Savera on How Grief, Boarding School and Goa Inspired His EP

Unlike most musicians who are constantly buried in projects and rarely leave their studios, Savera has been living a different kind of life in Goa—surfing, walking his dog, hiking, and making music along the way.

Raised in Mumbai for the most part, Savera says he’s begun to “see life from a different lens, especially by living a slower life” for the last five years. He adds, “I mean, not necessarily trying to play the rat race, run up ladders and stuff… you start appreciating things a lot more, like the greenery, beauty, and fresh air.” Even now, he says he finds forest trails he never knew existed. “It’s an adventure,” he adds. 

After trading in the potholes, construction pollution, and crowds of Mumbai for Goa, it’s not surprising that his debut solo EP, Strongest Boy Alive—releasing on June 14—has plenty of quieter moments and sees Savera address vulnerabilities ranging from grief to joy. He says, “One thing that slowing down has taught me is to be more mindful of the things I have. It’s shaped how I treat things. I think it comes into the music somehow.” 

That explains why he chose “Aahista” as not just the opening song to the six-track EP but also the lead single from Strongest Boy Alive. “Kya jaldi hai/Ruk ja mere yaar” (What’s your rush, slow down my friend). Originally written in English as a track called “Parking Lot,” it goes from sparse to glimmering banger territory. Elsewhere on the EP, “Fiza” puts Savera, the singer-songwriter, in the spotlight, acoustic guitar in hand. This, too, builds up from the quiet to the cinematic, with synths swirling by the end of it. 

“Devaar” has heartache at the center, with layers of synth, strings, and horns, while “Galtiyaan,” with pop artist Nikhita Gandhi, flips the script with a dancefloor-ready synth-pop song that will be much more familiar to fans of Savera’s work with co-conspirator, composer-producer OAFF. Savera says he’s been recommending Gandhi to all his musician friends. “I genuinely enjoy her voice a lot. I think she’s one of the top singers, and I just wanted to work with her. I didn’t see this song without her, to be honest,” Savera adds. 

The EP then turns back into some of Savera’s most vulnerable songwriting, especially on the title track. Savera thinks back to his boarding school days, which he joined when he was just five years old. “If I look at it now that I’m 33, I’m like, ‘That kid should not have been alone,’” he says with a laugh. He adds, “I was alone, and I had to put on a brave face.” In the middle of being away from family, trying to make new friends and teachers who had no problems “whacking you,” Savera learned that he often got the sense that he was supposed to be “brave and strong” and not show any vulnerability, which is where Strongest Boy Alive got its name. Looking back, he says, “I’m not going to say it was bad [or if] it was good. I really don’t know. It shaped me in whatever way it has.” 

The EP closes with “Veer Mere,” aided by Burrah, on what is the second single from the EP. In a statement with the song, Savera describes it as an elegy for his brother, who took his life. “He was a free spirit, full of life. For years, I carried confusion and heartache, constantly asking myself why. I’d tried to write about it before, but fear always stopped me. When I finally came back to the idea, I made one clear decision: I wouldn’t sing it. I knew the only voice I could trust with something this personal was Burrah’s. Writing this song has been cathartic, not just for me but for both of us. “Veer Mere” is about trying to make sense of someone’s silence and choosing love, even in their absence. This song is dedicated to Richard and Sardar K.N. Singh,” he adds in his statement. 

Strongest Boy Alive EP comes just months after OAFF released his own solo project, Between Flowers. Savera says they both took the conscious decision to work on their respective material in turns, each of them stepping in to oversee the joint commercial and mainstream projects and collaborations as OAFF x Savera, while the other worked on solo songs.

It’s been a relief to put out songs like “Veer Mere,” and Savera originally had thought he might distance himself from the music. “I felt like it every time I did that, like it sounded less or felt less authentic.” Now, he’s keen to go live with Strongest Boy Alive and his previous material, and practice is already underway with shows tentatively slated to take place in Mumbai, Goa, and Bengaluru. “It’s sounding so fucking fun; I’m super excited about it. I don’t know how much I’ll play live with it, considering the logistics of it and with all the work that’s going on, but I do want to at least do a few gigs. If people like it and if it’s fun, then maybe we’ll continue.”