“Whatever Gets You Going”
In Conversation with Oshin
Sanaea Bubber is a lot of things, and that is kind of the whole point. Musician, comedian, content creator, currently based in Lisbon, Portugal, where she busks for tourist crowds who somehow know every word despite not speaking a lick of English.
You might know her from “Literally Translating Indian Songs,” the series that blew up on TikTok before Instagram even knew what to do with it. You might know her from her “That’s What She Said” series or from “IDGAF Anymore,” the song that went viral, got plagiarised by an influencer, got turned into an AI track by someone else entirely, and still ended up on German television without her name attached.
Or you might know her from a busking video where a crowd gathered so naturally around her that a stranger from the bar walked over mid-set and handed her a gin.
I have known Sanaea since our days at KM Music Conservatory in Chennai, which means I got a front-row seat to watch her go from 5K followers to 670K. We sat down to talk about the whole journey: where it actually started, what the plagiarism situation really cost her, what building something so prominent looks like when you strip away the highlight reel, and why there is a produced, finished breakup song sitting in a folder somewhere that she promised her ex she wouldn’t release right after.
Before the Algorithm
Take me back to KM Music Conservatory. What is your first memory of stepping into that campus?
The first memory is entering the institution and the grass and the cool cafe that we used to hang out at.
Oh, the Zuka.
Zuka! I forgot. Zuka, yes. That is the only thing I remember right about now. What the hell?
Yeah. KM is a lot. I felt like I had to jog back down memory lane. Let us just say it left a mark on both of us in different ways.
In a way, yes. But three years went by super quick. I do not really remember much, but it was a great experience to be able to study in a music school, conservatory, and college. Because we do not have that many in India. So to be able to have the opportunity to go to one was pretty cool.
Looking back, do you think those years in training, in Western classical and musical theatre, actually shaped the comedic timing and performance people see in you today?
I would say no, but I would be lying. Because technically during my time at KM is when I started posting stuff online. So it does work in tandem with my time there. Has it shaped me? I do not know. I see it as a stepping stone. I always saw it as a stepping stone to go abroad.
Before KM, I went to a guidance counselor and I said, listen, I want to do music, I want to do my master’s, I want to do it abroad. And she said, absolutely not, not happening. You cannot do your master’s without doing your bachelor’s in music, there are kids abroad who already have this foundation. You do not. So I thought, if I have to go abroad and spend that much money, I would rather do music somewhere. And that is how KM happened.
But it is also the first time I lived away from home. I really needed that. Because to tap into your creativity, it is important to be in an environment that kind of supports that. Back home, there is so much going on. I love my family, but there is so much going on that there is no time to just sit and chill and think about ideas. Which I could do during my time at KM.
I did see you grow from 5K followers to 600K on Instagram, same for YouTube. I remember one of the very first videos that left an impression on me, the horse head, the “All That Jazz” video at the beach.
Oh my God, I completely forgot about that.
I remember that video did really well at that point. And we kind of looked at you like, oh, she knows how to be on social media.
I know how to be stupid on screen.
You ended up going to Leeds Conservatoire for your master’s. What pulled you towards Leeds specifically? A lot of people from KM immediately went, okay, Middlesex University, that is the place.
Through KM, Middlesex was offering a bachelor’s program but I wanted to do a master’s. I actually wanted to do it in the US first, super expensive there, and it was a two-year master’s with a lot of figuring out afterward. Whereas in the UK, it was one year and then the two-year graduate route visa. Which is why I thought maybe the UK is a better choice. Also considering I did not get in anywhere in the US. I was applying for a master’s in jazz, and with no formal jazz education, that was never going to happen.
My mom pushed for Berklee College of Music. I did not even want to apply there, I knew I would not get in. She said, just try. But I applied to Manhattan and a couple of others. I got into Southampton and University of Leeds, but I did not want to be in a small music department inside a big university. I wanted a standalone music institute. Soon after, I got into Leeds Conservatoire and got a scholarship, but then COVID hit.
Terrible timing.
