Interview: Indie Artist Swara Oza Reflects as a G-pop Pioneer to “Expect the Unexpected”

Photo Courtesy of Swara Oza

When it comes to music, language might not always be necessary to enjoy it. We have heard from all over the globe and grooved to their tunes before learning what the lyrics were. Music is an extension of the artist, and creating authentic music truly brings you into a spotlight. Indie pop artist Swara Oza is a testament to this claim. 

For a long time, Gujarati music has been associated with traditional and folk songs in India. While there are new songs coming with every Gujarati film, the exposure is limited. Swara wanted to break this barrier and stereotype associated with Gujarati-language music. Hence, came the G-pop genre. 

A pioneer of the G-pop genre, Swara has been quietly making waves in the music industry. G-pop, short for Gujarati pop, is a genre of pop songs in the Gujarati language, a phenomenon that hasn’t been seen before in the Gujarati music scene. With songs like “Alien,” “Fireman,” and “Dago,” Swara has been experimenting with songs that present a confluence of Indian language and Western pop influence. With sultry R&B to techno to even elements of rock, Swara Oza, along with her mother and musician Neema Oza, has been creating a strain of music like no other.

In our exclusive chat with Swara, she opened up about her journey as a musician, growing up with music, and her plans for the future. There’s also a life lesson or two embedded in there. Do read along!

Q: Please introduce yourself to us and tell us how you started and what are your projects so far? 

Swara: Hello, I'm Swara Oza. I'm a Gujarati pop singer, and I do a lot of stuff, but maybe you guys have heard [it before]; G-pop defines me the most. The idea behind G-pop was to bring Gujarati music into the world outside of the occasional hearing that happens once a year during the nine-day Navratri festival and then artists disappear, the music disappears. So we thought, "Why not have Gujarati music that everyone, even if they don't understand, can enjoy?"

And that's what G-pop is. The idea of music in our heads is [that] music has no language, right? We listen to “Despacito,” “Bella Ciao,” and we know those songs, even if we don't understand the lyrics. So why not Gujarati music be one of those songs? That was the idea behind G-pop.

I've received a lot of love and support for the G-pop music that I do make. I recently performed at NMACC (Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Center in Mumbai). It is a great place to perform. To be invited there is an honor. Things have been happening. Good things are happening. So I'm glad Gujarati pop is finally reaching the right audience.

Q: G-pop is an interesting genre. It's not something that we usually come across. It is a new thing for us. It has an influence of modern beats and traditional roots. What are your inspirations for making music in the G-pop genre? 

Swara: People might know, might not know, it's not just me making the music, it is my mom who writes, composes, produces, and everything that you hear is all her. Miss Neema Oza is to be given credit for everything, and I'm the singer. Yes, I do write some of the parts for the songs, and it's a kind of a collaboration. But one of the reasons why this sounds so different is [because] my mom is rooted in classical music. She is a Visharad (an expert). She has a gold medal (in music) and several other accolades. She has always believed in the fact that never listen to music so much that it'll influence you, that you will start sounding like someone else.

So this is her ideology. I think that is one of the reasons why G-pop sounds so different, because it's just her coming up with something. It's never, "Oh, I'm gonna do this," and then she's making something that she's already heard. It's never that. The other reason is her being rooted in classical, and me being so influenced and inspired by Western music. I love Raye. I'm a huge One Direction fan. I love Justin [Bieber]. I think the whole collaboration just makes it sound unique and different. 

Q: How would you describe your songs to someone who's just listening to your songs for the first time?

Swara: Original. Fresh. Fun, for sure. Also, there is no one genre that G-pop represents. I have “Ishq No Rang,” which is kind of Arabic themed, that gives you that "Oh, I'm in a desert with camels" vibe. Then there is “Malang” that will just take you to a club and a rave kind of a thing. So I think [in] that way, you just need to not expect anything from G-pop, it's completely unexpected. You cannot put one song in the same category as the other, and I think that's what G-pop is.

Q: Before you ventured into G-pop, you were, of course, active musically. So what has your journey been like? 

Swara: Oh my God, that's a really good question. I don't think I've ever answered this before. It's a long answer. I was never a kid that had not been surrounded by music. Since the beginning, I have been around music. Music has been around me. When I was three years old, I did my first professional recording. Even that song is out, “Hun Taaro Lalo,” and it's also been recognized and it's so viral. A lot of people just grew up listening to it.

I feel so honored. That's such a cute thing, that when I was a little kid, I sang that song, and now people who are my age are like, "Oh, we used to hear this as a lullaby.” I think from the beginning, I have been very much around original music, which is why [I have] this inclination towards doing only original stuff, and, [even] the first lullaby I heard was an original.

