While it did upset all of us when Ryan Seacrest announced the name of the winner of the 18th season of American Idol during the finale and it was not Arthur Gunn; but did he really lose? Nope, I don’t think so. Right from his audition, he was one of the front-runners, a fan favorite and loved by all the three judges — so much that Luke Bryan actually invited him to open up one of his concerts.

Right after people came to know that such an amazing singer exists, they started digging and found out the 22-year-old already has an album out, didn’t matter it was a language they didn’t understand. “Ok time to learn the language”, reads one of the comments on his ‘Nyano Ghar’ lyric video on YouTube. See, that’s the kind of impact some beautiful music can have on anyone.

Anyway, this is not about Dibesh (I’ve already written quite a lot about him and I know I will be writing way more in future because this guy is going places for sure) but another amazingly talented fella.

So when Bryan said, “If there are any more like you in Kathmandu, please get on the phone and call them and tell them to come out next year”, after Arthur’s performance in the finale, the first person I thought of was this guy I’m talking about. I was like, “Fuck yeah! We have got Rajesh Nepali.”

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A post shared by Dipit Raz (@dipitraz) on May 19, 2020 at 3:16am PDT

I mean, there are other artists too who would be able to represent us well but Rajesh is on some other level, I’m telling you. I know the guy is yet to be famous but how many fans did Arthur have before the AI fame? Exactly.

So, who is this Rajesh anyway? Well, let his work do the talking.

Whoa! Right?

Mostly known among the concert goers in Kathmandu, Rajesh is growing to become one of the most sought after artists in the live music scene in capital. He has recently started putting out songs from his debut album titled ‘Walk Again’ online.

So, what do you think?

I gotta say, if he goes to American Idol somehow, they would start having auditions in Kathmandu from next year. However, Rajesh has made it more than clear that he is not interested in participating in any reality shows and competitions — domestic or international. “I don’t take music as any competition or battle and I want to go ‘old school’ just like my idols; Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Myles Kennedy, etc. which is writing my own originals”, he explained in a Facebook post.

“Music is to be enjoyed, and musicians are not to be compared. All I believe in singing my heart out.”

Yep, we don’t need to recognize our artists only after they blow up. We gotta support them right from the start if they’re good, no matter what.

Go check out his YouTube and Facebook.

Cover Photo Courtesy: American Idol (ABC)/Dipit Raz