Dejhare (pronounce deɪ-Jhar) is first and foremost a dreamer. Her vision is to use her music to reach out to people on a very personal level. She wants to give a positive, meaningful, and grounded message to her audience, as well as to share a meaningful and selfless narrative about our lives. She believes that music can unite us; music can heal us, and music can bring hope and a voice to us all. Her new single Do What You Gotta Do takes you on a completely intellectual, emotional, and physical quest. My first impressions of this song mainly include words such as “epic”, “moving”, and “intense”. Dejhare is an incredibly gifted songwriter and musician, and her potential is definitely displayed in full in this amazing, yet short collection of a carefully composed piece of music art.
Before hitting the play button, I honestly had no idea about what to expect. Whilst listening to Do What You Gotta Do you start to think of Dejhare as an incredibly powerful woman who knows she doesn’t owe the listeners anything; it’s almost as if we owe her a genuine listen to this obviously passionate, emotional compilation of genuine music.
Overall, “Do What You Gotta Do” is a keeper. Dejhare is a prime example of an incredible talent under the radar but will soon be on everyone’s Spotify playlist and beyond. We decided to catch up with Dejhare for an interview about her inspirations, past, present, and her career so far…
What inspired you to get into music?
Music is everywhere, so though I don’t come from a particularly musical family, I remember the joy of music from my childhood. I was never formally involved in music – it was always, much as it is for most people – me listening to other artists and following what is on the charts. So I never actually planned to be a musician or to get into the music industry. It all happened quite unexpectedly in the summer of 2018 while I was working on a wellness project. I wanted to simplify the “scientific message” and communicate it in a non-threatening and thought-provoking way that would appeal to the general public. One of the ideas I had in mind was to create a series of jingles where each jingle would represent an element of health and wellness. Then I realized that the musical part came so easily and naturally to me, and I started to challenge myself and to put more passion and belief into compositions. I have always enjoyed listening to music since I was very young, and writing music was a challenge that excited me. Slowly, I ventured from jingles into song-writing, and as I became more confident in my ability to put together the melodies and stories coherently, I started expanding the scopes of my song-writing into broader topics: life, love, our shared humanity, and all the sub-themes that these embody. This new discovery was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me.
I to dived into music because it came naturally to me, and because of the love and passion I have for music and the joy I get from making music. Though I really enjoy singing, my ultimate long term goal is to become an accomplished songwriter above and beyond just a musician.
How would you describe your music?
This is a recurring question that is not that easy to answer. It is hard to pinpoint a specific description of my sound, I don’t think of any template or style to follow; I just let my thoughts and emotions flow without restriction. Then, as I develop the melody, I think about what type of music would fit the lyrics, the emotion, and the story embedded in the song. This means you will find a sprinkling of everything in my music, from jazz and Motown, dance and pop, soft rock to world beats. Generally, I tend towards instrumentally rich and interesting tunes which I think suit my voice and singing style. This makes it hard for me to label and define myself within a specific genre. Add to that my voice, my accent, and my style, and I think you get quite a unique and authentic cross-genre sound. That being said, I do have tendencies towards some genres more than others. But good music is good music, and let’s just enjoy it.
What would you say is your recording and songwriting style?
When it comes to songwriting, I like to make it as “freestyle” as possible. Typically, I let my creative mind flow freely without restricting myself to any specific template. I just let the ideas pour on an empty canvas and assemble them all together into something coherent. In my opinion, creativity shouldn’t have boundaries or limits or definitions, and I continuously experiment and explore new sounds and styles. My goal is to bring something fresh and different each time while continuing to connect with my audience.
To me, humming works as a good exercise to spark creative thoughts. Once I envision the main melody and the hook, I find it easier to write all other supporting melodies to make the song whole. Once the melody structure is complete, it will navigate me clearly on how to execute the theme, emotion, and vibe of the song, which subsequently will guide me to develop the elements for the arrangement composition and the story to write. That being said, I have some stories that I would like to tell and they are floating in my mind, but I am yet to find a melody or sound to match the stories.
When I have a full song melody structure ready, I will start working on the song demo by writing the full lyrics, the basis of instruments and develop the theme and vision for the full track arrangement. When I have the demo readily prepared, I will then make preparation for a recording session to complete the writing and recording process. My vocal style and approach are often considered as “clean” and “stylistic”, but I am continuously exploring and experimenting with sounds and my recording styles will be very much dependent on the song concept, character, and identity.
Where would you like to see your music career in 5 years time?
As I mentioned earlier, although I enjoy singing, my ultimate long term goal is to become an accomplished songwriter. In the last 2 years, I have released 2 albums, 1 EP, and 6 singles.
My experiences so far have made me understand more about music-making, how to craft a creative concept and vision in a coherent and balanced manner, and how to create melodies and stories. I think I have grown from a technical perspective, in that sense. Of course, every song I write is good practice, and a constant learning process, adding a bit more experience to the journey. Like everything we do, we get better, stronger, and wiser with exposure and experience. Therefore I feel that all these have guided me to grow as a songwriter, an artist, and a musician.
I think I am also growing as a story-teller. I am learning to be more diverse, more open, and explore emotions and ideas better. This takes some getting used to – imagine sharing your emotions with thousands of people – and opening yourself to judgment. You need to be brave to be an artist; I can say that.
I hope in 5 years time, I will be able to make some breakthroughs, be relevant in the music industry, and able to expand my music-making and songwriting beyond what I am doing right now. I hope I will be able to write and collaborate with some major mainstream artists, establish and grow my own label that can help support and promote indie artists, and also continuously use my music as a platform to narrate a meaningful message of our shared humanity and help us find common ground. It is a true blessing to be able to work on a passion that can do some good to the world and humanity.
Where can music fans listen to your music?
Fans can stream or download my music on all the standard and popular platforms such as iTunes / Apple Music, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, Amazon Music, Tidal, and Deezer among others. I have also created a customized link here, https://linktr.ee/dejhare that links fans to all my releases to date.
For fans who are interested in continually following my progress and keeping track of my upcoming projects, they can simply connect with me via my social media:
Website
YouTube channel
Instagram
Facebook
Twitter
Thank you for having me. I enjoyed the interview. I truly appreciate the support from all of you and the opportunity to speak about my music. Wishing you all a good wrap up of 2020, and hoping we all stay safe and healthy through this holiday season. Love, Dejhare