UGA MBUS Student Ritika Sharma Forges Her Own Pathway

At ten years old, Ritika Sharma learned how to play the guitar—but upside down. Her father, who was left-handed, refused to buy her the instrument because she often struggled with sustaining a hobby. 

“After a week, I’d be like, ‘I’m bored.’ He didn’t believe that I would stick with it. So, I learned the guitar upside down,” Sharma said. 

Now, Sharma carries a dedicated spirit, with her seventh song “Love You Have Left” being released in late March. Even though she started writing songs at ten years old, she has wanted to pursue a career in music since she was 14—not giving up on her musical journey. 

Sharma describes her music as “textured.” She doesn’t like to label or confine it to a particular genre, having learned rock from her father, talking heavy metal with a former boss, and being classically trained all the while.

Instead, she often asks herself what mood she wants to create, letting the lyrics stand for themselves in the absence of production, and vice versa. 

“If you took the lyrics away, the production would shine, it would tell a story. And, if we took the production away, the lyrics still tell a story—that’s a test I do with all my songs,” Sharma said. 

As a student in the University of Georgia Music Business program, Sharma says she’s learned that she can forge her own pathway, with each musician’s route to success being different. She currently has a mix of singles and an EP released. Vinyl Magazine met with her to discuss some of the lore behind each. 

For The Fish

I think [with] the oceanic-like ambiance, I wanted it to feel like two fish were singing to each other. I think I kind of accomplished that. It was my first fully produced song. So, it’s definitely a learning process. I don’t think it’s a perfect song, but it’s really cool to see my progress. 

Arabella

I wrote this about a friend I had in high school who was going through a rough time. She would always be like, ‘Oh I’m trauma dumping.’ And, I’ll just be like ‘Girl, you’re my friend, I want to hear about everything that’s going on in your life.’ … I don’t talk to that person anymore. But it’s weird because people are in and out of your life, but songs can just stay with you. And I think about that person a lot. So, I think that song just means a lot to me because it was about a special person.

Water Fights

That one’s about a relationship that just changed and shifted, it wasn’t the same as when it first started. I think that was just about youth and friendships.  I think we have a lot of these friendships early on that just changed. It’s folk-inspired, and I just really liked the guitar melody.

14

That song was about middle school. I think growing up, I was in a very racist county. I’d get angry, my natural expression initially was anger. … But, my dad had a very kind expression, he thinks they don’t mean it like that—we have a different outlook on what people mean and why they do things. … That song was about [how] we’ll never be on the same page about how we want to react to things, how we want to treat other people… you can love people and them not think the way you do. 

The Bear

The Bear was the first song I technically posted on TikTok and got me thinking about putting songs out publicly. … I wrote that about [how] it’s like the grass is greener on the other side—you have this bear that’s outside of a cave and a man who’s in a cave, and one wants to leave and one wants to be in the cave. There [are] positives and negatives to both sides. … I think it’s some of my best lyrics. 

Sweet Bitter

It was the first time I was genuinely amazed by [the] stuff I created. … Usually, I would write, and then what my rough draft was was also my final draft. But, this was the first time I was like, ‘How can we edit this? How can we make it better?’ … So it started folk, turned R&B at one point. We meshed them, so the third section has R&B melodies if you really listen to it. It’s like four completely different sections that kind of signify the healing process. I think it perfectly takes you through you going insane and feeling not healed to being healed by a person who may have affected you. And it’s that sweet bitter feeling—you love them, but it’s time to move on. And, you also hate them.

Love You Have Left

I did it for an MBUS class. I had to do it so quickly… I had like multiple people, my friends who were trusted sources, who said ‘This one had some sauce to it, put this out.’ It was more [of a] pop sound. I didn’t want to go back to folk, I was like ‘Let me keep it pop.’ The hardest part was the ending, and I think I achieved a good ending. And again, texture [and] ambiance was really big to me. I think it’s some of my best lyrics, the melody is really catchy.