DRAWING THE LINES BETWEEN ART AND ARTISTS WITH MADHAVI DEVI
Madhavi Devi is a fangirl at heart. Lately, she’s been using all of her fangirl expertise to help her out with her own artistry. On March 29, Devi is set to release her own EP inspired by the likes of Phoebe Bridgers, Maggie Rogers and Jack Antonoff, some of her favorite artists to be a fan of.
“The first song I wrote for it was back in 2022, and obviously at the time I had no idea it would be part of this project, but then I spent the whole summer really thinking about it and writing for it,” she teased. “Then I tracked all of it last fall, and then really started working on the like promotion and marketing stuff over the winter. I'm ready for it to kind of be out.”
The record, although not specifically about being a fan, is about support. How to support your friends, how to protect the line between showing and giving support, and above all, supporting yourself. Devi explained how “protecting your peace”, a common internet phrase that resonates with many people, is a luxury that singer-songwriters do not get to take advantage of. Singer-songwriters attempt to give out sensitive information about their lives, in a fun, digestible package as their job. It’s often hard for them to know how to go about this, because it can affect real people in their lives, so where is the line between a relatable song and real life consequences?
“Writing a song and putting out a body of work is not a direct form of communication. The process of writing a song is talking to yourself, and letting people in on that is an insane experience,” Devi explains. “It's not a dialogue, these songs are a monologue. These are mine, and they have been mine for a really long time. The fact that it won't be anymore is a relief, it’s cathartic, but like, wow, it's scary.”
“21” marks a lot of important milestones in her life: the year she created the first project that she’s proud of from the ground up, her golden year (the year you turn the same age as the digits of your birthday) and the year she learned the most about herself and her friendships to date. Now that she has graduated from the idea that she has to prove herself with every release, her music is a lot more free, a lot less calculated and certainly more her.
“I'm putting out 21 because it's like: ‘this is me being 21’,” she stated of the lead single. “This is my art. And at the end of the day, like it can be based on an experience I had with somebody else, but my music is about me, and my experience, and my feelings.”
Currently Devi is taking production classes (“21” is self produced!) and waiting excitedly to first of all, release her EP into the world, and second, turn 22. If there’s one thing she’s learned as a 21-year-old, it’s that life isn’t about becoming a perfect person, it’s about striving to be the bigger person, learning and growing along the way.