Inside the mind of a young artist

From being peer pressured into starting a YouTube channel to now garnering over 140,000 subscribers and nine million total views, young musician Masha Islam has surely come a long way. Being loved by many people in the country and beyond, she is definitely taking the music scene by storm. Even being very young, she has worked in countless projects such as UKAID project for English in Action, Sisimpur (Sesame Street), and other TVCs as both a singer and a voice artist. Her immense success coupled with her very young age, calls for an exploration into her life to find out what she is and what she aspires to become.
With her recent cover of 'Ja Re Jare Ure Jare Pakhi,' she has crossed the boundaries of the country. This rendition of the song, rearranged by prominent musician Shishir Ahmed grabbed the attention of Saregama India Limited and later, they even offered to launch it under their banner. In the words of Masha Islam, "We did our rendition of the song and presented it to them. To our utter surprise, they liked it and wanted to release it from their channel. As Saregama is a very big music label in India, their appreciation and offer to release it under their label was a huge honour for us."
She started her YouTube journey four years ago. Her friends insisted her constantly, and so she started the channel. Back in that day, she used to upload one cover in six months or so. Gradually she started being more frequent and people started appreciating. And that love of the people made her so incredibly motivated and dedicated to it that to this day, she has been able to stick to it diligently.
In her words, "When I started YouTubing, I had no expectations. Even getting the first 10K subscribers was a huge deal for me. Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine that one day my channel would cross 100k subscribers." Masha never did it because of the numbers but for the immense love that she was receiving. People's love matters to her more than anything. She believes in the fame that comes from the love that the audience pour, not the fame where millions of people know by name but don't really love what the person does. "I have always thrived to become better and do good for people. My motto was always to touch the audience's hearts because I believe that's the biggest achievement one can get," further added the talented singer.
In the coming days, Masha will be working on her own musical projects. She thinks that more often than not, people lose sight of their own craft. Hence, it is important to give focused attention on craft from time to time. She explains, "I always fear this very possibility of commercialisation--of eating up my own craftsmanship. That is why, whenever there are too many things on my plate, I give myself a break to refocus on the craft of my own."
Having achieved the recognition that she has already, it is not unusual to get a lot of big offers. However, she believes it is for her best interest to stay picky about choosing and refusing offers. And she suggests everyone do the same and listen to their heart. In her words, "If my heart doesn't give the green signal, I don't go for it. I have to enjoy what I do. So, I try to take breaks and have learnt to say no even though it sometimes might get really difficult." But as an artist, she recommends, one has to be strong enough to say ‘no’. Some opportunities might be lost in the process, which is still better than being carried away, believes Masha. Besides doing regular musical projects, she is also keeping herself busy in learning new things. She is trying to learn new instruments and make new contents. "I have always enjoyed video making and film making. Hopefully, I will bring something exciting and new," Masha says about what her fans can expect from her in the coming days.

The writer is a student of BBA programme at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), University of Dhaka. He can be reached at
[email protected]