The first song I sang was an original, and that's a privilege, honestly. Not a lot of people can do that. And to be born in a family that is able to and privileged enough to create new music, that's a big thing. Then there was school, and I was always on stage, always doing something. "Oh, Swara is on stage, that means she's at school. If she's not on stage, she's not at school." And I was very much of a extracurricular kid. I would do everything, theater and recitation, all of it. I think from a very young age, I was very much addicted to being on stage, I would say. Because that brings so much joy and so much… The feeling I cannot describe! I've always wanted to be on stage, one way or another. 

Q: What were the challenges and the wins that you experienced so far? 

Swara: When you talk about my musical journey, I had parents who were already in music, so there were a lot of expectations as well that you need to do something. My parents always said, "If you're doing something, you need to do it perfectly." There should be excellence or don't do it. 

So this has always been the thing, and when I was a kid, I used to be a little bit mad about it. 'Cause sometimes kids fail, sometimes things happen. I used to always be afraid of not the audience, [but] my parents who were in the audience.

I was never afraid of what people think. I was always afraid of “What will my parents think?” That was a little bit of pressure, but it's okay. I think that made me who I am. In my teenage years, I became a rebel. I said, "Never mind. Anything I do is not satisfying to you guys, so I'm not doing music. I'm never doing music.”

Photo Courtesy of Swara Oza

They definitely accepted it. There was no backlash. They were like, "Okay, if you don't wanna do it, it's fine." So I was like, “Okay, then I'm going to do literature," and this was when I was in seventh grade. I didn't know what literature was.

I [also] said, "I'm gonna be a doctor." Because I love animals, I wanted to become a veterinary doctor. Then One Direction came about in my life, and oh, my God, I went crazy. I used to just listen to their songs in my room, lock myself in and learn all the lyrics.

That's where music came to me personally. Before, it was never something that I wanted to do. It was always my mom asking me to do something. But then when One Direction came along, I started listening to Western music a lot. That's when I realized, oh, maybe I do like music, and that's how I went back to it. The rest is history. I've done a lot of stuff. I write my own music as well. I make English songs. I have some of them released. It's like music, no music, and again music again.

I went to my first concert when Justin Bieber came to Mumbai. I was just watching VH1 back then and this came up. I was like, "Oh, Mama, he's coming to Mumbai. It's gonna be fun." I did not even say it in a way, "Oh, take me." They asked me, "Don't you wanna go?" And I was like “Can I go?" 'Cause I didn't know I could ask for this. And they were like, "Of course, we're taking you." My dad and I went together, and it was so much fun. And that's when I realized, "Oh, my God, I need to be on stage. I need to do something."

Mido: It's good that you came back to music. 

Swara: Yeah. The world needed me. 

Q: How would you describe your creative process? 

Swara: I always found it not relatable. I could not relate to anyone who made music because it was always, like you said, there's a whole process and everything.

However, I don't have a process, honestly. “Fireman” came to me in a dream. I got the whole idea that, “Oh, there's this, there's me who's looking at herself in the mirror” and "Oh, I'm so, I'm so pretty. I'm so beautiful." It's more about self-love, and I scream. I [go], "Oh my God, I'm so pretty." It's the scream in the beginning. And then I need to call the fireman to put out this fire that I am. So this whole idea came to me in a dream and the melody even, "Let me talk to the fire man. Ooh, yeah, ooh." So the “ooh, yeah, ooh” is the fire brigade siren. When I woke up, I sent the voice message to my mom. I was like, "Oh, we need to make a song like this." And the rest of it is hers. So I just gave one line, and I was done with it.

I mean, it's the idea that counts. So, that's our process, I think. The way my mom writes is—even me and my mom write simultaneously. The lyrics and the melody come together. It's never first the lyric and then the melody. That is why I think the lyrics fit so well.

“Maybe this word was unnecessary or maybe it should be a different word here.” That never happens because both of them are happening together simultaneously. My mom says she never rewrites anything ever. “Dago” is [completed in] one go, all of it.

Even the music production was happening simultaneously, the writing was happening, the music, melody was happening, all of it was one sitting. She just sat down for two hours, and it was done. So even for me, I never rewrite stuff. It just happens, and then we don't touch it. Sometimes masterpieces, you should not touch them. 

Q: How do you deal with those hurdles along the way when you're making music?

Swara: So personally for me, I don't decide, "Oh, I'm gonna write today.” I never do that because when I do sit down, to write something purposefully, I cannot. Nothing comes to me.

I'm going to buy yarn from a shop, and on the way, I'm just writing. The whole song is written. So I've myself felt that I should never force it, and whenever I'm forcing it, it just doesn't sound as good, or maybe I just don't come up with anything.

The last song that I wrote was “I See You.” It's not out yet, but after that, I didn't write for two years. I was not sad about it. I was like, "It's okay. If it's not coming, it's not coming." And I never feel upset or self-doubt or any sort of thing. It'll come to me, and it did. “Fireman” was after that whole hiatus and that whole slump that happened. And after “Fireman,” I started writing again, and I'm back at it. So these are some challenges, but also I don't look at them as challenges. I'll just let it be. No forcing it. You don't need to fixate on one thing that you're doing. There's a lot of things in the world that you can do. 

