Shefali Panicker's mashups of pop, Bollywood and Indian classical have earned her a global following. | CBCArts
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.
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? 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 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.