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Punjabi singer Sunanda Sharma has

conquered YouTube but ‘the live
audience is the one to win over’
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Punjabi singer Sunanda Sharma’s quick rise to fame makes for a great case study
on the role played by homemade video recordings in the music industry. Like
Justin Bieber and Greyson Chance, the 27-year-old recording artist frequently
uploaded videos of herself singing Punjabi pop and folk tunes from her home in
Fatehgarh Churian town, near Amritsar.

“I never had formal training in singing,” Sharma told Scroll.in. “I only began
sharing my singing on Facebook three years ago, and music companies began
showing interest.” Three years is all it took for Sharma to produce a series of
Punjabi pop hits accompanied by snazzy music videos. Sharma’s latest single is
Ban, released through Gaana Originals.

The song has Sharma’s high-pitched singing punctuated by English rap over a
trap beat. The music video, directed by Robby Singh, is strongly reminiscent of
M.I.A’s video for her song Bad Girls. Sharma performs Ban in a desert populated
by gun-wielding men wearing Arab headdresses. “Year 2030. All the countries
around the world have decided to give up weapons,” the video declares.

Sharma’s Punjabi hits include Billi Akh, Sandal, Patake and Jaani Teri Naa. The
videos for these tracks have amassed over 477 million views collectively. The last
song’s video has 244 million views alone.

Sharma loves the YouTube stats, but isn’t fully convinced of them as a measure of
a song’s popularity. “YouTube views are important to me,” she said. “But some of
my songs have 10-12 million views also. According to me, the live audience is the
one to win over. My songs are pan-Indian hits. When I perform in Bombay, and
 their audience tells me to sing so-and-so
Ban (O cial Video) SUNA…
SUNA…
song of mine, it means they have heard it
and loved it enough to want it.”

The sudden popularity of Sharma’s early

Facebook videos took her by surprise. “I
don’t know if I am talented or not but I got
a lot of love from people for my videos,”
she said of a pre-TikTok time. “At that
time, no Punjabi girl my age was doing
things like these – singing and putting up
videos from home. Maybe, that’s why it
caught on quickly.”
Ban by Sunanda Sharma.

Sunanda Sharma's Old Co…

Co…
These videos led to a contract with Punjabi
music label Mad 4 Music, which has
released all of Sharma’s singles since her
debut, Billi Akh. Sharma now divides her
time between her hometown and Mumbai.
The transition of her singles and videos
from folksy and rustic to hip and urban is
telling.

Like nearly all Punjabi singing sensations,

Sharma has had her brush with Bollywood.
She has sung a track each for the Hindi
films Nawabzaade (2018) and Luka Chuppi
Sunanda's Sharma's homemade recordings.
(2019). A couple of her singles are in the
process of being recreated.

“Our songs give out a very entertaining vibe,” she said about the reach of Punjabi
popstars in Hindi films. “The beats are fun. It makes sense for Hindi films to have
Punjabi songs.”
 In a market flooded with Punjabi singers,
BILLI AKH (Full Video) | SU…
SU…
plus the larger pool of young talent who
perform for films and are also active on
YouTube, does Shama feel the heat of
competition?

“Competition is for robots, not humans,”

Sharma said. “Like two humans can’t be the
same, two artists can’t be the same. How
can one artist compete with one another
when both come with different
sensibilities? I come from Punjab, where all
artists are close to each other and live
Billi Akh by Sunanda Sharma.
merrily, so I don’t feel any competition as
such.”

Also read:
MORNI (O cial Video) | S…
S…

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A Canadian-Punjabi singer is changing

stereotypes about South Asian men with
songs about heartbreak
Morni by Sunanda Sharma.
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