Student Spotlight: Siva

Maja Gierszewska, who performs under the artist name Siva, shares how she found her songwriting confidence at Berklee.

April 24, 2026

Editorial Staff

Siva in front of a Back Bay brownstone — Siva

Image by Sophia Paffenback

What’s it like to study at Berklee? Our Student Spotlight series asks current students all about their Berklee experience—what they’re learning in class, what kinds of projects they’re involved in onstage or behind the scenes, how they recharge, and of course, what they’re listening to. In this installment, get to know singer Siva (Maja Gierszewska), an eighth-semester student majoring in songwriting from Warsaw, Poland.

You can follow her on Instagram and Spotify.

Tell us about your path to Berklee. What made you decide to come here?

A big idol of mine—who undoubtedly inspired my Berklee dream—is Alissia Benveniste. I saw a YouTube docuseries about her student life and instantly became obsessed. Her being an international student, yet absolutely ruling the funk community here, fueled my desire to attend the college. I saw everything I aspired to be within her—an artist, songwriter, producer, band leader, incredible performer—and I knew joining Berklee would be a step into making that a reality for me, too.

What's been your favorite class so far, and what has it taught you?

Despite being a songwriting major, my favorite class was Intro to Modular Synthesis, an elective from the Electronic Production and Design Department. Not only was the content absolutely fascinating, but it also completely changed my approach to music production and ignited my passion for sound design. It got me to elaborate on my musical ideas in a way that’s just simply unachievable with acoustic instruments.

Can you talk about how you got into songwriting and what made you want to pursue it?

I was always beyond mesmerized by the world of words and sounds. As a child, I would constantly write poems, short stories, and even books. It wasn’t until a little later, however, that I realized my utter obsession with storytelling could be fulfilled by writing music. When my perspective shifted, so did my focus. Songwriting became something I dreamt of pursuing.

Before coming to Berklee, I knew I could sing, but I didn’t have much faith in my composing abilities. At that point, I’d written a couple songs, but nothing worth releasing. Declaring songwriting as my major felt like diving into deep water or perhaps even chasing a delusion.

Four years, 1,000 songs, and endless hours in the studio later, I’m happy to proudly call myself a songwriter. And a good one, even!

What's a project you've worked on since coming to Berklee that you've been especially excited about?

For the last year, I’ve been working on my debut album, “forever, not always.” I’ve released four of the songs as singles so far, and I’m almost done with the rest. It’s an alternative/indie pop record that walks you through stages of grieving a love, from the moment you realize it isn’t right, through the hardships of separation, to accepting that it left an everlasting impact.

The title, being an oxymoron, captures the complex and oftentimes conflicting emotions that heartbreak entails.

How has your bilingual background influenced your artistic voice, and how do you navigate switching between the two languages when you’re writing?

As much as I’d like to reject it being true, nothing will ever compare to your mother tongue.

I never write without a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus in my hand. I read books exclusively in English, and I have a notebook dedicated to new vocabulary, where I write down any new word I stumble upon with its definition. Learning a language is a never-ending process.

One of my friends once said, “I hate that I sound so dumb in English, when I’m so smart in Spanish,” and though I never specifically felt the language barrier was that extreme for me, I for sure find myself frustrated with how much more eloquent, funnier, and sharper I am in Polish. No matter how hard I try not to, I’ll forever have an accent, stutter, and mispronounce things in English. I’m thrilled to say lyric-writing is one of my strongest suits, despite almost all of it being done in my second language. But oh do I wish I could reach international success speaking only my mother tongue!

What's one piece of advice you'd give to your high school self?

Believe in yourself. I know how cliché this sounds, yet I’m still actively trying to let go of this deep-rooted belief that I’m not good enough. Impostor syndrome is real, and though I see it getting better with age, I’m still very much struggling.

Siva's Top Five Songs

We asked Siva to give us five tracks from her favorite artists. Check them out:

1. "bug," emory

I discovered emory recently, and she instantly became my biggest inspiration. This is exactly the type of sound I strive to achieve with my music.

2. "CORRUPT us," ZEP

If I could summarize ZEP’s discography in three words, it’d be "drums and bass." I’ve never heard someone so consistently deliver absolutely mind-blowing production on those two.