Julia Bhatt on Music, Growing as an Artist and Social Media Hierarchy
Interview by Mallory Thompson
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
Born in Boston, MA but living practically the whole of her young life in Miami, FL, Julia Bhatt was raised on a stimulating and expansive musical diet—her first musical memory is of being overwhelmed to tears at a Shakira concert in 2006 when she was a wee 4 years old. She grew up listening to everything from classic rock, American songbook standards, and bossa nova beats. She and her sister accompanied their mom to numerous concerts, including The Beach Boys, America, the Dave Matthews Band, No Doubt, Sting, James Taylor, and the Rolling Stones, among many others. It was this variety of rhythms and melodies that helped shape the wide-ranging music she creates.
Infused with the broad array of influences from the music with which she grew up, Julia has an ear for unique sound and style. With a powerful voice reminiscent of Amy Winehouse and Macy Gray, Julia writes engaging, fun hooks with great beats, juxtaposed with honest storytelling that reflects observations about teenage life in the melting pot of Miami, as well as reflections on her ongoing struggles with depression. Her rich, soulful, playful voice delivers new energy and impact to the classics that she covers.
Today, I hope with this interview that you can get to know Julia and see what makes her great!
How’s life right now?
Pretty good. No complaints, I suppose.
Where are you currently based?
I’m in Miami, Florida!
Walk me through your story, how did you get your start in music?
I grew up around music and was always singing in the shower (the basic answer). I didn’t think I could sing for a long time, and those doubts still remain, but enough people heard me throughout the years to convince me to give it a try. I sang in some school stuff, taught myself a little guitar, and started writing songs. They were NOT great at first.
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard your music?
I like to listen to a lot of different music, and I try to put it all into my songs, meaning all of my music sounds different. I’ve got some classic singer/songwriter shit, I’ve got some more modern pop vibes, some random stuff, and I’ve got some new stuff coming that’s not any of the above. Keeps things interesting for both you and me.
As the magazine is called “Kinda Cool,” is there anything ‘kinda cool’ about you? Do you have any special talents or interests? What’s the coolest thing about you?
I think my tattoos are probably the coolest thing about me at first glance. I get a lot of comments on them, and people always grab my hands to look because I have a bunch of them. I’m not covered in a sleeve or anything, but my hands are definitely covered. However, my tattoos are all essentially minimalistic cartoons. No color, but super cute line drawings. For example, I have a raccoon on my middle finger, 3 cats playing instruments on my arm, a stick figure man hanging from a clothes hanger with some socks, etc. I would say those are kinda cool.
Your debut single was "Tall,” and what made you choose this as your first single, as well as how have you grown since this release?
I still love that release. First off, it’s one of the first songs that I wrote that was a real song. It was decent, and we built it up to what it is now. Second, so much production went into that single, and as a newbie to all that, it was basically me asking my producer, Elliot Jacobson, if he could add all this shit, which he could! It’s hard to explain, but that’s why I have him for the technical side.
Out of all your current released songs, which song took the longest to write? The shortest?
I think "Bird Girl" had a lot of revisions. I tend to think my own lyrics sound stupid a lot, and it happened a ton with that song. "Vampires Suck" took like 15 minutes, maybe. I wrote it because someone dared me to write a song about vampires. Boom, bitch.
What’s the most important thing about making music?
Having fun. If you’re not having fun, what’s the point of doing it?
What are your biggest goals as an artist?
My biggest goal is to actually feel like a real artist. I’m not sure how to do that, but I wanna get to a point where I’m no longer doubting if I should even be doing this.
How has it been growing your career through social media, and how have you used social media to expand your audience?
As I mentioned before, I didn’t really think I could sing. I worked up the courage to post singing online and it turned out to be a positive reaction. I continued to do it as a way to play fun covers and pretend like I wrote all the songs I love for a minute. People seem to like the way I sing different songs, and I’m up to like 42k people on Instagram. It’s kinda crazy, but it doesn’t feel real, you know?
What artists do you take inspiration from? Anyone specific?
Everybody. My music is a mosaic of other people I’ve listened to throughout my life. Every song I do, I give my producer a playlist of references for the sound I want for that particular song. That’s just music. In terms of my favorite artists, I always say The Strokes because it’s true. Some fun ones are Bill Withers, Jack Johnson, and John Mayer, maybe?
If someone has never heard your music, what are the first few songs they should check out?
I would recommend "Marco" (most popular), "1:30" (most recent), and maybe "Vampires Suck" (just crazy).
Your song "1:30" touches on the ideas of a social media hierarchy, so can you get into this more and tell me about the songwriting process and ideas surrounding this track?
I think it’s a pretty talked about subject, but people are getting record deals and opportunities simply because they get INCREDIBLY famous on social media, most times not even for singing. I’m not trying to hate on anyone, because obviously if you blow up and can sing, why wouldn’t you try to do that? The only problem is that many people who really focus on singing and give it their all get overshadowed by all this other stuff... It's hard as an artist struggling to get exposure.
Now that we’re almost wrapping it up here, what can we expect from you for the rest of 2021?
Definitely more music. A lot more.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Thanks for having me!
You can listen to Julia on any platforms that you can stream music and her newest music video for her single “1:30” dropped on May 25th.
Social Media Links
https://www.instagram.com/juliabhatt/