Dhruv Visvanath Talks About His New Song ‘Gimme Love’ and Being on T.V. Series ‘My Kind Of Country’

New Delhi-based Dhruv Visvanath’s new music video for “Gimme Love” brings to the front the protagonist’s memories, achievements and past glories and failures that get a much-needed discarding, with filmmaker Tanvi Gandhi giving hoarded boxes life.

While it might be a similar theme of everyday objects showing us their secret yet fairytale-like sentience that was seen in the video for “Wild” from 2018, the songwriting of “Gimme Love” moves in a different direction. Since the release of “Wild” and his album The Lost Cause in 2018, Visvanath took the route of releasing singles building up to his 2021 album The Book of I, which he carried into releasing his powerful 2022 EP Demons.

The first half of 2023 has been arguably Visvanath’s biggest, becoming a finalist on Apple TV+ show My Kind of Country – where he covered everyone from Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” to Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” alongside his own material in Nashville. Then, he collaborated with composer-producer Achint and Gujarati vocalist Aditya Gadhvi for the Coke Studio Bharat song “Khalasi,” called upon for his distinct percussive acoustic guitar strumming.

There’s still a bit of that jangly, crisp percussive and fingerstyle guitar technique heard on “Gimme Love,” but in a way that’s perhaps only supplementary to Visvanath’s pop songwriting, something he did with London-based Matty Benbrook. The latter’s credits range from Paolo Nutini to KT Tunstall and Jake Bugg, among others. In an interview with Rolling Stone India, Visvanath talks about the new release, songwriting sessions with Benbrook and just how special it was for him to be on My Kind of Country.

What has the reception for “Gimme Love” been like so far? Do you feel like you’re in a place where you’re balancing the right amounts of familiarity (from your past catalog) with new directions?

I feel like I’ve been blessed with a lot of positive messages around the song, maybe even a few shed tears as well! I’m thrilled that in the ocean of music that comes our way, people find a way to connect with my song. In all honesty, all I’m trying to do is tell stories in new ways. I’ve been making and producing music for so long that sometimes I have to learn how to use the tools upside down!

And that’s a great thing, to feel that instead of plateauing, or feeling stuck, you’re riding through peaks and troughs. I still consider myself to be a student of life, and I’m always learning, and one such lesson was that great progress is the result of many small steps. I just hope that I’ve taken enough steps for listeners to hear the journey.

How did your connect with Matty Benbrook happen? How did that process of jamming/ideating on a song as songwriters feel like even though it was virtual?

Lockdowns are a funny thing, and that time provided me with the opportunity to connect with a lot of people. I’ve actually got you to thank for helping me figure out how to work across borders! I actually ended up writing quite a few songs during that time, but my encounter with Matty was quite something. His publisher had put out some feelers to see if there were any songwriters he’d like to work with from India, and it was just a matter of sitting down together and sharing ideas. I tend to show up a little prepared, I always have a bunch of ideas ready to build out, and “Gimme Love” was just one of them.

I really enjoyed spending time with him, the actual writing felt like we were just thinking about things. It felt like we were friends, just finding out new stuff about each other, and talking about the good and bad parts of life. Songwriting is just a lot of talking, and melody is the happy accident that turns that conversation into a song.

“Gimme Love” was born out of an idea you had from your Song a Day Challenge, a tradition you continue to keep. Does this sort of exercise signify a sense of discipline for you? And do you feel discipline/regularity is always what has led to great ideas for your music, or are there other, stronger factors?

I find discipline to be a very demanding word. However in small doses, inviting that pressure on yourself can be rather rewarding. It’s an exercise, a way to flex a muscle and sometimes a reminder to tell yourself, you’ve still got it. The idea of giving myself this challenge was to get me to start and finish ideas, to go from thought to song in as short a time, so that I could have ideas I could always build further.

I liken it to collecting all the Lego bricks I need to build the next best idea. Some songs born out of the challenge are “Carry,” “Jungle,” “Fly,” “The Mountain King,” “Wildfire,” and now “Gimme Love.” I think of it as a sneak peek for what’s to come, every idea from the Song A Day Challenge, has the potential to become something I release in the future. I’ve been doing it for six years now, and I have close to 120 songs to choose from. Not every idea is great, but I know that it’s a sign of progress.

What was it like working with Tanvi [Gandhi, filmmaker] once again after “Wild” for the music video? What kind of creative inputs did you have for her and the crew, if at all?

Tanvi is a maverick and honestly, one of the most creative people I’ve ever known. I think her biggest strength comes from always looking at every story as a blank canvas waiting to be filled with mysteries, and emotion and personality. My experience with working with her was rather seamless and I was blown away with the story she brought to me.

I tend to stay far away from any visual creative input. The only thing I wanted was for there to be a heartwarming story over a song that speaks of loving yourself. Seeing the final creation brought me to tears and I’m forever grateful. My goal is always to make something that will stand the test of time, and I hope when someone thinks of my song, they see the story that was so lovingly created by Tanvi Gandhi.

It’s been a few months since your appearance on My Kind of Country was up on streaming, on Apple TV+. We get a good idea about what being on that show was like for you, but what was it like sitting with the news of the show for a while and then finally being able to talk about it?

Do you know that feeling when you want to gently nudge everyone around and tell them “Psst, I’m going to be on a show on Apple TV”?

I felt that every day, for about one and a half years. The show in itself was an incredible experience but now that it’s out there, it’s like having a literal copy of a memory. I think back to all the moments in between, the friends I’ve made and am still in touch with. I’m glad that I managed to surprise people with stepping out of my comfort zone, playing country music.

I will say this, on the day the finale aired, I was aware of the result, I knew exactly who was going to show up on screen, I knew exactly what I was going to play, however, I sat around family, best friends, people I loved, and watched their reactions, heard their cheers, spent time in their enjoyment. I was excited to be up there, but for a second, I got to live in a little bit of pride, and I am so happy, got to share it with the people who matter to me. I know I couldn’t be there without them.

What else is coming up through 2023?

“Gimme Love” is the start of a larger musical story, a whole new EP, that will release later this year. I’m also looking forward to getting back to the stage, performing live, it’s been a while and I hope I can still have fun, so look forward to a tour soon! Besides that, I have loved my journey as a producer, and I’m currently scoring films, and working on collaborations with many artists. The year might be short, but life is kinda long. So whatever may come, I’m excited to be an artist, forever and always!