‘Canada’s Got Talent’ Judge Lilly Singh Wants Us To Get Ready To Be Amazed

Canada’s Got Talent comes back for a second season on Tuesday March 21st on Citytv and Raj Girn, founder of ANOKHI LIFE had an exclusive chat with Canadian superstar Lilly Singh who is one of the judges on this popular reality competition show. The judging panel is rounded off with wrestling superstar Trish Stratus, rapper and producer Kardinal Offishall and the iconic stalwart of comedy and the pioneer of America’s Got Talent, Howie Mandel. In this one-on-one, Lilly shares details on what to expect on Season 2, how she navigated her stratospheric rise, and why its important to be sure your dreams align with your authentic self. 

Raj Girn: Welcome to another exciting episode of The ANOKHI UNCENSORED Show. I’m your host, Raj Girn the founder of the umbrella brand ANOKHI LIFE. With just 20 years of serving the North American South Asian community. And I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with one of the world’s most enigmatic  superstars, Lilly Singh.

Lilly Singh: What an intro. Thank you for having me.

RG: Girlfriend, I haven’t even begun.

LS: Keep going, please (laughs).

RG: Lilly Singh is a multifaceted entertainer, actress, producer, writer and creator and a leading force in popular culture who has amassed a global audience of nearly 40 million people — who think she’s the cat’s meow — including me! Welcome to the show, sweetheart!

LS: I’m happy to be here.

RG: Wonderful. We are here to talk about all things Canada’s Got Talent today. But before we do, I want to take you back quickly to two memories that I have of you circa 2013, which is the one and only time that I met you. And I don’t know if you remember this, but you did a stand up at the United Way Peoples International Women’s Day gala. Do you remember?

LS: I know exactly what you’re talking about. I do. I was really nervous about that, actually.

RG: Oh, my God. You were just brilliant. When you look back at the journey, the ten years that have been since then, you’ve accomplished so much. What do you see from your lens? Like we know what we see. What do you see?

LS: I have to say, I’ve never been asked that question. So thank you so much for even asking that question. You know, I’ve been reflecting on this a lot recently, and I see a variety of things. I mean, just yesterday when we’re taping Canada’s Got Talent, I had to take a second to look up at the name because I saw Lilly, Trish, Kardi and I was like, ‘these are all people that I idolised growing up’. I waited in line for hours to meet Trish Stratus. I used to buy Kardi’s music. I used to watch Howie. Now I get to sit amongst them, and that’s kind of been my life in a nutshell. It is just this journey of continuously stepping out of my comfort zone. Be really, really scared to do things and ultimately doing them anyways. Feeling a lot, trying a lot, hitting hurdles a lot. But ultimately, just like this unwavering passion to do something greater than myself. So through my lens, what my journey has looked like is a lot of amazing support, a lot of really, really tough times, a lot of mistakes made. But honestly, just this belief inside of me that I have something to contribute to the world, that I believe in myself and believe of the change I can put into the world more than anything else.

RG: You know, it’s really interesting you say that because the other quick memory I wanted to share with you is circa 2014 in Toronto, where you came out from L.A. when you just hit kind of the L.A. You came out for the honour of the ANOKHI Award and you said on our red carpet, and I want to quote this ‘I’m just a weirdo that makes videos on the internet to be recognised as an actual career and art form is overwhelming’. That was your response when we asked you what it meant to be honoured. I got to ask you, not only have you turned your passion into an art form, but a motherfucking career spanning the globe. What does the expansivity of that look like from your lens? Like, you know, you just mentioned some of it, but girl, you just came from doing these videos in your mom’s basement to dominating the planet in ten years, and you didn’t change.

The reason I ask you this week is because people out there who think that you need to have all the checkmarks to be able to get to where you have, but you didn’t have any of them and you never actually even changed who you are. You’re the same woman that you were other than you have more glamorous makeup and fabulous clothing. So I feel that people need to understand that if there’s a dream that can happen, you can do it. Because Lilly has and so many people like you have since you. So I want to know how that feels to you for the average person.

LS: Yeah. Well, first off, let me say that I also vividly remember the ANOKHI AWARDS.  I actually still have it in my Toronto bedroom. It’s on my dressing table, and I can visualise it right now because I know exactly where it is. It’s on the left side of my dressing table. That was one of the first times I’ve ever been recognised, and so it always has a special place in my heart because I vividly remember saying on the red carpet, ‘how am I being recognised?’. I just literally made videos and now I get to make a speech and I’m getting an award. And that was my first kind of taste of this world.

