And It’s Lit ASF!!!!
This popular Indian-Canadian YouTube star, who goes by the name ||Superwoman|| doesn’t require an introduction. She uses her powerful platform for expressing herself openly and addressing various social issues quite often. She has a strong fan following with approximately 14 million followers on YouTube and it will not be wrong to state that she sets trends on the internet. She has made the list of top influencers in the entertainment industry. Only a few weeks ago, she shared proudly that she is bisexual. She wrote a best-selling book titled ‘How To Be A Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life’. Recently, she now has got to host her own late-night TV show. Enough clues right?
Yes, you’ve guessed it absolutely right. We are here talking about YouTube sensation Lilly Singh, also a comedian and an author. Recently, Lilly Singh has released a new video inspired from Bollywood where she has re-created some of the popular Bollywood songs of all the time. The video titled “If Bollywood Songs were Rap” recreates some of the visuals from the original songs while the lyrics are revamped, giving them an entirely different meaning. Lilly has talked about some delicate social issues in this 5-minute-long rap video. She has touched an array of sensitive social topics like sexuality, mental health concerns, body positivity, beauty standards for women, objectification and mocking women for entertainment and much more.
Lilly has included three popular Bollywood cult hits; ‘Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai’ from the movie ‘Khalnayak’, the song ‘All Is Well’ from ‘3 Idiots’ and another remix version of a hit song of the time ‘Aankh Marey’ from ‘Simmba’. She has turned these into feminist rap anthems and well, we are obsessing over every lyric. This is undeniably catchy that you wouldn’t stop singing to it, and also at the same time, it delivers a very strong and impactful message breaking the stereotypical norms of the society, the stigma around mental health, objectification of women in today’s cinema, insecurities to oneself because of the set beauty standards of the society and sexuality.
She captioned the idea behind this video quoting, “I love Bollywood and I love rap music. So I decided to let my worlds collide by turning some of my favorite songs into rap songs! And while I was at it, I thought, why not make them little motivational anthems that speak to causes close to my heart? I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them! I can’t wait to perform these at #YTFF on Saturday in Mumbai!”
Well, it’s her charm and popularity among fans that moments after she dropped the video on her social media, the internet lost all its collective calm, turning the video viral. The video has already garnered over 2.3 million views on YouTube leaving fans obsessing over this empowering anthem. Stars like Varun Dhawan, Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh have shown their support to this YouTube star’s latest video on Twitter.
Quoting from this rap-anthem, “This body is mine, you can’t make me feel ugly, Only thing gotta change is your mind if you judge me, Light or dark skin, issa win, it don’t bug me, Don’t need fair and lovely because I love me.”, Lilly has urged her audience to believe that regardless of what they’ve been told and taught over the years, they’re beautiful and deserves equal respect no matter what. She has touched upon the stereotypical beliefs and thoughts of the society that are feeding and stuffing the minds of young girls with insecurities about themselves. Whether it’s about skin complexion or body type, or choice of clothes one wears or taking their life’s important decisions, they have all rights to lead their lives in the way they want to.
In another lyric from the video, “Listen, you good, all is well. And if it ain’t, tell someone, ask for some help. Man, eff taboos, take care of yourself. Everything means nothing without mental health.” We hear Lilly rapping about ignoring snide comments and focusing on mental health issues and peer pressure. Lilly Singh, who came out as bisexual in February, celebrates her sexuality in the third track ‘Aankh Maarey’ where she is shown attracted to both a woman and a man. The rap focuses on normalizing bisexuality in the society and not consider it as a taboo. The video encourages the audience to embrace themselves, whatever their sexual preferences may be. According to Singh, “As I’ve grown up, I’ve proactively made an effort to unlearn a lot of these things and this song represents that growth in a nutshell.”
If you haven’t seen the video yet, then check it out here on YouTube and know what’s all this hype is about.
While we are loving and cheering to this fabulous and powerful rap anthem, “Call me smart before you call me hottie”, we would like to know what your thoughts about this new video are. Do you like this combination of classic songs mashed up with some modern wisdom? Tell us what you think in the comment section down below or you can also tweet to us at @CelebMix.