New Delhi-based singer-songwriter Sanjeeta Bhattacharya turned 25 this March 20. While an unforgettable birthday (it comes in the middle of a pandemic, after all) it was also special as she released her new single, ‘Watercolour’.
Talking about the song which features lyrics such as “I’ll learn to draw them in watercolour so they wash away easy”, and “Now I see your eyes, they barely meet mine”, Sanjeeta says, “Most of what I write comes from personal experiences or things that happen around me. So, this is something that came out of racked-up emotions. The song is about an unfinished kind of love; something that feels magical and movie-like when it begins. Suddenly, one day you wake up and the love is gone and the thrill is gone. You are still around each other because you enjoy each other's company, but that kind of chemistry doesn't exist anymore.”
While she started writing the song in March just before the lockdown was enforced, it was created in collaboration with guitarist Dhruv Visvanath.
Says Sanjeeta, “The idea of this collaboration struck me and I just sent him a message asking if he would like to work with me on a song. Initially, the song was composed on two chords G and C; it was very simple. I told him the story behind the song and he told me how he could relate to it. And he spontaneously laid down the chords, the synthesiser, harmonies and backing vocals and we recorded a scratch vocal take in his room. We decided to keep that as the final take because I couldn't go back to his place to record.”
Sanjeeta has also started a small project by inviting interpretations of the song from different artists. “Initially, I thought of sending it to only to illustrators but then I also sent it to photographers, poets and dancers. The idea being to create a piece of art inspired by the song using any medium. Some extremely beautiful artworks have come out of that.” One such interpretation by artist Ishita Thawait features in the lyric video for ‘Watercolour’.
The public too will be able to view the other works as Sanjeeta plans to share it on social media.
As for how she has been spending her time during the lockdown, Sanjeeta says that apart from cooking, learning the Hula Hoop and getting back to Kathak, she has also been writing based on prompts given by people on her social media pages.
“Some very interesting prompts came. One was on nostalgia while another was write about your neighbors and what you can see from the window,” she laughs.
However, music is never far from her mind. Come June 10 and she will be releasing her next single, ‘Everything’s Fine?’.
‘Watercolour’ is available to stream on all major platforms.
