What happens when a jazz-trained pianist who journals through chords meets a battle-rap poet who bleeds honesty into his verses? You get Paapam — a track that’s equal parts intimate, mischievous, and uncomfortably real.
At its core, Paapam explores how love, lust, and vulnerability often come tangled with guilt — the cultural residue of “sin” many of us inherit. Built on duality (just like its Gemini spirit), the song swings between desire and shame, softness and venom, confession and chaos. From gibberish backing vocals that accidentally made the cut, to verses raw enough to raise eyebrows, Paapam is both a playful sin and a heavy truth.
Pooja Kashyap: Let’s start with the obvious… What exactly is Paapam and who committed it first? Be honest.
Aksomaniac: Paapam is about how intimacy — in any form — gets tangled up with shame and guilt in the kind of cultural conditioning a lot of us grew up with. That emotional residue of “sin” sticks, whether it’s love, lust, or even just vulnerability.
And who committed it first? Technically, Adam and Eve. But in this track? I haven’t asked Shreyas — he’s the feature, after all. So I’ll take the blame… unless he wants to fight me on it privately.
Shreyas: Pappam is anything that you do which you think is temporarily gonna be nice to you and eventually fucks you up and I think I did it first of course all of us did it first.
Pooja Kashyap: If Paapam had a zodiac sign, what would it be and why?
Aksomaniac: Definitely a Gemini — and not just because I am one. The whole song is built on duality. It’s about two people willingly indulging in something intimate, but also having to carry the shame that society attaches to it. That push and pull between pleasure and guilt, internal desire and external judgement — that’s textbook Gemini energy.
Pooja Kashyap: How did a jazz-loving pianist and a battle-rap poet end up in the same studio? What was the “a-ha!” moment?
Aksomaniac: We came together quite organically — as individuals who connected on a personal level before anything else. I had done a track with The Siege earlier, and through that, Shreyas discovered my music. We started interacting on Instagram, which led to conversations about collaborating.
I shared an idea for a track rooted in R&B but focused on the aftermath of intimacy — the guilt, shame, and silence. Shreyas was fully on board, and that’s when Paapam started taking shape.
Shreyas: The moment we were introduced to each other’s music I heard something by Akso on Instagram and he heard something by me a song called Slow Jams which is generally different than the songs that I make and he heard that and was like bruh I think we can do something together and then this happened.
Pooja Kashyap: One moment in the studio while making Paapam that made you both go “Yup, this slaps”?
Aksomaniac: Funny thing — we never actually shared a studio. The track was made entirely remotely in my college dorm room in Kollam. For me, Paapam was a slow burn. I only realized it slapped when I shared snippets on Instagram, and the response was overwhelming.
Shreyas: Not in the studio But the moment I hear Akso’s vocal coming in like the first first Entry of his vocals at that moment. I was like, yo this is hard.
Pooja Kashyap: Is there a hidden line or sound in the track that listeners might totally miss but you’re secretly proud of?
Aksomaniac: During Shreyas’s verse, there are backing vocals — those are mine. But at the time, I didn’t know Marathi, so I recorded gibberish to mimic his flow. We never replaced it. Shreyas actually told me to keep it because it sounded quirky and worked.
Shreyas: My opening line which goes like “Maja bharle le tat tat nai bhagat thi sharirachi bhuk” because I have a song called Bharle le Tat. Bharle le Tat means having a Having a plate full of food like having all the privileges in the world and still having problems That’s what the song talks about Bharle le Tat and my lines goes like Maja bharle le tat tat nai bhagat thi sharirachi bhuki. The line says ki The hunger that my ruining body has is not being satiated on the food that I have on my plate So, it talks about having privileges and still having other things that can ruin you up.
Pooja Kashyap: Who cried first while making this song?
Aksomaniac: I didn’t. I’ve cried for other songs, but with Paapam I felt strangely dissociated. The subject — shame, intimacy, aftermath — is complex. The writing stayed vague because I didn’t fully know how to talk about it yet. But if someone listening cries, I get it. The emotion is there.
Shreyas: I think we haven’t cried yet. I have not I have not cried yet That is the reason I’m writing this song.
Pooja Kashyap: If Paapam were to be banned by a fictional censor board, what line would trigger it?
Aksomaniac: Probably Shreyas’s verse — there’s a line about being drawn to someone’s sweat. It’s raw, honest, and might ruffle a few feathers.
Shreyas: Ticha ghaamachi lagle li taand sawai ghaan tari jaanad pan kar toh ini chuk
Pooja Kashyap: What’s the most ‘sanskaari’ feedback you’ve received about Paapam so far?
Aksomaniac: None yet. I’m actually waiting for it — and curious to hear from people uncomfortable with intimacy being expressed openly.
Shreyas: Zero. We have not gotten any sanskari feedback for PAAPAM so far.
Pooja Kashyap: Which of your exes should not listen to this track? Or should definitely listen to it? Spill.
