Singer Shilpa Rao started her playback career in 2006. And, in her 15-year-long career, she’s proud of rendering hit numbers such as Gustakh Dil (English Vinglish; 2012), Ghungroo (War; 2019), Yaariyaan (Cocktail; 2012) and Bulleya (Ae Di Hai Mushkil; 2016), among others.

“It’s not about how much time you have spent, but also how meaningful every year has been. It (my performance) was never stagnating; I surprised the listeners every time. I love to do new things, so that my audience has something to look forward to,” says the 37-year-old.

Things have naturally changed a lot over these 15 years, and Rao notices it all. She feels that unlike the past, where all musicians cared about was good music, the focus of many musicians today is on many other things, besides the craft. “I think when we started off, it was a simpler time. That’s because all we wanted to do was make good music. Now, when I listen to all these aspiring musicians talk about what they want from life, it is not about music. It’s about a lot of other things,” she says.

Hitting a certain number of views is what constitutes one of them, says the singer. She elaborates, “They want those views, and think that when they put out a post, it should earn many views within 24 hours. I would really want to ask them (the musicians), ‘Have you been part of a song that will last for 10 years?’ or ‘Do you have a song of that quality, which people can go back to?’ I would really urge musicians to invest their time and energy into doing that.”