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Writer's pictureThe Open Close magazine

Interview with Saachi

You’re a singer/songwriter, how and when did you first get into music?

When I was much younger , say around 8 or 9 i used to write poetry that often hummed or sang out and i never really knew that what i was doing was a part of what songwriting is.

I used to take harmonium classes but soon after i discovered that using my voice to communicate just added way more soul into the whole process. It was just more ‘me”. It felt right. I still remember how i started taking up professional training in vocals. It was Adele’s ‘21’ that just inspired me from the get go. I just desperately wanted to learn music and get to know the art better.

What was your first live show like? When and where was it?

My first live show was when I was 12. There was a singing competition being held at a church in my locality and I just took part because back then nobody really gave a push to western music. It was that one opportunity for me to sing western vocals and not have people ridicule my choice of songs because bollywood was the way to go back then.I still remember practicing Lionel Richie’s “Hello” every second of the day before the competition.

I wasn’t always comfortable with singing in front of a crowd . I walked onto the stage on the day of performance, knees shaking, palms sweating but somehow the minute the piano started playing to accompany me , I got lost in the moment and that people liked it enough to give me a warm applause , I ended up winning that night. I think that performance definitely gave me boost to keep going and was the first time i realised that I actually love to engage with a crowd.

You opened for Shaggy in 2016, that ought to be a big deal (and not to mention, insanely cool!). Could you tell us what that was like?

Haha, I still cannot really fathom that i opened for him. He was and always will be the artist that i look to for mood upliftment. When i got a call from the management for that event, i remember keeping the news to myself because i thought i was being pranked!

Only one of my friends even knew about my act , i kept it a secret because I couldn’t believe until the second before i got on stage that that was my life.

It was all too surreal for me.

I wasn’t sure how many people loved shaggy in India and how many people would even want to hear me sing but the thing with music is that it’s so diverse and has such an amazing ability to unite people of different ages and cultures, that there was quite a large desi crowd there to come listen to some good Raggae-Pop.

Steering a little off topic, but if there was only one album you could listen to for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Oooh, thats a hard one. Honestly there’s way too many moods and way too much amazing content out there for each of those moods. What i may listen to today may not have the same space in my life a month later because moods change so often but if I really had to pick one album I think it would be Meteora by Linkin Park. Yes, I had my rock phase and i think that album just has some extremely beautiful lyrics and chester just had this undying abundance of soul in his performance.

It was the first physical CD i purchased with my savings and I own that copy to this day.

Their music was a very big part of my childhood but honestly, every single word on that record has stayed with me and i still relate to it even after all these years.

What artist or band would you kill to perform with?

Oh man, you’re making this extremely hard for me. I can’t pick in this case so im gonna give you a few names. Lets just begin with my all time love affair, Bruno Mars and The Free Nationals. Maaaaan are they brilliant.

They’re just so damn talented but i think there’s just so much more to it than that as well. I love that all their concert experiences are intimate but still grand and thematic. It’s a whole experience .

It’s the same with Jessie J. She’s so technically flawless but she doesn’t compromise on her personality and man do i just wanna be around these artists and learn from all that they have to offer.

What’s a typical day in the life of Saachi?

I wake up around 6:30 a.m 6 out of 7 days and do short vocal warm-ups and head to university right after. Education is still a part of my life although I am an artist , im still young and there’s a lot to learn. I immerse myself in the regular academic college life till the afternoon after which is just a day packed with sessions to write/record my own music. There’s so many amazing Indie musicians that have always helped me further my skills and made my music what it is just by talking to me and sharing their knowledge.

Post 1 p.m. im most probably in a room with a bunch of musicians brainstorming or jamming out.Its a lot of that and playing gigs around town paired with other sessions recordings. Im out pretty much the whole day. I get home around 8 and the one thing about me is that art of any kind really keeps me going so post getting home it’s just a lot of reading novels or watching netflix to keep my me time available because it’s very essential for me.

I think time management is too important to me and I honestly wish I had more hours in a day to do more. Experience more.

You recently released a 3-track EP called ‘Clarity’. What was that like? And what do you enjoy most about composing your own music?

I wrote the songs on Clarity about a year ago when I was in the transition phase to making music a career rather than just hobby. “Breaking Out” is a song on it that deals with what I went through when I decided to make this shift and the other two songs, “White Lies” and “You” are a collection of feelings i’ve had and observations of made about different situations where one finds clarity of thought. I honestly didn’t write them with the intention of releasing them. They were just for me, lying on my phone until the universe played its part and drew me toward the independent scene and releasing them. They had a long incubation period but all that hard work was worth it. Art takes time.

I enjoy making my music more than i enjoy performing others songs. Don’t get me wrong I love performing and singing a lot but there’s something about songwriting that’s just so therapeutic and satisfying. The process of telling a story from scratch in a way that any listener can have a whole picture and derive some value out of it. When people that dont know me personally come up to me and tell me my songs give them peace of mind or that they can relate? Thats the best feeling there is. The look of completeness i get from a listener during live sessions , as if i added value to their life. Its beautiful.

And lastly, where can we find your music?

You can find my music on all digital streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Spotify, Saavn, Tidal, Amazon music etc. and hopefully with enough support from listers on their playlists.

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