Sai Godbole on Her Classical Training and Becoming a Multilingual Singer

When she was eight years old, singer, actor and content creator Sai Godbole began her Indian classical training. It may have seemed like an obvious step considering she’s the granddaughter of singer Jaywant Kulkarni and comes from a family of actors and musicians, but Godbole says it wasn’t that straightforward. “When we’re young, we want to sing English and Bollywood songs and that’s what I wanted to do. But then my parents were like, ‘You’ve got to do classical [training],’” Godbole says.

It formed the foundation of Godbole’s musical prowess, which has about half a million fans on Instagram and 23,000 subscribers on YouTube. It’s not just about music for the artist, though – her most watched content often has her showing off multilingual chops, whether it’s running through a variety of languages or singing Taylor Swift songs in specific accents. Wordplay is another major strength, which led her to meet American singer-songwriter Lauv earlier this year to show him her own song, comprising titles of Lauv songs.

Godbole’s proclivity towards multiple languages and accents came from when she began singing English and Bollywood songs. “There was something that was differentiating the way I sound with the way they sound. And I was like, ‘What is it?’ And then I realized it was the accent,” she says. The British and American accents came easy, but Godbole considers the Australian one particularly challenging to pull off.

In terms of figuring out her content ideas, Godbole says in the year and a half that she’s been at it, the focus has been to “add a bit of punch to everything.” She adds, “It takes a lot out of you, but the rewards are just the best.” She’s well aware that staying ever-relevant in the dynamic, algorithm-driven world of social media and content creation can be exhausting, but she feels that “intentions matter.” Godbole adds, “I think people who venture into this content industry, it gives a voice to people who were denied one, or maybe gatekept and things like that.”

The times move so fast that content and music released six months ago can be considered old, something that Godbole also feels incredulous about. “I think every six months, we just are in a completely different era. It’s fast-paced, which is what makes it super frustrating,” she adds. Like many, she knows what it’s like to have a labor of love not get its due in terms of numbers and engagement. She cites hearing something producer Finneas – Billie Eilish’s brother and producer – say about creating songs and setting it out into the world. “He said when his album came out that he loved it and he’s proud of it. I think we should just be proud of things we make, no matter the numbers, and once we see beyond that, I think we’ll all be very happy.”

Godbole gets to see beyond numbers when she gets to be a part of on-ground events and creator festivals (“I felt like I was inside Instagram,” she says with a laugh). Outside of her music content, Godbole is yet to release her own songs, in earnest at least. Back in 2020, she put out a plaintive pop song “We Could Be Them” but she has a bigger audience now. “Instagram helped me reach people, music-wise. And so they [fans] are like, ‘Now we are ready for your original music.’ So that’s been great in preparing my audience for what I want to give them eventually,” Godbole says.