Bengaluru Artist BeBhumika Is Indian Indie’s Refreshing R&B Voice

Last month at a gig celebrating International Women’s Day at Bengaluru venue Bira 91 Taproom, BeBhumika aka Bhumika Raman took to the stage with a few jitters but eventually, the singer proved that she’s got the spirit of a thriver and a survivor.

BeBhumika stood out on the lineup as a playful and fun-loving yet vulnerable voice. She fitted her vocals to everything from hip-hop (“Restless,” featuring rapper Tintin and produced by Clifr), R&B (“Love Language,” her recent solo single also featuring Tintin and produced by Kerala beatsmith Kalla Sha) and Hindi pop (“Pareshaan,” produced and co-sung by Katoptris). She prefaces a song called “No More” by saying, “This song is [about] if I was a fuckboy” and gets the crowd’s approval, while “Fuck U,” a 2020 song produced by Melli, is cathartic.

For the Bengaluru artist, most of the songs included in her half-hour set were born out of a time period when she was mending her heart. Although she began releasing music in 2020, it’s been slow and steady for BeBhumika, who created “Love Language” after Kalla Sha hit her up on Instagram in December following the release of “Restless” in October last year. “I was super keen on working with him [Kalla Sha], because he’s such a good beat maker,” she says. Within a day, she had her verse and hook for “Love Language,” which mindfully explored ideas of love and caring over Afropop-inspired beats. She adds, “As soon as I wrote the first verse, I kinda knew I wanted a feature on the track. Tintin told me about how he’s really into afro at the moment, so it wasn’t hard to make the connection. I trust Tintin completely to absolutely kill any verse he writes so it worked out perfectly.”

She’s also followed it up with “Pareshaan,” a bittersweet Hindi pop song produced by Pune’s Katoptris aka Faizal Jamadar. In the music video directed by filmmaker Hrithik Punjabi, the duo go through their day separately while carrying an invisible burden of conflict and overthinking. There are more releases coming up through 2022 and “a lot of big collaborations,” although BeBhumika doesn’t spill the details. She adds, “I have worked on my own music for a while now, but I think I am finally in a place where I am ready to just keep releasing more music consistently. I am honestly just more comfortable with who I am, what my sound is and who “Bebhumika” is turning out to be. Never felt as ready as I do now.”

Watch the video for “Pareshaan” below.