One track, many lessons: How U2's 'Elevation' helped Paytm boss master English, woo an early investor

The Paytm boss's playlist includes tracks from U2, Coldplay and most-recently Taylor Swift.

Music has always been Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s refuge. In a 2016 secret diary entry, he mentioned how listening to artists like Pink Floyd, Jim Morrison, U2 and Coldplay helped him overcome the ‘posh’ English medium barrier in Delhi.

“Bono’s I want to run/I want to hide/I want to tear the walls that hold me inside…the words still resonate. In them, I found the unlikeliest of teachers. I started picking up English in an effort to understand the songs. I would learn the lyrics, playing them back in my head in a loop,” wrote Sharma.


Since then, he hasn’t looked back. According to a media report last year, Sharma enjoys “360 degrees of music” from Indian classical, Sufi, Hindi, Punjabi and dhinchak music to Chris Martin, Bono and Pink Floyd. On occasion, the Paytm founder also likes to tune in to Elton John’s 'Rocket Hour' on Apple Music.

So what are the songs that earn a spot on Sharma’s eclectic playlist? Here are a few key mentions:

Taylor Swift - 'Lover' (First Dance Remix)
Sharma recently recommended the first dance remix version of American pop singer Taylor Swift’s new single ‘Lover’ to his Twitter followers, calling it a superb song. The founder earned a lot of love from Swifties (what Taylor Swift fans are called) for the surprising mention.


Coldplay - 'Everyday Life'
Last week, the Paytm founder shared a video of Coldplay performing the second half of their new album - Everyday Life - in Jordan.



U2 - 'Elevation'
Bono (and U2) didn’t just help Sharma master English. The band’s song ‘Elevation’ helped Sharma forge an instant connection with Ravi Adusumalli, one of the early investors in One97.

“The first question that Ravi Adusumalli, the managing director of SAIF Capital India, asked me when he walked into my office was about the poster of Bono. It had the lyrics from the song Elevation… “You make me feel that I can fly so high”. Ravi was a Bono fan too. We immediately hit it off. Both of us were passionate about music, and we liked the same kind,” wrote Sharma in a 2016 secret diary entry.

U2 - 'Where The Streets Have No Name'
In the past, Sharma has mentioned multiple times that U2’s ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ is Sharma’s favourite song according to multiple interviews. “That’s my life story in a way… obviously, head full of dreams,” Sharma told a national magazine in 2017.

DJ Snake – 'Let Me Love Your' Ft. Justin Bieber
Last week, the Paytm founder channeled some mid-week motivation with a lyric from DJ Snake’s Let Me Love You, much to the amusement of Beliebers everywhere.


Pearl Jam – 'Mother'
Just a few hours before the DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber song, Sharma had shared a video from a 2012 Pearl Jam concert in Oslo with the caption “Perfect! #NowPlaying”. But it’s not only international artists that feature on Sharma’s playlist.


Parikrama – 'I Believe' (ft. Agnee & Shilpa Rao)

One Indian band that holds a special place in Sharma’s heart is Parikrama, a popular rock band formed in 1991. According to the founder, it used to be his favorite Kashmiri Gate band during college and he recently tweeted a link to their new song – I Believe.