One in four people globally are south Asian, and people from the region form the largest ethnic minority group in the UK. So it is remarkable that the number of south Asian artists in the UK singles chart, across all time, barely hits double figures: MIA, Jay Sean, Panjabi MC, Cornershop, Apache Indian, Babylon Zoo and a handful of others. And aside from outliers like mid-00s hopefuls Rouge – whose sole single Don’t Be Shy didn’t even reach the Top 100 – there has never been a British Asian girl- or boyband.
Hoping to change that and become a rare crossover success are Girls Like You, who weave together pop, R&B, Afrobeats and traditional Punjabi sounds into a frequently viral combination: their Bollywood twist on Libianca’s megahit People has nearly 2m views on TikTok, and appeared to mark a first encounter with south Asian music for many in the comments.
Split across London, Leicester, Birmingham and Leeds, but regularly meeting up to write music and record clips for their growing audience, Yasmin, Naveena, Nami, Jaya and Sasha released their debut single Killer in July (aided by singer Celina Sharma). It stayed at No 1 in the TikTok music charts for three weeks. “I heard it on the radio during my driving lesson the other day and just screamed ‘That’s us!’” the band’s youngest member, Jaya, 20, tells me in their Kings Cross studio.
As we laugh about the trademark judgmental south Asian “auntie”, I feel like their token millennial sixth member, and that’s the point: they are girls like me. “We want to be the people that we didn’t have when we were growing up,” says Yasmin, 26, who is half Sri Lankan and half Persian. “We’re going to try to break down those mainstream doors as globally as we can, and fill the gap that’s missing.”
Vishal Patel, co-founder of indie label +91 Records, put the group together. “The vision is to create the south Asian Blackpink, a group that can dominate globally,” he says, referring to the K-pop megastars.
He spent three years scouting the members online. In 2020 he found Yasmin, his first member, singing on Instagram – she is the only member with prior industry experience, having been briefly developed by Red Bull’s in-house label – and at the end of last year a friend introduced him to Sasha, the final member. The group can sing, dance, and blend relatable normalcy and aspirational glamour. With British Asians making up nearly 10% of the UK – 20% of London – there’s a huge potential market just among people of their own heritage.
But big UK record labels “just don’t understand” south Asian culture, Patel says. It’s a frustrating conundrum: without proven success from a British Asian girl band, they’re not willing to develop one, which makes success less likely. “They almost need someone to break down the door before they think this is something worth investing in,” Patel says, hoping that “major labels will really take note once we start releasing music and they can see some streaming traction”.
As 24-year-old Sasha, who is half Indian and half English, says: “There haven’t been a lot of companies or people in the community that have really pushed south Asian talent in a big way.” Jaya highlights the lack of role models. “Jay Sean first broke when I was just born – since then, it feels there have hardly been any standout artists who are South Asian for my generation to see. It did make me feel at times if a career in music was a path I could pursue.”
In the absence of a supportive UK music industry, TikTok is key. The group often take part in trending dances and chats with their audience live. “TikTok has levelled the playing field,” Jaya says. “There is a huge south Asian TikTok community that is pushing the culture out there. Without platforms like this, it would be much harder [for south Asians] to be heard.”
Naveena says Instagram, conversely, carries “a lot more pressure when it comes to beauty and appearance standards. On TikTok, you can just be yourself, which doesn’t take away from your success. For example, I post videos with limited makeup just singing in my oversized hoodie or pyjamas on TikTok and feel super comfortable.”
All of the members agree that aspects of south Asian culture itself have also held back any would-be pop stars. “We get asked by other south Asians all the time: are your parents OK with what you’re doing?” Yasmin laughs. “I think that shows what sort of reputation south Asian parents have. Traditionally, they discouraged their children from following creative paths.”
“They weren’t seen as safe or stable paths,” continues Nami. But on the whole, the group’s parents have been incredibly supportive, paying for singing lessons and connecting them with the industry. “I feel like because our grandparents didn’t allow our parents to do what they wanted to do, they don’t want to then do the same to us,” Nami says.
While British boy- and girlbands have tended to have at least one white member, Girls Like You join a wave of entirely-POC groups gaining huge followings like Flo, No Guidnce, and needanamebro, and those once-unbreakable doors for south Asian artists in the British music industry are letting in cracks of light. An array of south Asian talent has been championed at Glastonbury festival in recent years; Londoner Jai Paul played Coachella (as did the first Punjabi singer, Diljit); and collectives such as Daytimers are bringing south Asian DJs into underground club culture.
So despite Killer not reaching the official charts, Girls Like You are feeling buoyant ahead of dropping a cover of Addictive – the culture-splicing 2002 R&B hit by US singer Truth Hurts which sampled Indian singer Lata Mangeshkar – and an EP they’re hoping to release by the end of the year. “Every situation we go through will be written about,” Jaya says, and Yasmin adds: “I want us to be one of the most recognised girl groups in the world … and maybe win a Grammy.” Sasha shouts their ultimate goal: “World domination!”