We were right in the thick of COVID and I knew my year was gone. I was feeling very dejected. I was telling my mom, maybe I will apply next year, but I might not get the scholarship again. And then we had an introductory video call with our professors at Leeds on video, and as soon as that finished, I ran into the other room: Mom, I am going this year. I have to go this year. We found one of those bubble flights, very few were going to the UK. I took one. I had COVID. I realised after I reached Leeds that I had COVID. So I had to self-isolate for 14 days. And yeah, that is where it all began.
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When you went into the master’s, surely the goal was bigger than content creation. Were you juggling between that and performing live?
Because it was COVID, most of my courses were online. Five days out of the week I was in my room, two days we went to the conservatoire. It was a master’s in performance, mainly geared toward live music. But how do we do it if I am sitting in my room? And courses abroad are not like courses in India, where it is rote learning and you memorise everything and throw it up on paper.
Yeah. And Jimmy starts screaming at you.
Exactly. It is more like DIY, you figure out what you want to make. I was not equipped to think about that. So I decided to just take that time to chill. And then I got super bored. I started thinking, what am I doing with my life? And that is when it hit me: I need a way to express my creativity. And the only option right now is social media. That is how it started.
What was your biggest culture shock, musically or otherwise, moving from Chennai?
I do not know if I had one, because I was very prepared to go abroad. But what I found interesting was how clannish the people at my conservatoire were. I remember wondering whether it was racially motivated. I had a group of friends/musicians I would hang out with but I never really gelled with them. One of my final performance recitals, they said they would play with me, we had to play as a band, and they all bailed on me. Ten days before the performance. I had to find a bunch of musicians from the first year of bachelor’s courses. And they were insane, phenomenal musicians. I had this massive band with horns and percussion and everything. So it worked out very well. But the culture shock was how unfriendly people were and how not easy it was to make friends.
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For me, the culture shock was just purely London itself. What is going on? There are buses, what do I do?
I remember going to the main square of Leeds and just thinking, wow, this is out of India. That was my shock.
Literally, Though
Coming from stage to screen. “Literally Translating Indian Songs.” That is what a lot of people first found you through, it really just blew up. What a great concept too, you could do it with so many songs, it had this mode of repetition. Where did that idea even come from? Were you just listening to a song one day and you had the same reaction you have in the videos?
Actually, this is something I cannot take credit for. There’s this Greek guy I found on TikTok that goes by the name of Anesti Daniels. He did something similar with English songs. And I remember when I was a kid, my mom would translate songs at home from Hindi or Gujarati to English and vice versa. I thought, if I put these two together, maybe I can start something. I did not even think I would start a series. It just happened. And it did not even do well on Instagram first, it did well on TikTok, and then it picked up on Instagram. It was mainly to highlight how unaware we are of what we are singing along to and dancing to. That is interesting when it is packaged like this. And I think people had the same revelation when they watched it. And I think they found my silly faces funny.
Even though it is an inspired concept, you are still targeting a niche. It is Indian people who can actually understand the lyrics and go, wait, that is what this song is saying?
Yeah, and it reaches a wider audience because it is translated to English. People from outside India can also get it. But I outgrew it. I wanted to stop because I did not want to be known only for that. I wanted to be known for music as well. And also, it is not my idea. So why keep continuing with it?
Makes sense. You have always been a naturally inclined performer though. Going from performing for an audience in a theatre to performing for a phone camera with no audience at all, how different does that feel?
When I am recording videos, I have to be by myself. It is very weird, if there is someone else in the room, even one or two people, I am very shy on camera. I hate being perceived in that context. Because with a camera, you can make mistakes, you can do multiple retakes, you can edit it and post and all of that. And performing live for people is very different. So it is just a different mindset. But the difference was not personally very jarring because I love to perform, whether it is on a stage, on the streets, on screen, wherever. So it came very organically.
The process is different though. When you are live and you make a mistake, that moment has passed. Whereas if you are filming at home, you can take your own sweet time and try and see what you can do.
Sounds like it was a lot more freeing in general.
In a way, yes. And I think it was also fun to just experiment with editing. I have always done all my own editing. I love doing it. I would not like doing it for other people. I did consider that as a job at some point, but I just have fun doing it for my own content.
With almost 670K followers across Instagram and YouTube, do you still feel like the same Sanaea who used to do stuff for fun between classes? Or has it started to feel like a real job?
