A singer and actress hailing all the way from New Zealand, Shirley Setia made her Bollywood debut with the 2022 film Nikamma opposite Abhimanyu Dassani. For the uninitiated, this article details her life and journey all the way from New Zealand to Mumbai!
Shirley Setia: Fun-Facts About The Singer/Actress With 8 Million Instagram Followers!
Her first viral video:
Social media can change anyone’s life overnight. You never know when a video will go viral and you will become people’s favorite.
A graduate student at the University of Auckland and a marketing and promotions intern at Auckland Council, Setia entered a contest organized by T-Series. Shirley Setia sang the song of the film “Aashiqui” in the singing competition organized by T-Series, after which she became very popular.
Her YouTube entry was recorded in his bedroom while wearing pajamas. This earned him the nickname “Pajama Popstar” by the New Zealand Herald.
Finally, she was announced as one of the winners from thousands of entries.
How she became a YouTube sensation:
Indo-Kiwi singer Shirley’s Hindi songs have become huge hits on YouTube. The song ‘Sanam Re’ is one of them. Shirley Setia says that since childhood, she started considering big legends of the music world as her ideal and always started listening to their songs.
It all began as she started to juggle the chaotic life of being a student and a part-time radio jockey with a regular show with ‘Radio Tarana’ in New Zealand. She used to go on air every Sunday on this radio channel, and she started uploading regularly to YouTube.
After uploading to YouTube, she has since collaborated with YouTube artists from the US, UK, India, and Canada.
Finally, Shirley graduated from Auckland University in New Zealand and was also able to pursue her music dreams. During one conversation, Shirley Setia said that “at the age of 16, I put a song on YouTube, after that, it came to my mind to make my own songs and put them on YouTube”. The song ‘Sanam Re’ is one of them.
After this, her journey started slowly. The first song that became famous was ‘Tum Hi Ho… Ab Tum Hi Ho’, which gave her an identity.
Career Success:
Four years, 3.8 million subscribers, and 114 M views later, Shirley Setia moved to Mumbai to pursue her dream of making it big in Bollywood. It all began when Setia was invited by YouTube as a ‘YouTube Creator’ to perform live at the YouTube FanFest held in Mumbai in 2016 and 2017.
Shirley started her career in films with the OTT platform Netflix’s film ‘Masca’ in addition to being a lead in the 2022 film ‘Nikamma’ alongside Shilpa Shetty and Abhimanyu Dassani.
She has two nicknames:
Shirley Setia who was locked in the hearts of people with her looks as well as songs, became famous by releasing the cover of the song on YouTube in her pajamas. This gave her the nickname Pajama Popstar.
In addition, she was also called ‘National Crush’ for her good looks, after she became an internet sensation overnight.
Shirley Setia is celebrating her 27th birthday this year:
Shirley Setia moved to New Zealand with her parents after being born in India on 2 July 1995. Daman is a city where her parents raised her but Shirley shifted to NZ and eventually completed her studies there.
She said she dreams big:
Bollywood singer Shirley Setia says, “I may be a normal girl, but my dreams are not small.”
During an interview, Setia stated: “I did not know that one day I would become a musician, but the quality of some people inspired me a lot.” I got the most inspiration from my parents. He helped me a lot to work hard and learn good music.
It also helped that this very beautiful singer was a big fan of Bollywood singers Asha Bhosle and KK.
Finally, in one interview Shirley Setia says that if a person decides that he/she has to do something, wants to move forward in life, or wants to fulfill his dream, then even if family and society are against her/him, despite not having the courage, they should still focus on their goal, if they do that they will definitely be successful.
