Julia Bhatt: it is what it is – debut album

Miami artist Julia Bhatt shines on her independently released debut album, it is what it is. Just turning twenty years old, this Gen-Z genre bending artist is a rising star that can’t be ignored.

Barely out of teenhood, Bhatt has gone through different life changes: graduating high school and then dealing with the pandemic and quarantine. All while finding her voice as an artist and entering adulthood.

The album’s title takes inspiration from The Strokes‘ debut album, Is This It (2001). Fast forward twenty one years later, much like The Strokes, Bhatt is debuting something unique and a piece of work reflective of her life and surroundings. Each track on it is what it is differs but somehow works together as a whole. The album is like an audio version of Bhatt’s home, Miami: there’s a brightness and clashing of different elements that are necessary for the end product.

‘Karma’ is an earlier single release and the first of Bhatt’s tracks featured on our LOUD WOMEN monthly playlist. This lively pop track dives into the feeling of not being important and just being ‘there’.

“It’s about the feeling of being left behind or being just a background character and then finding a way to live life like you are the main character. ‘Karma’ is one of the few songs that I absolutely love. I don’t usually think that for all my songs, but every part of it is completely solid in my eyes.”
Julia Bhatt

My personal favorite and standout track, ‘Sweetheart’, has an effortless coolness to it with 90s R&B synths and lounge singer energy blended together.

‘Fighting Type’ is the latest single from it is what is. This track carries a heavy punch and exposes the draining politics of social media and the music industry.

“I have to promote all the time on TikTok and Instagram and I have to watch numbers rise and fall and it’s just brutal. Unfortunately, that’s the music industry now and adaptation is the name of the game.”
Julia Bhatt