The rise of REBLE, and everything you need to know about her latest project 'Praying Mantis'

REBLE

Somewhere between Shillong's conservative social fabric, Bengaluru's music culture, and growing up across India, REBLE found her voice.

The Meghalaya rapper is impossible to box in, as she has become one of the biggest breakout acts in Indian music right now.

A year ago, she was being celebrated in indie "ones to watch" lists. Now she sits at over 1.15 crore monthly listeners on Spotify with more than 15 crores streams, and even soundtrack credits in Dhurandhar and its sequel. Recently, she has released a new song Praying Mantis, where she continues to sound like somebody resisting something.

Born Daiaphi Lamare, the rapper grew up moving around India. "I was all over the place," she tells us. "That definitely had a great impact on what I am doing." It shows up in her sound. REBLE's music moves between flashes of trap, alt-R&B, phonk, distorted synths, and cold, meditative beats.

Her songs carry the emotional heaviness and anger of somebody who has spent years observing the world from slightly outside of it. Hip-hop entered her life early through siblings, Internet discovery, and personal obsession. Shillong already had pockets of listeners tuned into old-school rap and metal music.

But REBLE remembers growing up in a deeply conservative environment where alternative music was viewed with suspicion. "There's a certain group of people that like hip-hop," she says, "But society tells them this is bad music."

The rebellion embedded in hip-hop became magnetic for her. Especially while navigating social rigidity and instability at home. "The anger is coming from trying to conform to societal norms," she says, "Everybody has a say on how somebody should be. How a woman should be. How a child should be. I hate societal norms because I come from such a conservative society."

That tension sits at the heart of Praying Mantis, her latest project under the label Homegrown Music by Atlantic Records. The title itself is a layered metaphor.

REBLE explains that the "praying" refers to people who present themselves as morally perfect or deeply religious while simultaneously inflicting damage on others.

"People who seem very polished and very good can also be predators," she says, "They happen to be the ones spreading negativity and giving everybody trauma."

The album channels that discomfort through eerie calmness. Tracks have a simmering rage. Nothing feels explosive, but the tension stays. Interestingly, REBLE does not romanticise the project while speaking about it. She shrugs off the idea of it being her most personal work.

"It was just a certain emotion," she says. "Artistes can make something immortal. I immortalised that feeling through a song." That instinct to preserve emotion rather than explain it may be what makes her music connect so deeply online.

Over the last year, her rise has accelerated at dizzying speed. Her tracks have steadily travelled from underground playlists into commercial spaces.

Then came, Dhurandhar. Her contributions to the film soundtrack pushed her into a far wider audience base. Suddenly, listeners who had never encountered underground Indian rap were discovering REBLE through commercial cinema.

"The exposure from the movie is very different," she says. "It needs to feed on something commercial for it to be sustained."

She speaks about the crossover with surprising ease. There is no anxiety around selling out. If anything, she sounds amused by the split reactions. "There are people asking, ‘Why would you do commercial music?' Then there are people from the commercial side asking, ‘What is this dark music?'" she says, laughing, "And then there are people who like both."

REBLE's rise also says something important about geography in Indian music. Artistes from the Northeast have long battled invisibility within mainstream entertainment industries. "There's so much talent in the Northeast that needs to get out," she says. "We definitely lack opportunities compared to bigger cities. But we do have the talent to go global."

More than representation alone, REBLE wants to become proof that artistes from smaller regions can bypass the limits imposed on them. "I want to make a statement that where you come from does not limit how much you can actually do," she says. "You are definitely bigger than where you come from."

This ability to exist in multiple musical worlds could become one of REBLE's biggest strengths.

Indian audiences today consume music with very few boundaries. Or as REBLE puts it, "India loves its people. If they see someone doing something, they tend to support it."

Where to start with REBLE

New Riot: One of her defining tracks. It's raw, rebellious energy that shaped her early fanbase.
Praying Mantis: A haunting track from Praying Mantis that captures the album's themes of deception and emotional unease.
Monica Run Down The City: Her Dhurandhar soundtrack contribution that introduced REBLE to a much larger commercial audience.
Only Uparwala Can Judge Me: A track that channels frustration with social expectations and moral policing.
Talk of the Town: One of the songs that helped cement her as an indie artist.