Inspired by RD Burman & working with BTS : The Musical Roadmap of Tushar Apte
Indian-origin songwriter & record producer Tushar Apte has been playing in the big leagues for years now . His credits include collaborations with Chris Brown , Demi Lovato , Nicki Minaj , Zayn , Noah Cyrus as well as K-pop luminaries BTS and Blackpink , and that ’ s just scratching the surface .
After having struggled with corporate drudgery in Sydney , Tushar packed up his things and moved to LA and underwent years of struggle before hitting gold with Chris Brown ’ s Zero . Since then , his rise to the top has been meteoric and unstoppable . The Score Magazine caught up with Tushar to get a glimpse into his artistic voyage , his Indian roots and why he thinks K-pop is a lot like Bollywood .
What is the role of record producer and songwriter such as yourself , especially when working with acts as big as BTS and Demi Lovato ?
I think great producers are also great facilitators of ‘ the room ’ – understanding the dynamics of co-writers / artists and people in a room and getting the best out of that situation , guiding the talents and personalities into the best song for the session . Imagine if the songwriters and artists are driving a car , a producer ’ s role is like paving a road in front of the car in real-time but also building an inspiring environment around the road while the car flies down the road at 100mph !
You ’ ve mentioned that K-pop is similar to Bollywood . Could you elaborate ?
I think it ’ s similar in the sense of it being a form of escapism for fans and audiences . While there are definitely deeper meanings and layers to Bollywood work and KPop music , both forms reach broad audiences and always have extremely well produced ‘ entertainment value ’.
Tell us about the songs that changed your life - both as a listener and a composer .
The earliest albums I can remember listening to are the 70 ’ s / 80 ’ s albums and music my parents played – everything from old Bollywood music ( Kishore Kumar , R . D . Burman etc ) to more pop stuff Michael Jackson , Stevie Wonder , Billy Joel , Lionel Richie , Bee Gees ( Thriller , Songs In The Key of Life and Innocent Man records ). I think the musicality of those records is still hugely influential in how I write and arrange now .
Later when I started taking piano seriously I got really deep into jazz and more avant-garde music . - Thelonious Monk , Coltrane , Art Tatum , Jacques Loussier , all the great ‘ American songbook ’ composers etc . At the same time I was deep in hip-hop and funk ( especially Prince , Morris Day , P-Funk etc ) as they were all styles that to me were derivative of the jazz I loved . I was obsessed with liner notes in CD ’ s and would study who was writing and producing these songs too , even though I didn ’ t know exactly what those jobs meant .
As a writer the song that really changed my life was definitely ‘ Zero ’ by Chris Brown . I had been writing and producing for a few years to that point and had some very minor success with a couple of label acts and a number of independent acts . When that song came out it changed the whole conversation in terms of the level of writers I was working with , and being able to build a great team around
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