Successful Musicians Podcast – Episode #53: Inspiring Change: Shannon K’s Commitment to Positive Influence

Successful Musicians Podcast Episode 53

Interviewer: Jason Tonioli

Hey, this is Jason Tonioli. I’m a piano player that grew up believing it wasn’t possible to earn a living and support a family with music. I’ve proven that idea was wrong and I’ve met hundreds of other people who have found success with their music. This podcast features stories of musicians who have found their own personal version of success and fulfillment in both music and life. This podcast is meant to inspire musicians and help them believe in their abilities and motivate them to share their talents with others. This is the Successful Musicians Podcast.

Jason Tonioli:

Welcome to the podcast today. Our special guest is Shannon K. Shannon, you’re talking to me from LA today, correct?

Shannon K:

Yes, that’s right.

Jason Tonioli:

Awesome. Shannon was introduced to me by a friend of mine that said, hey, you got to interview this amazing person. She’s got a single coming out, and she’s done all these cool projects. As I’ve researched you, Shannon, you’ve done a whole variety of TV, film, and a lot of really fun music projects over the years. What intrigued me was, as I learned a little bit more about your background, you come from India, so you’re born there, correct? Your dad is what Americans would call a ghost singer. Somebody who sings the songs that are on TV and film but isn’t really the person singing, so somebody else. The actors on screen lip sing to those songs as well. What do they call that again?

Shannon K:

It’s called playback singing.

Jason Tonioli:

Playback singing. There we go. Anyway, I was intrigued. The name is Kumar Sanu. He’s done thousands and thousands of songs, which is incredible. Let’s maybe rewind all the way back to your story of being in India, being around music a lot. Share your story, how you got to where you are today, and then let’s chat a little bit more.

Shannon K:

It’s a long story, but I’ll make it short. I was born in India and raised in London. I would say music has always been around me since day one. I remember going down with my dad at his recording sessions and just admiring him. I always knew that I wanted to be like him and be able to perform and sing and do all this amazing stuff that he does. I think, yeah, that’s how the interest grew from there, basically. He has been my guru and inspiration. Later on, I moved on to listening to artists like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Céline Dion. I got my training from Royal Music of London. I’ve been doing all of that and then I came down here in LA, got this amazing opportunity to work with Poo Bear for my W single a long time, back in 2018. That was a huge hit. A lot of people loved it. I think that was the beginning of my musical journey.

Jason Tonioli:

Well, that’s amazing. I think Poo Bear, for those that don’t know, I think he’s done some collaborations with Justin Bieber over the years, and he’s done some really fun projects. Talk to me a little bit about the studio time. When do you remember first going into the studio with your dad? How old were you when you remembered that?

Shannon K:

I was pretty young, but I knew what he does, and I love the whole environment, and like I said, the vibe. I remember that I just wanted to be in that zone. I would always ask or please my dad, oh, please take me there. Take me with you to your recording sessions. I won’t make any noise, or I’ll be super, super quiet. I just love the process, the whole instruments that would be there and the gadgets and everything and him going to the recording booth and singing into the mic and everything. Everything really fascinated me a lot.

Jason Tonioli:

Got you. Did he ever pull you in to come help him on any projects that he was doing ever? When was the first project you got to do a studio environment, for real?

Shannon K:

Together, it was when I think he realized that I do have the talent and capability of it. Before, it was just casual. Him just being a father, he was just a great support for me and everything. I think I remember when I told him that I wanted to make a career in music out here. He was very, very happy about it but as a father and as a huge artist, he had a lot of great advice, and he made sure that I knew what I was getting myself into. I think that my motto was also to just make him proud and do good and be on the right path all the time. The first collaboration that we did together was a while ago. I think it was back in, I can’t remember, 2015, ’16. Yeah, I was pretty young, and I was so nervous. I was like, oh, my gosh, I won’t be able to do this. He is so amazing. He gets down to the song in a split second, and he would be done with his recording in a maximum half an hour, whereas I would just have to get into my zone. I would have to understand what the song is about and everything. It was just a very beautiful experience. It was like a father and daughter vibe going on. It was a great, great learning experience for sure.

Jason Tonioli:

Awesome. I want your thoughts on this, but you mentioned that he gave you some advice for finding success in the music business. I’m curious, what specific things do you remember from that advice as he was trying to help you on your way when you were younger?