What I want to say to people is, if there’s one thing I can extract from my journey, it has been to break the rules,  and I don’t mean that in a like a I’m going to be rebellious for the sake of being rebellious type of way. I mean  like I always wanted to be in entertainment. I had no avenue to do that. You know, growing up in Toronto, I didn’t know any casting agents. I didn’t know how to get into TV and we didn’t know any of that. But then YouTube came about. I was like, maybe I can break the rules. Maybe I can break the rules of Hollywood and get in this one. I think every step of my career, whether it’s how I dress, whether it’s things I share in my personal life, whether it’s how I do interviews, I’m always just thinking about what is actually me, because here’s the dream and here is me.

And I think a lot of the times we feel like we have to change me to accomplish the dream. But no, I think we can actually just insert our authentic selves to make the dream work around that. And I think that is what I’ve done every step of the way. When I first moved to L.A., I’d have stylists telling me I had to wear certain things and I had to be uncomfortable. And I did that for so long. And then I had people telling me how I should answer interviews and what answer is correct and what words I should and shouldn’t use. And I did that. And I think now it was at the point where I’m like, ‘no, you know what real magic is when you can actually just break the rules and say, success is how I’m going to tell you. It looks like because you’ve only seen one version of it. But I want to show you what it feels like for me to succeed’. And and that is, I think, what the magic is.

RG: Amen, sister. And here you are today. You’re judging. Canada’s Got Talent, the second season airing on Tuesday, March the 21st on Citytv. First of all, what was the experience like for season one that you feel, okay, this is what I’m bringing to the table for season two.

LS: Well, I’ll be honest with you, I had a little bit of imposter syndrome because Howie’s really, really known his in years and years of stand up. Such a TV personality. Trish, of course, anything athletic, anything with a wrestling background, she’s an expert on that. Kardinal, of course the music genius. So I felt a little bit of imposter syndrome because I was like, I do a bunch of things and I do a little bit of comedy. I danced when I was growing up. I’ve acted a little bit.  I know social media. And so I think when I first walked in, I was nervous, to be honest. I was like, ‘am I going to be able to provide critique that is helpful? Am I going to be able to offer anything to these contestants?’. And quickly I felt comfortable. I have to give a shout out to Howie. I mean, sitting next to Howie has been such a blessing for me because he is tried and tested in this place. He’s done this for so many years, and he has taught me so much. And I remember even on day one, he was like, ‘I’m such a fan of yours. Everything you’ve done is so amazing’. He gave me some much needed validation that I needed to feel like I was worth sitting in that seat. And I do feel really comfortable now going into season two. You know, I feel like I can offer people insights. I feel like I can be supportive, I feel like I can be entertaining. I feel like I can be a great judge. And so I feel like I really stepped into my own.

RG: I love how you are constantly saying to yourself that even though you’ve accomplished all these things, maybe I’m not quite there yet. Meanwhile, from all ends you’re there and then some. So what should I think?

LS: This is like generational trauma, To be honest.  I feel like this mentality is always like, ‘oh, but we can never just go like this and say, we made it and everything’s fine’. Like, I’ve never seen my parents ever be like, ‘we did it. We’re fine’. They’re always going to worry about me. They’re always worry about my sister. They’re always going to think they need to keep working. I recognise that as being bittersweet. I think the sad part of that is that sometimes we should be able to be like, ‘you know what? I can relax and I can actually just step into my own. And I experience that sometimes’. But the flip side of that is I do have this edge of like, no, I have a constant hunger. I need to keep improving. And so I’m constantly trying to negotiate the balance of those two things.

RG:  And that’s why you keep doing all the magic that you do. Sweetheart, what can we expect from season two that you’re allowed to talk about?

LS: Okay, so I’m I to be honest with you. These are not even some talking points. Season One, I thought Canada brought it. I was like, ‘okay, snap!’. There’s a lot of talent. We saw a lot of amazing things, but Season Two, people just raised the bar. I have seen some things on this stage I’ve never seen before, and I got to specifically say like, there’s a few acts I have in mind. One of them is Howie’s Golden Buzzer. When they came on stage, I didn’t even understand what was happening. It was so amazing. I couldn’t believe it was happening. So you have a lot of moments where you’re going to be like, ‘I’ve never seen this’. And then I think there’s also just a lot of bravery on the scene. People who maybe are older or maybe are have challenging obstacles in the way, and they’re like, ‘No, we’re throwing that all the window. We’re going on stage. We’re doing what we love to do’. And then of course, I have to mention this because it makes me happy. I’ve never been prouder to be Canadian because the level of diversity on this stage and when I say diversity, of course, I could say brown people, black people, white people, people of all different shapes, colours, size. When you talk about sexual orientation, I’m talking different types of families, different types of beliefs is everything. This stage is truly for everyone and it makes me so proud to see it.

RG: Oh my gosh, if this stage was available to you back then, what would you have done on stage?