Sometimes, lately, it feels like a job. Because I do not have the time to think of creative ideas right now, especially if I am trying to earn a living playing music. It is very hard to, in between sets, come back home and think of an idea and execute it and film it and edit it and then post. It takes a while to do that. And now I live with a flatmate, so it is even harder to be on my own and think about ideas.
One of my closest friends was asking me the other day, she asked, “why do you do it if it does not bring you any money?” Because brands are another thing. Most of my audience comprises Indians and I could have a lavish lifestyle in India , but I do not want to go back there right now. I love my family, but I would not want to live there at this moment in time. And brands, where I am right now, it is not happening because there is no Desi consumer base out here.
YouTube does pay a bit, but again, it depends on the algorithm, it is never a certain amount every month. So I do not really earn off of social media. But since I have built such an audience, I have to keep them somehow and keep building on it. That is where the job aspect comes from. I do not want to lose what I have already built.
A lot of people know you for comedy, but music is still really the backbone. You have songs and covers that do incredibly well, you are on Spotify. How do you decide what becomes a sketch versus what becomes a song or a cover?
That is a great question. I feel very dejected when I post music-related stuff because I feel like I never get the same response that I do with the comedy stuff. But funnily enough, if I combine the two of them, I get a great response. And I also like doing that. So I think I need to do more of that.
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The only reason I put up more comedy stuff is because it does well and I do not have time to produce my songs because that is also very expensive, hiring a producer, getting musicians on board, all of that. And I do not have the time and money to do that right now, which is one of my goals actually for this year, to release an EP or album or something because I have the songs, I have toured with it before in India. So I have all of that, but I just need to put it out.
And it is kind of an imposter syndrome thing where I am like, is it really good enough? Would I be appreciated for my music? Comedy just seems to work right now.
Credit Where It’s Due
You mentioned combining comedy and music gets the best response. “IDGAF Anymore” feels like a perfect example of that. What is the story behind it?
I wrote it last year after a tumultuous breakup. I actually wrote another song first that I have not released yet. It is a sad breakup song, wanting to jump off a cliff kind of song. I did not want to release it because I had promised my ex that I would not as they knew the song was about them. So I am still sitting on it. I will release it sometime later I think.
And then I thought, I want to release something but I do not know what. I was living alone at the time and just started singing this tune, it sounded fun. I wrote the lyrics, which were very stupid for the chorus. Mapped it out, put a snippet online just to see how it does. And it blew up. And then I started thinking, what do I not give a f- about?
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It was not just the breakup but also the current political climate and how doomed we feel at an individual level. How do I turn that into a song? How do I include billionaires who do not care about us, and the fact that we are just puppets in the grand scheme of things, feeling so helpless. But I also did not want this to come across as oh I do not care about anything, because it can also sound like that. The fact that I am able to say that means I am privileged enough to not give it. So a lot of people relate to that, but I wanted to make sure people knew where I was coming from. To encapsulate what you feel when you cannot do anything about what is happening around you.
I think that is precisely why it went viral. And if it counts, your actual instagram video was the first version that captured my attention. Not the plagiarised one.
That is great to hear, actually.
There have been some big moments though when you have mixed the two. Some of your reels have been reshared by celebrities like Priyanka Chopra, Snoop Dogg. Walk me through that big moment, what it feels like when something like that happens.
It was a mix for me. It is pretty cool when people share my music and it does not matter if it is a celebrity or not. If anyone shares my music I am grateful. Of course, it has more of an impact if someone with a big platform shares it. But any appreciation for whatever I put out musically is very close to my heart.
But why I say it is a mix is because when I put that snippet of the song that I just released, “IDGAF Anymore,” and there was another influencer who took that snippet and posted it on TikTok and Instagram filming herself. And that went super viral, way more viral than my video. And everyone thought it was her song. And she did not clarify or give me credit. And then that got picked up off of TikTok, someone took the snippet from a video and created an AI track with that sample, released it with the same title. And that went viral. And they distributed it through Distrokid. I wrote to Distrokid in multiple emails but they did not respond. And that song has not been taken down. So I was thinking, I’m just going to release my song with the music video and see how that goes. But it did not have the same amount of reach.
So it is kind of like I did not get enough credit for my own song but everyone knows my song. It somehow even appeared on German television. The reach is massive but nobody knows it’s mine.
