Shashaa Tirupati

Biography

Shashaa Kiran Tirupati (born 21 December 1987) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and music producer known for her work in the Indian film and music industries. Popularly known as "The Humma Girl", in 2018, she won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer, as well as the Filmfare Award for the Tamil song "Vaan Varuvaan" from Kaatru Veliyidai. Tirupati has recorded songs in over 20+ languages including: Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Konkani, Arabic, and English with more than 200 songs to her credit as a vocalist.
She is the voice behind Bollywood songs such as: "Khulke Jeene Ka" (Dil Bechara), "The Humma Song", from OK Jaanu; "Phir Bhi Tumko Chahunga" (with Arijit Singh) and "Baarish" for Half Girlfriend; "Kanha", for Shubh Mangal Savdhan; "O Sona Tere Liye" and "Chal Kahin Door", both from the film Mom. She features on the soundtrack of Mimi (2021) with the song titled 'Hututu', composed by AR Rahman and penned by Amitabh Bhattacharya.
Shashaa released her first single, 'In My Skin' from her debut Independent EP (I'm Sorry, Heart) featuring guitarist, Keba Jeremiah in January 2022.

Early life

Shashaa Kiran Tirupati was born on 21 December 1989 in Srinagar, in the Kashmir Valley of the erstwhile Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, into a Telugu family from Andhra Pradesh. Due to the rise of the Islamist insurgency in Kashmir, her family moved to Chandigarh, Allahabad, Delhi and finally settled in Vancouver, Canada.
Studying in both India and Canada during her childhood, she ultimately graduated in 2005 from L.A. Matheson Secondary School with a 96% average (repeating the twelfth grade she had already completed in India due to her being underage), and earned a Gordon M. Shrum Major Entrance Scholarship for Undergraduate Studies at Simon Fraser University, the Matheson Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, The Surrey Administrator's Scholarship, The UBC President's Entrance Scholarship, and the Governor General's Medallion for the top-most achiever of the province's graduating class of 2005.
She trained in Hindustani classical music as a vocalist in Allahabad under Kamala Bose and Girija Devi.

Career

While pursuing her under-graduate studies, Shashaa continued to perform at festivals and solo concerts. She later left med school to pursue a career in Bollywood, playback singing in Mumbai. She plays kazoo (African instrument), western classical guitar, keyboards, and harmonium.
She participates in various Indian TV shows such as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Junoon and was noticed by A. R. Rahman during Coke Studio Season 3, shortly after which she sang a solo for him, "Vaada Vaada", in Kochadaiiyaan. Her second song, "Aye Mr. Minor", from Rahman's musical, Kaaviyathalaivan, gained immediate recognition in the Tamil music industry, followed by "Naane Varugiren", "Vaan", "Silikku Marame", "Oday Oday", "Kaara Aatakaara", "Un Kadhal Irundhaal", "Thaen Kaatru", "Uyiraagi", "Kaadhalaada" and the recent "Naan Pizhai" for Anirudh Ravichander.
She was featured on three tracks in the 2015 Mani Ratnam - A. R. Rahman film OK Kanmani: "Kaara Attaakaara", "Parandhu Sella Vaa", and "Naane Varugiren", as well as on the corresponding three songs in the Telugu version, OK Bangaram.
She has recently featured on the soundtrack of AR Rahman's "Dil Bechara", starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sanjana Sanghi. The song, titled "Khulke Jeene Ka", features Tirupati and Arijit Singh. She has rendered two songs on the AR Rahman directorial "99 Songs" soundtrack, namely, "Soja Soja" (solo lead) and "Humnawaa" (with Armaan Mallik), which she has co-written as lyricist as well. Her recent Telugu song, "Manasu Maree", for actor Nani's film "V" with Amit Trivedi, also the composer of the film.
She toured extensively with A.R Rahman in: Encore Tour 2017, Infinite Love Tour, Rahmanishq Tour, T 20 Opening Concert, Greatest Hits Concert at the O2, Vadodara Festival, NH7 Weekender, TEDx Talks, and ENCORE 2017). She has sung more than 30 songs (in different languages) for him. Tirupati has performed at Men's Hockey World Cup Opening Ceremony as part of AR Rahman's Entourage. She was part of MTV Unplugged Season 4, alongside Hindi music director Mithoon. She is currently venturing into Independent Music, and releasing original content written and sung by herself. "String of Air" is her first independently released single.
Tirupati has rendered songs in over 13 languages, with more than 200 songs to her credit as a vocalist. She is also collaborating with playback singer, Chinmayi Sripada, for her fifth original composition, to be a bilingual track, titled "Yezhundhu Via" in Tamil and "Roothi Hui" in Hindi. The song was released Shashaa's YouTube Channel in January 2020. Shashaa made her theatre acting debut with the play I, Cloud, written and directed by Ulka Mayur, with lyricist Mayur Puri playing the male lead.
In 2025, she launched a new YouTube channel dedicated to devotional music, titled Divine Bhajan Mantra Aarti.

Recognition

Shashaa, often referred to as "The Humma Girl", achieved numerous accolades in her career. In 2018, she received the National Film Award and Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the Tamil song "Vaan Varuvaan" from the movie Kaatru Veliyidai. She has won the Filmfare Award for "Vaan Varuvaan", She also won the Star Screen Award for Best Playback Singer (Female) for the song "Kanha" from Shubh Mangal Savdhan, and the Zee Cine Award 2018 for Viewer's Choice Song of the Year for "Baarish." Additionally, she was recognized with the Mirchi Music Award for "Sunn Bhanwara" from Ok Jaanu and received the Jubilee Awards 2017 Platinum and Gold Discs. Furthermore, she was honored with the Mirchi Music Award in 2015 for Best Upcoming Female Singer for the song "Aye Mr. Minor," composed by A. R. Rahman, and the Vikatan Award in 2015 for Best Upcoming Female Singer for "Naane Varugiren," also composed by A. R. Rahman.