Aksomaniac: I think all of them should listen. Many already have and even shared it. I believe they’d understand and appreciate the honesty in Paapam.
Shreyas: None of my exes should listen to it or know that it’s about them. Whoever I’ve written it about shouldn’t realize it’s about them either. I don’t want to put them on a pedestal—they don’t deserve that.
Pooja Kashyap: What would you title the sequel to Paapam — Prayaschit or Repeat Offender?
Aksomaniac: Neither. I’d do a pre-Paapam.
Shreyas: Paapam, the title… its sequel should be called Progress. Progress—not Prashith or anything else, but simply Progress.
Pooja Kashyap: How does this collab reflect where you both are in life right now?
Aksomaniac: I’m in a better space than when I wrote Paapam. The shame and guilt that used to weigh on me have started leaving my body. But the paapams… have been happening.
Shreyas: It doesn’t reflect where I am mentally right now—it reflects where I was. But musically, it reflects where I’m at because I’m trying to explore a lot of new sounds. On the other hand, Aksomaniac works with multiple sounds and does a lot of different things. So, it’s great to sit down with him and create something out of the box for myself.
Pooja Kashyap: One lyric from Paapam that lives rent-free in your head?
Aksomaniac: “Veenalum theernalum ee bhaaram ondaavum.” (Even if I fall, even if I fade, this weight will remain.)
Pooja Kashyap: Last guilty pleasure song you vibed to?
Aksomaniac: Hot – Young Thug.
Pooja Kashyap: Music or mischief?
Aksomaniac: Mischief with music.
Pooja Kashyap: Biggest paap you’ve committed this year?
Aksomaniac: Not shutting up when I need to.
Pooja Kashyap: One artist you’d sinfully love to collab with?
Aksomaniac: Brent Faiyaz.
Pooja Kashyap: Who’s more dramatic in the studio – you or your co-artist?
Aksomaniac: Everyone agrees — it’s me.
Pooja Kashyap: Paapam in a food form would be…?
Aksomaniac: Chakka varattiyath — slow-cooked jackfruit in jaggery.
Pooja Kashyap: Title of your autobiography if Paapam goes viral?
Aksomaniac: Pls Understand.
Pooja Kashyap: Describe Paapam in an emoji.
Aksomaniac: 🪢
Pooja Kashyap: You use music as journaling. So… what page of your diary is Paapam?
Aksomaniac: The page where I confront shame and unlearn societal conditioning. Writing Paapam helped me question what I was taught and ask what I actually believe about intimacy.
Pooja Kashyap: Western classical training + bedroom pop = chaos or chemistry?
Aksomaniac: More chemistry than chaos. It’s a blend of structure, instinct, and influences from Indian sensibilities and Black music.
Pooja Kashyap: What’s more difficult: understanding music theory or understanding feelings?
Aksomaniac: Understanding feelings — 100%. Music theory is straightforward compared to figuring yourself out.
Pooja Kashyap: One chord progression that feels like a “sin.” 🎹
Aksomaniac: The harmonic minor chord right after the home minor. Always feels guilty.
Pooja Kashyap: What was your first reaction when you heard Shreyas rap on the beat?
Aksomaniac: He instantly felt like the vessel I needed. Shreyas has a stronger grasp of his language, and that made the storytelling more powerful.
Pooja Kashyap: If Paapam had to be played to a room full of grandmothers, which part are you skipping? 😅
Aksomaniac: None. I’d play the video as it is and sit with their reactions.
Pooja Kashyap: If you could score a film with just your piano and one emotion, what would it be?
Aksomaniac: Sadness. The piano communicates emotional outbursts beautifully.
Pooja Kashyap: What’s your favorite “mistake” that made it into the final version of the song?
Aksomaniac: The gibberish doubles I recorded behind Shreyas’s vocals — they’re still in there.
By Shreyas
Pooja Kashyap: Last guilty pleasure song you vibed to?
Shreyas: Any Weekend song.
Pooja Kashyap: Biggest paap you’ve committed this year?
Shreyas: Biggest paap I’ve committed this year is telling myself that I’ll quit cigarettes and then not quitting them.
Pooja Kashyap: Who’s more dramatic in the studio – you or your co-artist?
Shreyas: We’re both dramatic, same in the studio and outside. We don’t have an on-camera personality.
Pooja Kashyap: Sanskari on the outside, wild on the inside – true or false?
Shreyas: True, that’s me.
Pooja Kashyap: Paapam in a food form would be…?
Shreyas: A lot of pastas and spaghettis, man. I love eating them, but it just feels like Italian people go mad with cheese – and it takes you nowhere.
Pooja Kashyap: Title of your autobiography if Paapam goes viral?
Shreyas: I’ll think about it, haven’t really thought of it yet.
Pooja Kashyap: One lyric from Paapam that lives rent-free in your head?
Shreyas: Refer to the audio.
Pooja Kashyap: Describe Paapam in an emoji. 👀🔥💔🍷🎭
Shreyas: 🥲🥲🥲 Paapam emoji.
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