That is insane, how easy it is to plagiarise someone’s work and then just be vague about who made it. I am sorry to hear that though. Did anything change in your following or the kind of opportunities coming your way after moments like this?
None that I have monitored. There have been, of course, a surge of new followers, but that keeps happening when a video does well. So nothing that has blown things out of proportion that way. But I had a lot of fun playing the song live in my live shows because everyone was singing along. I love songs that people can also sing, like a call and response thing. I love being able to interact live with audiences. That was a really, really nice outcome.
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Full-Time Musician. Part-Time Everything Else.
You often describe yourself as a part-time comedian, full-time musician. Is that ratio something you are actively trying to flip?
It is complicated, because I do consider myself to be a full-time musician for sure. Part-time comedian, I do not know, because comedian is also a term that is very enmeshed with stand up comedian. And that is not what I am. I like sketch comedy, I love doing improv comedy as well, but stand up is not something that I have dabbled in and I do not know if I ever will. Although a lot of people tell me to do that. I feel like I shine when I am being silly on stage and leaning all the way into the performance. I do not know how to kind of relate that to stand up just yet. That is why I prefer it to be part-time.
I look at you and I do think there is a part of you that could absolutely crush it in comedy. But I know what your goals are and what you are trying to do. Has being an influencer first ever made it harder or easier for people to take the music seriously?
Way easier. Way, way easier. Because firstly it just provides you with a platform where if someone likes you for something in general, someone might think, what weird thing is she putting out today, oh it is a song that I do not much care for but hey it is by this person so I do not mind giving my attention to it. So it has definitely opened up avenues with regard to music. But I do not think the followers that follow me for the comedy bit always transfer to music. I feel there are separate segments of followers that I have.
I have also gotten so many followers from dancing videos that I put up and I barely dance. They follow me for a dance video and then I do not post one for five months straight. And then they see other stuff and wonder, why did we follow this person? It is complicated to kind of be good at everything, put everything out, and have different people appreciate different parts of you.
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Yeah. I think when I find a cool dance video, one of the first things I personally do is click on it to see more stuff. And if there is content that resonates, that is how I end up following. I am guessing that the audience does the same with yours.
Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense.
Where do you want this to go next? More music, more comedy, or is it something else entirely different from what we have been seeing?
I think my ideal end goal is to just perform live. And when I say that I think I mean both, music and comedy. I want to curate a show that kind of includes both in a way. That is what I did on my India tour. People did not know what to expect because a lot of people expected comedy I think. But it was just my original music and my original music included comedy, but it also included improv comedy.
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One of the segments of my live show included an improv game where I was making a song out of whatever the audience gave me. That segment went really well. And I think people really appreciate when you can kind of merge the two. A lot of stand up comedians actually do that where they are known for their stand up but they have a guitar on stage and they are singing along. That is very cool to watch.
Before I left London I went to my first ever stand up show and there was a performer called Parth who had a guitar and his entire set was just riffing back to the audience through it. Funniest thing I had seen. I completely get what you mean.
Being able to utilise that, especially given that with stand up you can actually target a niche and say, okay, this is going to be my event. I can imagine that worked really well.
And as an audience member, it is so fascinating to see people think on their feet. And as a performer, be witty. People love crowd work as well because it feels personalised and you are also participating, right? As an audience member you feel more involved. And as a performer I think it is also kind of easier to have an instrument because it gives you time to think, you can play around, you can rhyme with silly words. Improv is one of my most favourite things.
A Gin From a Stranger
Do you do that when you are busking as well?
Sometimes, yes, entirely depends on the crowd. Busking is super unpredictable. With a show, a ticketed event, you can curate everything, script everything. For busking I also have a script that I change every now and then but it completely depends on your audience. And busking for me kind of skyrocketed in Portugal.
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However, back in the UK I was still new to it. I started busking in my second year in the UK, in York. But I was singing to backing tracks because that is what I saw happening around me. And I had this tiny speaker that I bought with my own money, just decided to go busking one day. Then I moved to London and in London the squares are massive. Everyone had a PA and a mixer and a battery. And I had this tiny battery packed speaker that would barely throw my voice. And then I learned. I saw how people build crowds, I saw them do crowd work and observed. But by the time I could actually do it out there, I had to leave.
