Julia Bhatt is a 21year-old singer/songwriter who’s originally from Boston and is now based in Miami.
Born in Boston, MA but living practically the whole of her young life in Miami, FL, Julia 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.
What led you to become a music artist, and what advice can you give to others aspiring to make a hit?
I honestly ask myself this a lot. Why I do what I do. I’m not a hugely confident person, and that doesn’t tend to change, no matter what lovely things I may get told. The feeling of making music and wanting to make music is one of the few things I know well about myself. I feel it in my chest a lot, especially when I listen to new music. I can’t stop thinking about what I could do, and how I wish I came up with amazing ideas that leave other people feeling the way I do when I listen to a great song. It’s not an easy path, and I know that. It’s hard to stay on it a lot of the time. My advice is to focus more on the music and less on the career part of it. I think everyone has a different idea of what “a hit” is, depending on feelings or numbers or commercial success. If you do what you love, and you do it to the best of your abilities, not thinking about what people would want and how to cater to them, I believe you’ll get the most out of it.
Has your musical journey had a deliberate direction, or did it simply gradually evolve in whatever direction it found?
I never know what I’ll make next. So many of my songs come from spur of the moment feelings that I need to get out. That’s why a lot of my stuff revolves around the guitar. I can use it to structure shit without it being too complicated. However, I’ve been getting into producing a bit lately. I thought it was something that I should leave to the professionals, but in the last few months I’ve really realized the benefits it provides to a songwriter. It gives me a much better sense of timing in music, and it opens so many doors for so many different sounds. My style isn’t deliberate by any means. It evolves as I do.
Have you always been interested in music? Was there a particular song/performance that made you say “Woah! I want to do that!”?
Growing up, my sister and I would spend our money more on concerts than anything else. We still kind of do, though life gets in the way when you’re not in the same city. I was lucky enough to have been to over a hundred concerts before I was like 20. Before I even knew that I wanted to make my own music, I was just stuck on the feeling you get at a concert. It’s such a pure form of joy to be able to forget everything and see the songs you love performed live and feel what the artist is feeling. To provide more context to their songs. It’s always stirred something in me and that’s only become stronger. I want to be that person on that stage, forgetting and enjoying, so I can make other people forget and enjoy.
Of your own music, do you have a favorite? If so, can you pin down why?
I get this a lot, and I really have to say that I am kind of a psycho. I hate my music as soon as it’s released because I hear all the flaws that I can no longer fix. Of course, there are songs that I like, but I fall out of love with them very easily, which is why I move on to the next thing. If I were to pick, one of my favorites (that didn’t do so well) is Hair Salon Vibes. It makes me feel good, and that’s hard to get when I listen to my own music. Karma is pretty nice, too.
Who would you most like to collaborate with?
I think right now I’ve been thinking a lot about Jungle. Their sound is just unlike anything I’ve heard, and the vibes are immaculate. The ideas that come across in their music are just kinda genius to me.
Do you sing in the shower? What songs?
My version of singing in the shower is singing in the car. Like that’s my escape from everything. I often just leave town and drive a couple hundred miles because why not. To some that might seem like a waste of time, but to be completely enveloped in the music you love, able to hear every detail on the speakers surrounding you is the equivalent of a concert to me, sometimes. I get tons of ideas by listening to other peoples’ music, and especially now that I’m getting into producing, I love to go back to my favorite songs and hear them for the pieces that make it whole. I just shuffle my liked songs on Spotify (I got a lot) and that’s like 20+ hours of music, so I’m always listening to new shit even if I’ve heard it before. It’s just like taking a nice warm shower.
Which are cooler? Dinosaurs or Dragons?
I would argue that if they were in fact real, I feel like dragons and dinosaurs are probably pretty biologically similar. But since I’m a nerd about science and natural history, I gotta go with dinosaurs. The fact that they actually existed at such massive sizes is crazy to me. The argentinosaurus is estimated to be over 100 feet tall and weigh about 100 tons or more. That’s fucking crazy.
As a kid, were you ever frightened of a monster under the bed or in the cupboard?
This one is kinda weird but I read the Harry Potter series when I was growing up, and for some reason, I always thought that if I left my feet out of the blanket that Voldemort would come and get me. Very strange, I know.
If you could change anything about yourself, what would it be?Would love to be less in my head. I can’t stop thinking most of the time. It leads to shit like insomnia and depression but in its true form it’s really just crazy anxiety. I would love to get rid of that so I can just take what people say at face value and not relive every word I’ve said and cringe.
If you were a member of the Spice Girls, what would your spice handle be?
Crisis Spice
If you had to describe yourself as a flavor, what would it be?
Umami, not everyone knows exactly what it is, but we can all agree it’s not bad.
Julia Salutes Her Past With Grab Bag EP Out November 17, Featuring A Mix of Covers and Original Tracks
Cover of Aminé’s “Charmander” Out Now
“I used to do ‘grab bags’ on Instagram where I would cover a few random songs, and I did like 100+ of those,” says 21-year-old Miami-based indie artist Julia Bhatt in reference to the title of her upcoming sophomore EP — Grab Bag out independently on November 17, 2023. “Performing songs on Instagram is what launched me into the public eye. So, I decided to call this mix of covers and originals ‘grab bag’ as a tribute to that.”
The first single release is a vibrant rendition of one of her favorite songs right now, Aminé’s “Charmander.”
Life is difficult for everyone in so many ways. We have to give so much of ourselves over to people and work, sometimes it feels like we’ve run out of things to give. At least, that’s how it feels sometimes for me,” says 21-year-old Miami-based indie artist Julia about her melancholic new single aptly titled “For The World.”
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