Q: Is there something you want to tell your younger self? Probably the one who was not interested in making music anymore. 

Swara: Honestly, I just wanna tell myself, be it teenage years or be it the little kid that was so intimidated by her mom who would think, "Oh my God, she's (my mom) so great, and we are not enough." You're absolutely enough. You will make your own place in the world, and all the dreams of singing in Madison Square Garden and having a whole stadium full of people sing back to you, that's gonna happen.

My tiny self would have thought, "Oh, maybe this is just a dream, that'll never come true." I didn't even let myself believe in it. I would just say, "Oh, there's a lot of people who dream about a lot of things, and they don't really happen all the time."

But, girl, it's happening, and it's gonna happen. You don't need to worry. Just believe in yourself. Just listen to your mother, and you'll be fine. 

Photo Courtesy of Swara Oza

Q: Crocheting is something that you like to do a lot. What other interests do you have, apart from making music? 

Swara: Crocheting is one. I just learned knitting as well, a little bit of it. My nani (maternal grandmother) is a huge influence that way. She knows how to crochet. She paints. She knits. I've also been surrounded by all of the other arts, so I love that. I love watching Netflix, series and movies and all of that stuff, and I love everything that is guilty pleasure, okay? I'm sorry!

If someone comes to me and says, "Oh, did you see an intellectual movie?" I did not. I absolutely did not. I love Gossip Girl. I love Vampire Diaries. I love all of it. Honestly, I just love spending time alone. Most of the time I'm just in my room, not even singing, just in my room watching something, crocheting, keeping to myself. That's what I love. 

My mom and I watched Twilight when I was 12. And we used to watch it on TV all the time whenever there used to be reruns of it. I hate it when people think it's cringe. Come on. No! I wanted to marry a vampire. It made me feel that way.

Q: You mentioned you have a song that's not released yet, and maybe there's a vampire song on the cards? What can you tell us about your other releases that are coming in the near future? Any quick teaser or a TMI? 

Swara: I think “Alien,” that I've just recently released, is a very subtle hint into what might come in the future, in the G-pop genre. Like I said, don't expect anything because it's always going to be unexpected. We just wrote something this morning. I can't tell you what. But it's crazier than “Alien,” and I think “Alien” is pretty crazy for a Gujarati song. The G-pop that you've heard before from us is definitely amazing. We loved it, but I think we're more into experimenting now, bringing a whole new sound, new lyrics, some collaborations as well.

Q: Which artists would you like to collaborate with in the future?

Swara: Justin. Why not? I love Justin so much. I'm obsessed. Oh, my God, the Coachella act, I cried! Billie [Eilish], I love Billie, and Raye. I love her so much. So yeah, absolutely. Them. 

Q: Lastly, what message do you have for your listeners?

Swara: I think bringing Gujarati pop was a challenge in the sense that audiences were not ready for something that is not garba, that is not folk in the Gujarati regional language and the regional audiences.

Although, I've been very fortunate because there's a lot of non-Gujaratis as well that have been enjoying G-pop, which is, like I said, the idea of G-pop is not the language, but the music. I think whenever you're listening to an independent artist, it's better and it's great to just keep an open mind to what they're doing. It's easy to give advice. It's easy to just say, "Okay. Oh, just a suggestion. Maybe make a remix of garba and that'll blow you up." 

But that's completely the opposite of what I'm trying to do, right? So I think keeping an open mind would be great for the audiences.

And to just have this idea that, oh, we need garba. If at all there's a Gujarati artist, there should be garba, there should be folk. I think that idea needs to be put to sleep now because there’s a lot of artists who are doing a lot of different stuff. I have no hate for the garba.

I have no hate for folk. But when there's someone who is trying something different, maybe listen to them, maybe be open to it. If you don't like it, it's fine. Don't come to the next show. I've been fortunate enough that people who did come with that ideology had the transformation and came to me after the show and said, "Oh, we thought you would sing garba, and we thought we wanted garba, but not at all. This was complete. This was amazing." So I think just keep an open mind. Support independent artists. There's a lot of experimentation going on in the Gujarati industry, and I love it. I'm with all those artists who are doing that, and I hope people will listen to a lot of independent music and independent artists.

Which songs by Swara Oza are your favorite? Let us know in the comments below or reach out to us on Instagram or X.

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Artist Facts

Name/Stage Name: Swara Oza

Birthday: 11/24/2001

Nationality: Indian

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

MBTI: no idea 🤭

Fave Foods: Dabeli

Fave Drinks: Tea

Fave Movies: don’t watch a lot of movies but I do watch shows. ‘Derry girls’ is my all-time favorite show!

Day or Night?: Night only because I hate the sun and I love sleep😭😂

First Concert You Attended: Justin Bieber in Mumbai

Song you’re most proud of: “Dago,” “Fireman,” “Alien,” “Vaanchi lene,” “Ishq no rang”

Edited by Martina Yee