Project Description
Mary’s Underground, Sydney, 23rd November, 2024
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ESHA TEWARI
‘better off’
EP Review
(10th March 2025)
Review by Audrey Songvilay
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‘better off’ by ESHA TEWARI is all about longing
The air is dry, it’s raining outside, I swear I’ll never find love and Esha Tewari’s EP ‘better off’ is playing.
There are songs that accompany heartbreak, and then there are songs that become heartbreak itself. ‘better off’ is the latter.
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Esha Tewari is an indie folk singer-songwriter whose music feels like late-night confessions scribbled in the margins of a diary. Writing all her songs from the quiet solitude of her bedroom, Esha crafts deeply personal stories that draw from her own experiences.
These collection of songs unravel like old letters only the lonely can understand. It aches with longing, with the raw, unfiltered desperation of wanting to be seen, truly seen, by someone who will never bother looking past the surface.
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‘dead horse’
Some wounds refuse to scab over, and ‘dead horse’ is proof of that. It’s the sound of late-night conversations that stretch into 2am, where you bare every inch of your soul to someone who only ever gives you fractions of theirs. You tell yourself you’ll never do this again, but you do. Over and over, because the hope of connection outweighs the pain of rejection. Because you’d rather feel the ache of almost-love than the silence of solitude.
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This track is haunting in its simplicity. The sparse piano chords let Esha’s vocals breathe. It’s delicate and pleading. Subtle atmospheric synths hover in the background, like a presence that lingers long after it should have left. The percussion is gentle, creating space for the story to unfold with raw, unfiltered emotion.
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Mary’s Underground, Sydney, 23rd November, 2024
‘bad decision!’
What a cruel thing, to be old enough to know better but still be young enough to hope. This song is a mirror we’d rather not look into. Self-reflection and regret tangled up in the same breath.
The worst part of heartbreak is not the breaking; it’s the returning. It’s the knowing, deep in your soul, that you shouldn’t go back but still pressing send on a message you know will ruin you.
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Maybe they’ll see it. Maybe they won’t. Maybe they do and just don’t care.
Maybe they’ll get the hint through public reposts on TikTok? A new era of communication.
Instrumentally, ‘bad decision!’ carries an edge. There’s a driving rhythm section pulsing underneath. The electric guitar sways between delicate plucking and raw strumming, capturing the turbulence of emotion. Esha’s layered vocals bring a depth that makes the pain feel almost too real.
If you love loudly, you’ll throw yourself into the fire and call it warmth. It seems Esha does this too.
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Leadbeater Hotel, Melbourne, 8th December, 2024
‘train song’
To the artists, the poets, the ones who romanticise their own self-destruction, this song is for you.
It’s common for the artist to take their pain and weave it into something beautiful. A muse formed out of heartbreak.
Two years to break down your walls only to find I don’t want it anymore.
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Isn’t it cruel? To spend so much time chiseling away at someone’s defences only to realise that once you’re inside, there’s nothing there? To love someone’s mystery only to mourn their truth? This song is the unraveling, the realisation of wasted time and misguided devotion due to an unrealistic perception of someone.
This track is more gentle than the others. The fingerpicked acoustic guitar feels intimate, as if you’re sitting right beside Esha in her bedroom as she confesses her heartbreak. The subtle rise of strings in the background adds to the weight of the song, swelling in moments.
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Leadbeater Hotel, Melbourne, 8th December, 2024
‘better off’
This is my favourite track off the EP. I think I want to scream how intimacy is so much more than lust. I mean yeah, they’re pretty, but imagine what it’d be like to know their soul!
Esha sings the words we all secretly, or loudly want. You wanted something real. They wanted something fleeting. And now you’re left wondering if you were ever anything more than a temporary distraction.
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Loving someone who doesn’t understand you is a slow death. But what’s worse?
Being misunderstood, or not being seen at all?
‘better off’ carries the weight of finality. The production is soft, lush synth textures blend with melancholic piano chords, while a steady beat carries the song forward. Esha’s vocals are raw, almost cracking, making every word feel like a wound reopening. Don’t rub salt on your wounds!
Esha Tewari’s ‘better off’ is a confessional EP. And if you’ve ever loved someone who struggled to understand you, you’ll feel every lyric like a knife to the heart.
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Follow ESHA TEWARI
Website – Instagram – Tik Tok – X
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