, Makazo, 20, released his debut album, Gradient, and it has already gained over 10 million streams across various platforms. In this episode of Music Lab, he sings a live rendition of half of my heart, which is also in his new album. Highlights (click/tap above): 3:59 K-pop fans are using his song to soundtrack their TikTok videos 5:42 How he made his song half of my heart go viral 8:20 His hit song inspired by his first love 14:01 On his musical theatre background and acting in hit musical The Sound Of Music 16:47 His beginnings as a songwriter 21:17 How he used to make music to become famous Listen to Josh's live performance here: https://str.sg/iYCk Discover Singaporean artiste Josh Makazo at: YouTube: https://str.sg/iY96 Spotify: https://str.sg/iY9u Instagram: https://str.sg/iY9L Produced by: Eddino Abdul Hadi ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Hadyu Rahim,  Eden Soh & Amirul Karim Edited by: Hadyu Rahim Follow Music Lab Podcast episodes here every month: Channel: https://str.sg/w9TX Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/w9TB Spotify: https://str.sg/w9T6 SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg/ Website: http://str.sg/stpodcasts Feedback to: [email protected] Read Eddino Hadi's articles: https://str.sg/wFVa --- Discover more ST podcast channels: COE Watch: https://str.sg/iTtE In Your Opinion: https://str.sg/w7Qt Asian Insider: https://str.sg/JWa7 Health Check: https://str.sg/JWaN Green Pulse: https://str.sg/JWaf Your Money & Career: https://str.sg/wB2m ST Sports Talk: https://str.sg/JWRE #PopVultures: https://str.sg/JWad Music Lab: https://str.sg/w9TX Discover ST Podcasts: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Special edition series: True Crimes Of Asia (6 eps): https://str.sg/i44T The Unsolved Mysteries of South-east Asia (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuZ2 Invisible Asia (9 eps): https://str.sg/wuZn Stop Scams (10 eps): https://str.sg/wuZB Singapore's War On Covid (5 eps): https://str.sg/wuJa --- Follow our shows then, if you like short, practical podcasts! #musiclab See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.