Guess who we caught up with over the weekend? Superwoman!!! And if you know the who’s who of the virtual world, you’ll know why we gave her those three exclamation marks. With almost 40 lakh subscribers to her YouTube channel (iiSuperwomanii), 14 lakh Facebook fans and over 50 thousand followers on Twitter, Superwoman aka Lily Singh from Canada is an online hero and how!
She makes videos on Mondays and Thursdays about practically everything under the sun. Right from giving boys some well-needed dating advice to pointing out the difference between Indian and American parents, the videos are complete ROTFL material. Lily portrays almost all the characters in her videos, which includes Manjeet, her dad and Paramjeet her mom, both stereotypical Punjabi NRI parents who are often left baffled by Superwoman’s antics.
We caught up with the talented YouTuber in LA where she is busy shooting for her newest reality show, The Tube Hautest (in which she plays all three beauty vlogger contestants). Here is the think plan behind Superwoman, her upcoming show in India and why she watched Hum Aapke Hain Kaun 55 times.
Super Mondays and Thursdays aside, what is a regular day in your life like?
A lot of people have this misconception that all a YouTuber has to do is make videos. Well, we do that but there is a whole lot more. Aside from video days (which are a chaotic mess), my regular days consist of meeting a bunch of people for tie-ups, reading and writing scripts, shooting for a whole lot of other things that I am doing, brand collaborations… a bit of everything really.
So what got you hooked to YouTube?
Growing up, I was always creatively inclined and when YouTube came about it was like getting the perfect platform to showcase what I wanted. Personally, I was going through a dark phase in my life and I decided to make videos and basically go by the adage ‘If you want to cheer up yourself, go cheer up someone else.’ From a business point of view, when I started out, there was no South Asian female who was doing this, so I decided to cash in on that as well. I loved the idea of having the freedom to be who I was, do what I wanted and be my own boss on YouTube.
We know it’s hard to choose, but which are your absolute favourite Superwoman videos?
Wow, that really is a hard one. Well, to start with I absolutely love my video with Madhuri Dixit. Growing up I must have watched Hum Aapke Hain Kaun some 55 times and when the collaboration came through I was in a daze. I still don’t believe that I got to share space with Madhuri. I simply adore her.
Another favourite would be the ones which have my family members in them. A couple of them have my granddad, and recently I did one with my dad. I love them because it takes a kind of courage to put your family on the Internet and expose them to virtual judgment and I was happy I could get past the fear and share my family with my fans.
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Your videos, apart from making everyone go LOL, also tend to inspire a lot of people. Was that what you aimed for?
When I started out the videos, I was dealing with depression and I wanted to make inspiring videos for others, which would end up inspiring me in turn. I wanted to show the world that it was possible to make a positive switch in life and start over.
You recently started doing daily vlogs. Being in constant touch with your fans, how easy or stressful is it?
I love vlogging as of now. I wouldn’t say it’s stressful because I tend to do it without any script or pre-production planning. It’s like letting the world see who I am. When I started out I was pretty confused as to what goes in a vlog. Right from background music to camera quality, everything used to stress me. But now I am much more relaxed. The vlogs just record my days without any planned performances.
On my Superwoman channel I am more of a performer, I am aiming to make you guys laugh. With vlogs it’s just me and my day, boring or fun.
Your music video #LEH with Humble the Poet recently got nominated for best original soundtrack on the Streamy Awards. Tell us more about that.
#LEH happened quite by chance. Humble and I just got this idea one day to make a video using ‘Leh’ a term which we Indians use quite often. We made this song virtually, sharing the lyrics back and forth on the Internet. We recorded it in two days and shot it in a week in Toronto. For me #Leh represents so much of what I believe in. The song mocks the superficial world we live in, where we are forced to be a certain way. #Leh reminds us to be ourselves. I am glad it was so well received. Being a part of the #Leh journey was definitely a blessing.
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Paramjeet and Manjeet, are widely popular characters themselves. How did you come up with the Punjabi parents?
Paramjeet came to life when there was this whole YouTube video trend of ‘What girls say,’ and I came up with a ‘What Punjabi mothers say’ video starring her. She was so popular I just had to continue, and of course, she had to have a husband and that’s how Manjeet came into the picture. I love playing characters and for me playing Manjeet and Paramjeet was like enacting characters that I knew so well.
How similar are Lily Singh and Superwoman?
Superwoman is more of a performer, which Lily isn’t. Having said that, I guess both of them are completely over the top, dramatic and full of energy.
The question that we are dying to ask. When are you coming to India?
Hopefully soon! There are a couple of things happening and I might soon come to India and do my own shows. That’s all I am telling you. See you all soon. One love #Superwoman that’s a wrap and zoop!
Image via Facebook
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