Shannon K:

Well, the first thing he said, this is going to be my own battle. He’s not going to be the one trying to help me or be a cheat sheet thing. He’s like, you were the one who decided to get into it. Therefore, you should go out there, explore, and face all kinds of situations and experiences, including rejections so that way you’d be able to value the things that you have and the things that you’re going to later on achieve. I think those were very impactful words. Also, he just told me the power of music and how music can heal people and how it has the power to change certain things that are in the society that we probably want to raise certain awareness towards and stuff. He always told me not to take music so lightly as some artists do. He always told me to make music for a reason, for a purpose. Whatever is it that you want to talk about or write about, make sure that it’s impactful and it either heals people or it brings a change to the community or to the society. I think that was some really great advice. Last but not the least, he said to 07:35 always be down to Earth and never let the success overflow who you are and don’t try to change yourself because in this journey, you would probably get influenced by a lot of people, by the society, again, by the stereotypes or by people who would want you to fit into a certain category. Just be authentic, be true to yourself, and work as if you’re in a marathon, not in a race, because success, there are different definitions of success. So just know what your definition of success is. Some people think that just getting that five minutes of fame is what they want, and others are more of going in that circle and just keep going until they’re satisfied with what is it that they have created and also the feedback that they get.

Jason Tonioli:

That’s fantastic advice. I find it interesting. You’ve had or you’ve been part of music videos that have had tens of millions of views. When I checked the one you did with Poo Bear, it had over 40 million views, which is amazing on YouTube. Congratulations for that. I’m curious, as you look back on maybe that one and then others that you have done… If somebody’s like, oh, I want to get a million views on my YouTube videos, what advice would you have to that artist that has that goal or dream? What things would you advise somebody to at least consider as they’re working towards that goal?

Shannon K:

To be honest, I have no idea. I have no idea what people like these days, what they’re into. Really, I have no expectations of myself as well with the content that I created in terms of, will I even get to the charts? Will it be popular? Will I get this many numbers? I think it’s all about, again, being authentic, being relevant with people, and just having that heart-to-heart communication, if that makes sense. Use music, use your words as a language as a communication way to reach out to the audience and give them a little sneak peak of who you are. I think that’s how I would say I would give some advice to somebody who has that goal.

Jason Tonioli:

I think that’s awesome advice. You mentioned this earlier, but people try to become this other person or think they need to be something else in order to succeed, to have millions of views. I think the longer I’ve been in this game, the more you realize you and just own it. People will actually appreciate and be more… I think people are very forgiving, but I think people want to see the real person. It’s interesting as you talk about, you don’t know how you get 40 million views on that YouTube video? One, it was really good. I’m sure that played a big part in it. I think you went into it, and I didn’t hear you once say, I wanted to have millions of views. It was more of a, I wanted to help or wanted to share and have that impact. I think maybe not caring about the end result, whether it was 100 people that saw it or 40 million people that saw it. I think that probably one of the big reasons for that success is you’re not living and dying like, I have to have this in order to be successful. I think people really appreciate that. I know you’ve got a single coming out that’s coming out really soon. Probably by the time somebody’s listening to this, it will have just come out. I’m intrigued by that story. It’s a tribute song. Tell a little bit about that song and how that came about.

Shannon K:

The song is called Jimmy, Jimmy, and it’s an iconic Bollywood song from the ’80s. The original composer of this song, unfortunately, passed away last year. I was very close to his family. It was one of my dreams to work with him on one of his projects and everything. It was such a beautiful experience because I had met him during his birthday celebration right before his demise. We had a wonderful chat together, and he had blessed me and promised to work together. Unfortunately, we lost him too soon, and I was very upset. Fortunately, we had his son, who resides here in LA. He decided to do a reprise version of the iconic song as a little tribute. I hopped in because I wanted to also be a part of this amazing tribute. We kept the authenticity. We kept the original core and vibe to it. We just added a little bit of sprinkles of the modern essence. Really, we went back in time and even the music video itself, the visuals, we kept a very ’80s style disco. You’d be seeing a lot of glitters and sequences and maybe a disco ball and all that crazy fun stuff. Overall, it was a fun, fun experience for me.

Jason Tonioli:

That’s amazing. I’m sure it felt good to be able to be part of that, even though I’m sure that feeling that you hoped you got a little bit of that fulfillment in knowing that you helped on that project. I’m excited to hear it. It’s going to be awesome to see that come to fruition.

Let’s just say you could rewind the clock back and go and give your younger self some advice. Let’s say maybe 10 years ago, maybe 10 years ago, when you were just barely starting to get into the business, what advice would you have for yourself if you could go and talk to that younger version of you for a couple of minutes of conversation?

Shannon K:

There will be a lot of advice, but I think most of it, I would say to my younger self, just keep believing in yourself. Don’t give up. Don’t waste time by just sitting around and just enjoy the moment that you’re living in. I think that was something that I’ve never really done because I’m always so concerned about the future or what should be the next steps or just in my mind that I don’t get to really live and enjoy the moments. I would definitely advise my younger self and also to take up every single opportunity that comes in my way regardless of how big, how small or how irrelevant it may be, because at the end, it will all make sense. I think as artists, the most amazing thing is that we can literally give ourselves so many multiple roles without even thinking. We can hop into different categories. It may not make sense while you’re doing it, but later on, it will definitely make sense so that’s what I would say. Be optimistic, stay positive, and everything will come true.

