Singing in 9 different languages got her 9 million TikTok likes. What's next?

Right before the pandemic, Shefali Panicker was enthusiastically singing along to Chris Brown's "No Guidance" during a car ride when the thought came to her: "What if I added a Bollywood spin to this?" 

After nervously posting this experiment to her TikTok, the Western University student and London, Ontario native saw her phone explode with notifications from thousands of new followers. It was the beginning of a social media singing career for the now 22-year-old, who has built a global audience online, with nine million likes and half a million followers on her TikTok plus thousands more spread between Instagram, YouTube and SoundCloud. 

From that first viral video where she sings in three different languages — Hindi, French and English — Shefali has gone on to do hundreds more, sometimes singing in as many nine different languages on one track, and building her own TikTok niche in the process.

The roots of her multilingual success come from years of attending French immersion school, performing at local Diwali shows and other cultural events, and participating in Carnatic music lessons. Part of the Indian classical tradition, Carnatic music is from South India and involves singing in Sanskrit, Telugu, Malayalam, and more. 

We reached Shefali over video chat to discuss her singing career and how she plans to continue using her musical platform to transcend international barriers. 

CBC Arts: What are your ambitions with your singing? Is this just a TikTok endeavour or are you hoping to do something larger?

Shefali: I only downloaded TikTok because it was like Vine but crazier, and I grew up watching Vine. I had no intention of posting any music or anything, but in January 2020 I made a song out of the "Pooja what is this behavior" meme because I didn't know what to sing about. I made the meme into a song, so I sang it with the intention of not many people seeing it since I only had about 200 followers at the time. People really loved it and found it funny. They started saying, "We love your voice," so I kept posting. That's when I started doing mashups. 

What prompted you to start singing on TikTok, especially singing in multiple languages? 

I went to what I know best. Within Carnatic music itself, I sing in Sanskrit, Malayalam and Telugu. Even in just India, there's way more than Hindi since every state has their own culture, language and music that comes with it. I started doing small mashups, mixing two or three languages, and then I wanted to try to fit in as many languages as I could. At first, I stuck to familiar South Asian languages, but then people began to say, "Sing in Korean or Sinhala or Arabic." I would push myself to go out of my comfort zone and it became a challenge for me. 

I'm sure it was challenging learning all of those languages. Have you faced any criticism? 

Arabic was the hardest because there's so many different dialects. Some of the pronunciations are extremely difficult if you're not a native speaker. I have received a bit of criticism for my Spanish, but I've made it clear that I'm trying my best and I'm just a one-person team. I want to respect peoples' languages and the importance of pronunciation. Even in classical music, my teacher was strict about pronouncing words correctly because words carry a lot of meaning.

Why do you think your "No Guidance" and "Nashe Si Chadh Gayi" mashup went viral? How did you feel when it did and how did that change what you were planning to do with your singing platform?  

People have been so supportive, and that's partly why I keep singing because of the reception I get. I think my cover went viral because it had English, French and Hindi, so it resonated with a lot of people. I noticed people appreciate Bollywood, not just in India. Even in Africa, commenters from Morocco say, "I love it when you sing Bollywood songs." Growing up, I never thought music was something I could do like this or have so many people watch me. I know I still have a lot to improve on, but having people who appreciate my art means a lot.

As a fellow creative, I completely understand how hard it can be to create when you have eyes on you. How have you managed to honour your creative process while acknowledging your audience? 

Within an hour of my first viral song, it got 100 views and that never happened to me. It can mess with your brain. You can have a viral video, but to keep that attention is so incredibly hard. I felt the pressure to post constantly and according to what the audience wants. At one point, I was posting three times a week, and I was getting burnt out really fast. For me, just doing a 30-second cover takes two to six hours, from finding the music to finding lyrics to practising and recording.

I learned the hard way that if I don't do something I am genuinely loving, the audience knows. I lose followers all the time because I don't post for weeks. It's so important to stay grounded because that interaction is great, but it shouldn't affect your mental health. Some videos don't do well or get as many views, and now I don't care as much. It's more important to sing from my perspective because I don't want to get burnt out. I realized I'm going to make stuff on my own terms because at the end of the day, I'm doing this because I love music.

I know you mention you're trying to transcend international barriers through music. How are you trying to accomplish this? 

I started this journey with no intention of creating a platform like this. I have imposter syndrome too, and it's so prevalent because you'll see people who are more technical than you, but I think I bring something unique to my audience and I'm proud of that. There's always room for growth, and I've become a lot more confident because I know I'm inspiring others too.

With my TikTok journey, I've been able to appreciate all kinds of cultures and languages. It's not just about the music, but I try to appreciate the meaning of the song or why the artist made the song for the covers I sing. People from all walks of life all around the globe tell me how much it means to them that I'm singing in their language. 

So would you want to eventually monetize this? 

Recently, TikTok came out with the creator fund, but it's only in the U.S. and there isn't anything set up yet in Canada. I would absolutely love to do music full-time, but I try to be a bit more of a realist in terms of financial stability. I have a lot of other passions as well, such as healthcare. However, I have been fortunate to partner up with some brands, like the South Asian dating app Mirchi, so I've promoted their company in a creative way through music lyrics. 

How do you think your platform messaging will change over time? What do you have planned for your goals as an artist in the future?

I want to keep doing this because there's a lot of languages I haven't explored yet. To take my art further, I want to release my own music. I've talked to producers before, and I want to make songs with various languages, but I don't see a lot of that within the South Asian space. In the next few years, I hope I can release original music. As much as I love singing covers, it's someone else's art that I'm interpreting in my own way.

I've also had people reach out asking me to sing at their wedding. With COVID-19 out of the way, doing gigs in person would be something I would love to do. However, it's more fulfilling if I had my own music to share with people. When that happens, then I can perform more.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.