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.