22 Nov Alum In Focus: Swati Bhatt
GMI alum are performers, producers, educators, entrepreneurs, and creatives who thrive on and off stage throughout the world. The Alum in Focus series brings their stories to you.
Stories and experiences to share through her music, meet our alum, Swati Bhatt, a singer-songwriter and an artist currently residing in New Delhi. Swati’s journey of musical discovery and growth started to take shape well into her early youth. “Music came from a very personal place in my life. There was a lot of negativity I was surrounded by, both external and internal. I wanted an escape, not that I wanted to leave everything but I wanted a way for me to pour everything out. Music is what helped me in expressing all of these emotions in order to understand myself.”
She started her musical journey by pursuing Hindustani Music. “I started listening to and then picked up Hindustani classical music. It was a big part of my life including a bachelor’s in Hindustani classical from Khairagarh University, Raipur.. After a point, I wanted to get the most out of my education and explore more of my sound, which is when I started learning guitar and deviating towards western music.” Growing up in Raipur, she felt quite limited in terms of her understanding of western music. “My influences were quite minimal and towards the pop category. Gradually I got introduced to Pink Floyd and that made quite the impact on me because of the depth that existed in their music and production . When I came to Delhi, a whole new world opened up and I explored more artists and different genres.”
Swati talks of how she wanted to expand her musical understanding, which is when she decided to explore the music scene in Delhi and also enroll at Music Institutes. “ I wanted to immerse myself in the Delhi music scene so I was a part of Music Basti where educators who themselves were artists would go to teach music to underprivileged children at NGOs and low-income government schools. It was a community where I met a lot of artists who were pursuing music as a career. After finishing my Diploma in Music Performance from SAM, I joined GMI to study under Luiza Sales and Pedro Carneiro Silva. Who were the teaching faculty during my time there and both were people I looked up to as they really helped me shape my technique.”
The songwriting journey for Swati started in 2010 which is when she wrote her first song and a decade after she released her debut EP titled “Rebuild” in 2020. “After moving to Delhi, I was living alone and I was writing a lot more. That isolation with myself only made me more convinced to write. After learning music, there is a tendency to be quite critical of the entire process and dissecting it, which wasn’t working for me. I needed to find what my message was and a way to voice that. With the first EP, the songwriting process made me much more aware of myself because of the expression and honesty that was present within the music.” ‘Rebuild’ is a personal journey as each song shares a part of Swati’s life and her narrative. Her most recent release is called ‘Scarlet Skies’. “It was written in 2021 and released after a year. I had written it with Takar and we communicated from quite a distance. Between ‘Rebuild’ and ‘Scarlet Skies’ there was a shift in my songwriting process as everything got a little easier in terms of translating and voicing my message.”
Songwriting is not an easy process and Swati was kind enough to break down her approach and practice. “I never followed a rule book, my process for each song is different but there are a few techniques that help me stay centered to the theme and idea of the song. Firstly, If there is a particular message you want the song to express, write a summary and put it in front of you. If you lose your way, come back and find the truth. Construct the narrative through the structure of the song. Secondly, describe what you have written in a feeling. Be graphic and visual with your storytelling. If there is a softness that is coming through with the words, try and start the melody soft as well to emphasize that point. Lastly, go back to the first take. It is always more honest because It is raw and free of expression. If you continue to struggle with the process, take a break and come back to it with a fresh perspective.”
Swati is currently in the works of her new EP which she plans to release towards the end of this year. She shares with us how this EP has been a dream come true as it has allowed her to collaborate with people she has looked up to. “I was taking songwriting classes under Becca Stevens who is from New York. It helped me stay motivated and compose more as I had tools to make the process easier with her help. Then one day I woke up to Michael League from Snarky Puppies following me on Instagram. After reaching out to him, he said that ‘Becca played me your music’. He told me to send him more stuff and so I put the demos and shared it with him. He wanted to have this project produced and so the band member Bob Lanzetti got on board and suddenly I was working with these people that have inspired me all my life. . It was an overwhelming process the entire way.”
Music is a powerful medium for her to communicate her thoughts and emotions and she makes sure it translates her truest form. “One of the major things I want to do with my life is to break any barrier that’s been put up. Not to be rebellious but more about standing up for yourself and loving oneself. It is about overcoming that self-sabotage by empowering oneself. But this all is only possible by working towards it. My music is always about having empathy. It is my life I have been writing about and I have been vulnerable and honest throughout and because it is all personal, there is no room for pretending.”
Swati Bhatt’s new EP is to be released towards the end of this year, to tune in to her journey, you can follow her on Instagram and keep up with her music on Spotify.
Written and Interviewed by Naman
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