We sat down with Daia Lamare aka Reble during her Bengaluru gig at Humming Tree last weekend to discuss her journey as an upcoming indie rapper
Reble has steadily carved out a space for herself in India’s alternative hip-hop scene. From early releases like Terror to film soundtracks and more recent independent singles, her journey reflects both experimentation and self-discovery. Backed strongly by listeners from the Northeast who see her not just as an artist but as a representation, she continues to expand her reach while staying rooted in instinct, and over the last few years, that reach has extended into cinema.
From Indie Releases to the Big Screen
With Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra and later Dhurandar, where she featured on three tracks, Reble stepped into a wider commercial space. But she does not see that shift as abandoning her identity.
“I actually enjoy it. I have a lot of, like, commercial tracks on my playlist, you know.”
She understands that her core sound sits outside the mainstream, yet she also enjoys commercial music and for her, film projects are all about accessibility.
“So, I feel the music that I make, it’s obviously, it’s a niche genre within, like, you know, for India, I think it’s still very niche.“
And ultimately, her philosophy remains simple:
“If I can make music for somebody who does not even speak in English and they still like it, like, I’m more than happy to do that. Like I said, music is to be shared.”
On Paal Dabba and Shared Cultural Ground
When the conversation turns to Paal Dabba, her respect is clearly noticeable. She admires his sound a lot but specifically mentiones that she is even more fond of his artistic visual storytelling.
“I love Paal Dabba, I really, really, I love his music. I love his videos and his direction even, like, more, you know?”
Both artists come from strong cultural backgrounds and represent where they are from in different ways. That shared grounding is something Reble values deeply.
A Peek Into Rebele’s Composition Process
Reble does not believe in a fixed method when it comes to writing. Sometimes she writes on a beat. Sometimes just to a metronome. Sometimes without anything at all. There are days she writes “like, four lines a day.” Other times, urgency helps her finish in hours. In the end, it comes down to instinct.
“I don’t have, like, a specific way of writing music. Like, it’s so funny, I take really long to write a song, like, if somebody, like, told me I had to record tomorrow and I had to write it today, like, I would finish it today itself and if I have time, I might even take, like, weeks.”
New Riot and Taking Back Control
If there is a clear turning point in Reble’s musical journey, it is New Riot. Earlier in her career, collaboration often meant compromise, but with New Riot, she decided otherwise.
“Because that is my sonic space, you know, I never got like the chance to actually like make music the way I wanted to. When I first started out, I had to work with a lot of people. Almost like 90% of it was just not my song. That was when I took over and I was like, I’m gonna do my own thing. I’m not hearing anything from nobody.”
Since then, her direction has become clearer and way more confident.
