Shirley Setia is a popular singer today but not many people know that music was not her first choice as a profession. In an exclusive interview with News18 Showsha, Shirley shared that she became a singer only ‘by chance’. She mentioned that a profession in marketing was her first career choice.
“It kind of just happened by chance. My first career choice would have been something in marketing – social media marketing or digital marketing. I have studied marketing and therefore something related to it (would have been my first career choice). That’s what my parents wanted,” she told us.
On being asked why she calls herself a ‘singer by chance’, Shirley recalled what happened when she posted a video of herself singing a song on YouTube. She mentioned that when that video received a positive response from the audience, she was left wondering if she should explore more music. “I posted my video on YouTube and I was not a confident singer. I thought even 100 people would not watch my video. But it kind of went viral. So many people watched it and then I was like, ‘Oh! Maybe I should explore this’. Then I started learning. I learned myself and had no tutors,” she recalled.
However, it was not an easy road for the singer because her family wanted her to take music only as a hobby and not as a full-fledged profession. “Growing up, my family was never so keen on me learning music. They would always see this like a hobby but not as a proper profession,” she shared.
The ‘Disco Disco’ singer revealed how she was discouraged from adopting music as a profession. She revealed how her father thought that ‘she was crazy’ when she told him about wanting to learn music. “It was difficult. No one from my family knows music. No one has been into music like this. As a normal Indian family, they listen to a lot of music. They appreciate it. They listen to it on the radio. But actually, learning music? I think that was a very difficult conversation. Even as a kid, I remember telling my dad that I wanted to learn music and he thought that I was crazy (laughs),” she said.
However, Shirley also mentioned that irrespective of how her parents reacted initially, they are very supportive of her now. The ‘Disco Disco’ singer called her parents her ‘biggest cheerleaders’ and added, “They are so supportive. They have seen how much it means to me. Now, they are extremely supportive. They are my biggest cheerleaders. They have cut out of articles about me, my mom keeps them in a shelf. Now they are very happy but earlier it was very difficult. I had too many arguments. (laughs) Too many,” she added.
Surely support from her family has helped Shirley Setia in achieving greater heights. After ruling hearts in India, the singer recently collaborated with an American singer-songwriter named JKVE for the song titled ‘Golden Hour’. Was working with somebody who is not from India different in comparison to collaborating with Indian singers? For Shirley, it did not matter at all.
“No, not really. At the end of the day, what we work on is music and you kind of just feel right. As long as things feel right, if you get a vibe that something is good, you go ahead with it. It was not different. Different countries, different time zones but the same work,” she explained.
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