Jason Tonioli:

That’s awesome. I love your advice about taking those opportunities when they do come in front of you, even if they may not seem like a big deal. It might It’s just some little thing. It’s funny how sometimes that person you met on the project or somebody maybe heard, whether it was a movie, whether it was a song, or maybe it was just maybe nothing ever came from it, but you probably, in with other people on projects, those collaborations and relationships turn into somebody that introduced you to another person, another person, that then maybe that’s your big break or the thing that catapult you to the next level.

Shannon K:

Exactly.

Jason Tonioli:

I think your advice about living in that moment and enjoying it, oftentimes, I think that really that journey as we’re going there is really what the enjoyable part is, because we never know when it is going to… Like your friend, he’s gone now, and he may be thought he had another 10, 20 years, but living like this might be the last thing I do, and putting that effort and the heart and the emotion into everything we do really goes a long ways. Yeah, no, that’s fantastic advice. As a final question, you got all this really exciting stuff, and people need to go check it out, but what’s your hope long term? Let’s say 10 years or 20 years in the future now. What do you hope people will think of when they say, Oh, Shannon was this or she accomplished this? What are those hopes that you hope that people are left with that impression of a difference you made in the world, I guess?

Shannon K:

I think I would want to be one of those artists that have had an impact in the society and have been an inspiration or an influence, a good influence. I think how in the past, we used to look up to our idols, and we used to look up to certain artists, and we used to really believe that if they can make it, so can we. They used to provide us with those great advice and great work ethics so I think that would be my goal, just to have a great work ethic and keep my values and morals intact and just keep becoming an inspiration to the youth that is out there because like I said the world is changing and it’s getting crazier so I think we just got to keep true to ourselves and just be sure that if you are an artist or whatever you are, if you’re creator, you should know that you have certain type of responsibility to… You have eyes on yourself, which means that whatever is that you create through your content, it should definitely make a change or influence people, even if you don’t make it in that sense, it would still influence those people who love you or who want to watch you do your things. Just have that in the back of my mind, which I always do. I just hope that I’m an inspiration to a lot of people.

Jason Tonioli:

I love that you said that, that you want to maintain those ethics and morals. I think the fact that you realize there’s probably thousands or maybe there’s tens of thousands of little girls out there watching you and looking up to you. I had a conversation with Rick Barker, who was Taylor Swift’s manager for the first several years of her career, and it was when I was chatting with him, it was interesting to just hear how important being a good influence on these girls was… Taylor knew that they were people looking up to her and how critical and important that was. I think that’s literally been a key thing in her success is people know that they can depend on her and have that expectation that she’s a good person. I love that you said you’re saying the same thing. I think for any artist out there, as you’re trying to decide who it is you want to be, trying to become somebody you’re not, but also knowing that…

I think for me, I had that realization as I started to have kids, and you’re like, oh, my gosh, there’s this little human being that’s watching everything I do, and they’re going to copy what I do, good and bad. They might hang that over my head for the next 50 years. We’ll be at family dinner, and they’ll be like, Dad, you remember that thing? I think, especially when you get into that public eye, I think we do need more examples out there that want to be a good example and want to see people just be good human beings. You’ve got the news and social media. It seems like everybody’s trying to push you to make a decision and join a site. The thing that’s interesting is when I talk to people, no matter what they believe – politics, religion, whatever it might be, almost everybody’s pretty much just be a good human being. We get along and we probably agree on a whole lot more things than the news wants us to believe about it. I love that that’s so important to you, and that’s going to serve you well. I congratulate you for that.

Shannon, we definitely need to go check out this new song that she’s doing.You’ve got a whole bunch of other really cool stuff on your YouTube channel. What should they go look for and where do they find out more about you?

Shannon K:

You can definitely find my music on YouTube and Spotify. It’s all out there. You can just get to know me a bit more through my music and to find my latest updates or what I’m up to, what I’m working on. You can definitely find all of the great stuff on my Instagram, which is Shannon K Singer. So don’t forget to give a follow and just tune in and see what I’m up to.

Jason Tonioli:

Awesome. Well, Shannon, thanks so much for spending time today and sharing this just incredible advice with people. I think we need to have more people that have this attitude you’ve shared with us today. It will bring a lot of happiness and fulfillment when people do focus on those things like you’ve shared. Thank you so much.

Shannon K:

Thank you. It was great chatting with you and I’m so glad that you really gave me the platform and the space to really talk about certain things. I love what you’re doing, and I hope that you continue to do so.

Jason Tonioli:

Thanks so much.

Shannon K:

Of course. Thank you.

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