Tanmaya Bhatnagar is a self-taught singer-songwriter and graphic designer based in Delhi, who creates music that is simple and from the heart, she plays the guitar and the ukulele and writes songs in both English and Hindi. Her songwriting is often inspired by her own experiences, she writes about how she has felt in relationships, in everyday life and also writes about the relationship that she has with herself.

Tanmaya officially released her Debut Hindi Single – ‘Kya Tum Naraaz Ho?‘ on April 10th 2020. This song is raw, lyrically simple and brilliant. It has received recognition from the legendary A.R Rahman himself and has been featured in some of the top Spotify Playlists.

For Tanmaya, Music is thoughts and emotions intertwined with the sounds of instruments and her surroundings. She takes inspiration from artists like Patrick Watson, Bon Iver, Elliott Smith, Lucy Rose, Billie Marten, and her mother being her main source of inspiration.

“Quietly” is an introduction to Tanmaya Bhatnagar’s upcoming debut EP. Speaking about the EP, Tanmaya Bhatnagar said: ”Working on this EP has been a very emotionally fulfilling experience and with each song, I attempt to share stories that are personal and extremely close to my heart. I’ve explored vulnerability and strength in different ways and have tried to find a balance between the two.”

“Quietly” intends to give meaning to the immense loneliness of not having someone around who could instantly make sense of all the emotion brimming inside without having to express them in words. Sometimes you just can’t make sense of the mountain of emotions you feel, explaining it to someone is a completely different ordeal. 

Tanmaya Bhatnagar is great at expressing grief and melancholy through her voice. Her great songwriting helps with that as well. The music on “Quietly” does justice to the song name. It’s all soft, quiet and gentle. Nothing loud or abrasive over here. 

Tanmaya Bhatnagar’s sweet, dreamy vocals are layered over a sonic platform punctuated with some ambient textures. Without being derivative, Tanmaya Bhatnagar manages to blend acoustic music with ambient.

The best part of the track is definitely Tanmaya Bhatnagar’s singing but the piano notes and the ambient textures make it sound like something a 70s psychedelic rock band would take, improvise, and build an absolute classic with.

Verdict: Soothing.