Jeremiah de Rozario, hailing from the coastal city of Kochi, is a singer-songwriter brimming with joie de vivre. With his song, Run to the Ocean, released in 2020 during the ongoing pandemic, he rose to fame for his simple lyrics, as they evoked a sense of yearning and nostalgia for a carefree and familiar home. Being locked in alone, Jeremiah encouraged his listeners to send in videos of their own perception of home. He combined them into a four-minute home movie for his music video for Run to the Ocean, amassing great appreciation.
Heavily relying on lyrics, his soft ballads create an ambience of quiet contemplation. Dear Us, his latest release, is a letter from each of us to ourselves, reminding us that no matter how tiring the road may seem, the journey of life is definitely worth embarking upon. Speaking to Jeremiah, one is instantly amazed by his positive outlook on life, complete with his unique quirks. In an inspiring conversation, we talk about music, life, and more.
How did your journey with music begin?
Music has always been around for me. I grew up in a family that loved throwing parties for no reason at all and at every one of those, there was an uncle in the middle of the room, with a guitar, singing every old song in the book with everyone else singing along. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I finally picked up the guitar though. I’ll be honest, it was mostly to make myself look cool, but very quickly it turned into something that I couldn’t stay away from.
My brother and his friends were into music and I would watch them and learn from them. I absolutely loved that time. A few years after that, people started asking me to play at events like weddings and that was when I realised I may actually have something here. I kept doing these gigs for a few years. Then, cut to, when I was doing my PG, I joined an acapella group, where I met some insanely wonderful musicians who pushed me to do new things and learn and better myself. So I did whatever I could to better myself and got better. All that went to hell when I got my first job in a bank. It took all my time and I couldn’t focus on music anymore. Long story short, I did not like where I was at, Covid happened, things got worse, made me think about life, quit my job, decided to do this full time and now I am three songs old.
How would you describe your sound?
Honestly, I’m still not very sure about my sound. For the longest time, I was singing other people’s songs, and when it got to the point where I was asked about how I wanted my first song to be, I had no clue. As a genre, it definitely falls into an indie-pop space but I’m still trying to experiment. But if I have to say then I guess it would be JP Cooper meets Ed Sheeran meets Kodaline (for now).
What influences you as a musician?
I guess the biggest person that has influenced me so far is Ed Sheeran. The man is God to me. But as a lyricist, poetry does influence me — I love me some Rumi. This is a really hard question to answer because I take what I can from wherever possible. Whatever I see or feel or hear, if I can turn into music, I will try.
Do you have a creative process?
I usually write when I have just experienced something that is overwhelming to me. Or at least that’s when I start writing. Usually when these feelings come to me, I sit down with my guitar, away from everyone and I start humming a random tune to a random grouping of chords. Once I find a tune that matches my emotion, I start muttering words related to what I’m feeling. Through this, I find key words or words that I really want to emphasise through the song. Once I find a groove I start playing with these words — what rhymes, what metaphors work, what words would make the listener come closest to whatever I’m feeling. And then I start structuring it, but that happens usually towards the end of the process. All this said, not all songs make it to the end.
Your new single, Dear Us, explores the theme of self-love. What led you to create such a song?
When I was working at my previous job, I was probably at my worst both mentally and physically. I was so unhappy with who I had become and it almost seemed that that was how it was going to be forever. My mental peace was down the drain. It’s almost been a year now since I left and I’m doing things that make me happy. I’ve found peace. And when I think about the younger me who thought the world was going to end, if I could go to him and say anything, I would say that things would be alright, give him the hope he so badly needed at that point. That’s what this song is about, a letter from all of us, to ourselves, saying things that we need to hear from time to time. Things will be alright. (I swear I'm not preaching!)
Your most appreciated song yet has been Run to the Ocean. What was the ideation and inspiration behind the song and the video?
I wrote Run to the Ocean when I was stuck and alone for three months during the first lockdown happened. I was born and brought up in a place called Fort Kochi and I lived next to the beach. The ocean was home. And home was full of faces and smiles that made me feel things nothing else ever could. That is what inspired the video as well. My friend Anna Ben came up with the idea and we immediately went to the video editor Ambotti with it. We asked people to show us their homes and what they sent us still stays with us because it was beautiful to see so many people laughing and smiling.
What stories do you wish to tell through your music?
I just want to say the simple stuff that we don’t say often enough. I’m an annoyingly hopeful person and I wear that as a badge of honour. We all need to hope a little more. Like imagine, a world full of hopeful knuckleheads just trying to do the best they can with what they have and helping whoever they can. That’s one stupidly happy world, and no matter how far fetched, I’m all for it. If I can give you a glimmer of hope through my music then I am a happy man, but at the same time, my music and words are open ended. It’s for people to take what they need, whatever they want.
What are you working on currently and what does the future look like?
I’ve had the pleasure of working with some amazing music producers and visual creators so far — Palee Francis, Alan Joy Mathew, Rahul Ranganathan, Anna Ben, Ambotti — and my gosh, it has been so much fun. My music has been received really well up until now and I’m still not over it, but I do have three other tracks that will be released throughout the year. I’m currently working on a track called A Bird Dressed in Red with Rahul Ranganath and he is same person I worked with on Run to the Ocean so I’m excited.
For the future, I’m trying not to look too far ahead. Just trying to put music out there, get heard and noticed for now, but the goal is definitely to play at a major music festival soon. I’m praying to the NH7 Weekender Gods pretty hard right now! But other than that, make music till I drop, slowly build a base, maybe do a small tour around India. Obviously, nothing set in stone given the conditions but like I said, I’m annoyingly hopeful.
Text Devyani Verma
Date 26-08-2021