LS: I’ve got to be honest. I don’t know if I would do anything on stage because when I see these contestants, I know what it feels like to perform, of course, but I would have never done what they’re doing to this extent, being like, ‘I’m going to be so vulnerable. I’m going to go on the stage for 2 minutes with all these people and these judges, and I’m going to put it all’. I don’t know if I’ve ever done that. I’ve done it on video, I’ve been on YouTube, I’ve done for self tapes. But to do that in person? I don’t think I’ve ever done something to that extent. And so I have a lot of respect for these contestants.

RG: Absolutely. Why is something like Canada’s Got Talent important? Share that from your perspective. You know, I feel that you just did. But let’s encapsulate it.

LS: Howie and I always talk about how he started much before I did. I started in 2010. And even in 2010, I felt like, ‘oh, man, I really don’t have opportunities here in Toronto and I really can’t get my name out there’. I felt I had to move to L.A. and I want to change that. I think Canada has a lot to offer. I think this show is a platform for people’s lives to change.  I know what it feels like to have my life changed through YouTube, through my videos, through being recognised by nobody, through all the things that got done. My life has literally changed.

I’ve got to see my family experience it. I’ve experienced it myself. I’ve met people I’ve never thought I was going to meet. I’ve been on sets I’ve never thought I would be on, and to know that someone can go on the stage, do something for 2 minutes, make it to the end of Canada’s Got Talent. That will be a life changing thing for them. And to know that I can be part of someone’s journey like that is amazing. And Canada has so much talent and they deserve that opportunity.

RG:  If there’s anything that you would change from your journey, looking back at it, what would it be and why change it?

LS: I always genuinely think is there and of course I can think of some moments that were really, really tough, some moments where I failed a lot. Of course, I’ve talked about many times how kind of brutal my late night show was in terms of all my physical and mental well-being. I’ve talked about all these things, but when I really, really think about it, I’ve got to tell you, I don’t think I would change any of them just because every time I think about one of those things, it is just so associated with something beautiful that came out of it. And then if I change that, I would lose the beautiful thing, you know? And so every failure with everything where I’m like, ‘that was so brutal and I wish I never had to experience that’. I’m like, ‘Oh, you know what? I can say that because I experienced that I actually got this opportunity. And that opportunity was amazing’. So if that was a price I had to pay, I’ll pay that price.

RG: For everyone watching, listening and reading this who don’t fit into societal, cultural and sexual norms, what would you say to them at this point in your life, being on this side of that conversation?

LS: I want to say that, and I know this is a tough thing to hear, because I think if you’re in a place where you’re scared about anything related to your life, whether it’s your sexuality, your job choice, anything, it’s hard to listen to people’s advice because, like, ‘I’m too scared. I can’t get there’. I’ve been in that place many, many times for years. I’ve been scared whether it was my career or sexuality or whatever. I will say, though, thus far, if you’re hearing this, you have a 100% success rate of getting through everything that has happened in your life.

You know, everything I’ve been really, really scared to do in life, I do it and then feel scary and then a little bit of time goes by and then it feels normal. I think humans versus fear. It’s a battle that we’re always going to win. Humans are always going to win, and we will always be able to overcome fear. You will always find people that will accept you. Maybe it’s not the exact person you want to accept, but there will always be people there to accept you there. It will always be okay. I truly believe that. It is scary. It is difficult. It’s going to be hard. But I believe that with humans versus fear, humans will always win.

RG: Oh my God. I love that. That needs to be your hashtag girlfriend among all the others you own. As we close out, I just want to ask you one final question. For people sitting on the sidelines of their dreams, what do we say to them?

LS: I know there’s a lot of real reasons people might not chase their dreams. I know that a lot of times when I talk about this, I’m sitting from a place of privilege, of being like, ‘oh, well, I got to chase my dreams. I got to have this opportunity. And, you know, I had a supportive family. Some people don’t have any of those things’. But I would say that if you’re gonna work hard and put effort into anything in this life, let it be your happiness, because that is literally the only thing worth putting it into. If you’re going to put a lot of effort into a job you don’t like, you might as well put that effort into a job that might be really, really hard that makes you happy. You can put a lot of effort into a lifestyle that’s going to please other people. You might as well take that effort and put it into a lifestyle that pleases you because you using the effort either way. Right? So it’s really about what are you using that effort towards? And if it’s not your happiness, then is it worth it?

RG: And that’s the greatness of Lilly Singh. My darling, thank you so much.

LS:  You and I have to say, I answer a lot of questions. I do a lot of interviews, and usually they’re the same. The same. These are all questions I’ve never really been asked. And you let me get deep and answer some questions, and I appreciate that. So thank you.

RG: Oh, my gosh. Thank you so much, my love, folks. CityTV. Tuesday, March the 21st. Go check out Lilly Singh and all the fabulous people that are going to be on there, both as judges, as well as the people that have got the fortitude and the guts to be up there living their dreams. Thank you so much.

LS:  Thank you. Appreciate it!

Canada’s Got Talent airs on Citytv and premieres on Tuesday March 21st. Check your local streaming listings.