Music is a Means to Spread the Message of Hope.
(Part 2)

“Love yourself” — my message to many people.

My first album “Beautiful” was released about a year after the graduation ceremony. A record company found a video of my performance on social media and approached me with an offer to record an album. I sent them sound samples of about 30 songs from my repertoire. The recording started in January, and the album was ready for release by summer. I felt like the luckiest person on Earth. Not long before, the songs I composed had all been for me. Now I was sending out a debut album for the whole world. Every step was perfectly placed, taking me just where I wanted to go from my starting line as an artist.

The album “Beautiful” is about loving yourself. Every person has their own challenges and woes. In “Beautiful” , I hoped to express a simple but powerful message: we must love ourselves for who we are, no matter how hard our lives may be. I wanted people to embrace my songs as signature guiding themes in their lives. The recording company supported my wishes and agreed to have all of the proceeds from the album donated to organizations for people who have Tourette’s, autism, and other disorders.

I want people to appreciate me for my performance and not for my disorder.

My second album, “Dangerous”, was released one year after the first. “Beautiful” had been an honest portrayal of who I am. With “Dangerous”, I wanted to create music purely as an artist without referring to my personal background. The main message of the songs also changed, from loving yourself in “Beautiful”, to mellower, happy sounds expressive of love for others in “Dangerous”. The second album is richer and more musically mature, a better vehicle for conveying me as an artist standing on her own feet.

I started making appearances at music events, as well. The most memorable was a festival in Aruba, where I performed alongside Alicia Keys to a crowd of 10,000. Though petrifying, the experience of performing on that wonderful stage boosted my confidence as a musician. Experience has also been enriching my musical range year by year. Recently, while performing in a famous Nashville cafe, I went off script by arranging a set of upbeat songs to fit the acoustic ambiance of the venue. Now I am more eager to experiment and enjoy music in unfamiliar ways.

I want to pass on the solace of music.

Now I am preparing for my third album. The theme for this one is “a total exposure.” The sounds will be more richly varied than the first two, with R&B styles thrown into the mix for the first time. The plan is to inspire listeners by amplifying the personal message expressed in my first album, “Beautiful”.

I have a list of things I hope to do and achieve. I think charity work is also important. I am up for giving my one-hundred-percent to all that I do, and these activities will give me the experience that enriches me as an artist.

On my journey to succeed in music, I want to be socially responsible and to be informed by an accurate knowledge of how the music industry works. I enrolled in a university course on the music business to gain that knowledge. At 18 years old, I am a person with a lifetime ahead of me. I will experience many things in the future, and hope to translate my experiences into powerful messages for the world. I hope to reach out to people who struggle with their inability to love themselves, just as I once was struggled. Music helped me to overcome my ordeals. I want to pass on the solace of music to others.

Esha Alwani / Singer and songwriter

Born in Aruba, Esha Alwani creates her own music with the piano and guitar. Esha spent much of her childhood undergoing medical treatments for Tourette syndrome. She lived in Florida, USA for four years to receive specialist treatment, from age 10 to 14. There she performed her music on stage at the graduation ceremony of her junior high school. A record company discovered her performance on social media and contacted her to sign her on. Esha has released two albums so far: her debut album “Beautiful” in 2016 and “Dangerous” the next year. She currently majors in the music industry at Drexel University.