Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Did you have a chance to train in music? What has been the selling point for your music?
Ms. Shirley Setia:
I haven’t had a chance to train in music yet. That is something I’d love to explore, I’d love to do some vocal training or training for pronunciations. That’s a requirement for a singer and an actor to have your pronunciations be correct. When I’d initially started off I was young and was still learning as I went, I didn’t know the details of the craft until very recently when I did Maska, where we had a vocal coach on set.
She actually really helped us with the Parsi dialect used and she also helped us understand the intricate details of pronunciations and even my director Neeraj Udhwani was very particular about my pronunciations, especially English pronunciations because he didn’t want my accent to be heard. Now, I feel like my English accent has been de-accented a little bit, because of working day and night on my character in Maska.
It’s been really good and it’s been amazing. I’m absolutely for training for the craft that you’re in. But training can also sometimes mean learning and getting better with time and experience. In terms of music, I’ve not had a chance to train in music yet, but what has worked with my music has been the relatability factor. When I sing or when I make a song, I completely and fully relate to it, I believe in it and I feel the song. I feel the emotions when I sing it and that’s something I believe the audience connects with.
Ms. Namita Nayyar:
Who is your favourite singer and inspiration to start singing? 5 tips to be a good performer.
Ms. Shirley Setia
My all-time favourite singer has been KK, I love his songs. I feel like he is someone who puts in a lot of soul in his songs and that’s why I tried to follow that kind of path. My inspirations to start singing came from just listening to music, that has always been a part of my family, my parents love listening to old music. However, no one in my family really sings or has taken up music or entertainment professionally.
I used to just sing for myself and it used to be something that I used to do like I’d just hum along to a song that was playing, I used to and still really love doing that. I just tried to do my own version of a song that I really loved, which was Tum Hi Ho. I didn’t know it would reach out to so many people. I’m extremely grateful that it did though. I’m also still learning the tips to be a good performer because with every experience you learn something new.
The things I have learned are to be confident, be yourself and that’s not just when you’re performing, we should all embrace ourselves and our individuality because that’s what makes us different from each other. Believe in yourself, especially when you’re performing or on stage, just enjoying the moment is very important.
Sometimes, you can have a bad day but when you listening to the crowd singing the song with you is absolutely magical. It’s just important to live the moment as it is and when it happens.
I also drink a lot of warm water while I’m performing, you’ll always see me sipping warm water on stage. Just enjoying yourself is very important and when you enjoy yourself the audience also enjoys a lot more. The vibe just translates.