Lilly Singh’s power of self-belief

YouTube personality Lilly Singh, also known as IISuperwomanII, was in Singapore for her very first world tour on May 28. Held at the Kallang Theatre, the A Trip to Unicorn Island World Tour 2015 saw thousands of fans gathering in anticipation for the multi-talented YouTuber to make her appearance on stage.

While the opening segments that revolved around the Unicorn Island theme might not have appealed to the older audience, everyone was quickly drawn in as the show progressed.

The American-born Indian YouTube star, who uploaded her first video in December 2010 and has over 5.7 million subscribers to date, thoroughly entertained the audience with her multiple talents onstage.

Although her strong suit remains to be seen, many would agree that her dancing, acting, singing, rapping, motivating and comedy-making skills were all up to par that night.

One particular segment that left me impressed was when Lilly role-played; first as her mum and then her dad. In truth, these skits posed more than just entertainment value.

She advocated values like the importance of respect and confidence, ascertaining the fact that her role as an entertainer also involves teaching and nurturing her young audience.

Unknown to many, there was once a dark past behind the YouTuber’s cheery disposition. 26-year-old Lilly pulled up a chair at the end of the show onto the bare stage, and shared with the audience the story of how she overcame her suicidal thoughts to become one of the world’s well-loved YouTube personalities.

Having battled depression no more than five years ago, she addressed the importance of self-belief; the ability to accept and believe in yourself even if everything else fails. She recalled how low she felt just five years ago, and how her life changed when she finally realised that the only person she needed acceptance from was herself, garnering encouraging cheers from the audience.

During her short interview with Youth.SG, she told us that when she is not making YouTube videos, she is always doing something related to her channel.

Most viewers might not know that in between uploading videos, Lilly is usually working hard around the clock. She is also occupied with tasks like making conference calls, writing scripts, and editing her videos.

Lilly said: “(Perhaps) people do not understand the effort that goes into a seven-minute video.”

Challenges aside, the one thing that drives her at the end of the day is being able to make other people happy, and that eventually makes her happy.

For those who are interested to start their own YouTube channels, Lilly shared one simple and practical advice: avoid overthinking video content.

“Being consistent and building content over time is more important than overthinking things,” she said.

It might be hard to attract more subscribers and views to your YouTube channel, but Lilly said this is a problem that even popular YouTubers encounter frequently. Lilly added: “Even if it’s just one, the numbers are still going up. As long as it’s going up, you’re fine.”