That is the cruel irony of it, by the time you actually figure it out, your time is up.
Exactly. And London is also obviously very saturated with music and phenomenal musicians out there. But in Portugal, especially in Lisbon, there are so many tourists and so many English-speaking tourists that even if they do not speak the language, they know the songs.
I have seen people singing along who you would never expect to know the words, and they know every single one.
So many Asian tourists who do not speak a word of English go, oh, when the sun shines, we’ll shine together. How? How do you know that? I love that.
Portugal crowds just seem so bright and lively and welcoming comparatively.
I think it matches the weather. Seriously, when the sun is out, people are happy.
Now we know why London is the way it is. The weather.
(laughing) Obviously.
Whatever Gets You Going
For someone with a similar background to us, trained in performance, comes from a conservatory, maybe sitting on a degree they are supposed to use, what does the realistic path into building something prominent actually look like? Not the highlight reel, the actual day to day. Because I know there are people who want to do it but do not know how to take that first step.
I think it comes with a lot of self motivation, which also goes hand in hand with privilege. Because you have the time to live and think and be creative, whereas a lot of people are in survival mode on a day to day basis. It is very hard to survive off of music. My family has been super supportive and now I am completely financially independent. But when I started the social media thing I was still a student, so I had the backing of my course, free time, housing, all of that. I had the ability to sit and think of what I wanted to do. And that is where the self motivation thing comes from, because your desire to put things out there needs to be way higher than your expectations.
I cringe at my own videos, and I do, I cringe so hard. Even now, it is not just old videos. I put up a story and then watch it 45 times and love it. And then I sleep over it, wake up, see it again, and the amount of cringe that just slaps me in the face… But that feeling does not stop me. I want to create. I want to be able to still put things out. I do not see myself as an influencer at all. I do not feel like I influence anything or anyone.
I just enjoy when people receive my shenanigans well. So I think that motivates me to kind of keep going. It is also about being consistent, which I am not right now and your need and desire to want to be creative
If you put one video every single day for 10 days, chances are one of them would go viral.
Exactly.
I completely get the time and privilege of that. A lot of people are working end to end just trying to figure out what is happening, and finding space to be creative in between all of that is genuinely hard. But I do think when there is space, hopefully people take chances on themselves. You did that during COVID and you did not let the dejection take over.
Taking a chance on yourself is so important. And I said it already but just start. If you have the resources, do not sit on it.
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
To be persistent and go after what you want. If you have the ability, if the environment is conducive, if you have the resources, do not sit on it. Just take a chance on yourself and it will happen. It is just a matter of time. Things like this take time. It does not happen overnight. I have been making content for six, seven years now and there are so many content creators that I see doing great within three and six months, a million followers, and it is very easy to feel demotivated by that.
But there is space for everyone. If there isn’t, you can carve your own space. We need entertainment. We need music. We need comedic relief. It is not really a competition. There is a place for everyone to shine. Give it time.
The opportunity still exists though. It is just that we are so digital now, everyone knows what everyone is up to all the time. It’s easy to get demotivated or otherwise.
Yeah, it is also super cool that there is equal opportunity in a way for everyone that owns a smartphone.
The accessibility barrier being removed.
Exactly. It is two opposite ends of the spectrum. On one hand, everyone is doing this. But on the other hand, now everyone can.
And finally, if 21-year-old Sanaea at KM saw your Instagram today, what would she say?
What? That is it? You took so long just to—why are you not crossing a million yet?
I am very self critical. That is probably what she would have said. It has taken you so much time just to get 600 something. Come on, you can do better.
Whatever gets you going?
Whatever gets you going.
Six to seven years of content, a tour, a plagiarised hit, and a breakup song still sitting in a folder somewhere. She is nowhere near done, and if her 21 year old self has anything to say about it, she is just getting started.
Sanaea Bubber is a musician, comedian, and content creator based in Lisbon, Portugal. Her original music, including “IDGAF Anymore,” is available across streaming platforms. An EP is in the works.
Always a pleasure talking to her, follow her on Instagram and Youtube to keep up with her charisma, humour, and upcoming releases.