Friday

Sheena Melwani’s Musical Salvation

Let’s face it.  Most of us are creatures of habit who like the comfort of our surroundings.  We get nervous when we have to start a new job, we don’t really like changing apartments, and definitely would rather not move from city to city on a regular basis.  However, this is the reality for most ex-pat women living in Japan, who often not only leave behind family and friends, but also have to face the obstacles of a very distinct culture, and of learning a new language.  Though this can all be very overwhelming, many rise to the challenge, and in fact flourish in the new environment.  Meet Sheena Melwani, a singer/songwriter who is quickly becoming a “digital age” phenomenon.

Just like many other expat-women, Sheena faced the language barrier as well as the culture clash that comes with moving to Tokyo without any prior visits to Japan.  Having moved to Japan because of her husband’s career, Sheena took about two months to get to know the city, playing tourist and visiting different places found in her guidebook.  Every day she picked a new place and got comfortable on the trains by traveling to these locations.  In order to branch out into the culture and assimilate with the people around her, Sheena also started taking Japanese lessons. Though this kept her busy, she still didn’t feel like she was at “home”.  Something was missing.  And, it was then that she realized what was missing all along – her music.  Having always had a piano at home, Sheena didn’t fully appreciate the role music played in her life.  However, after a few months in Japan without an instrument to assist with her writing, she purchased a keyboard and starting expressing her emotions through her lyrics and melodies.  Wanting to share her songs, the products of her life experiences, with family and friends back home, she created a MySpace account.  And, within a few days, decided to add a video component to the mix, and dipped into the YouTube phenomena.  And, what a ride it has been for her!

“For me music was my salvation, a refuge from the rest of the world,” Sheena said. Before “Beautiful Life,” Sheena’s first original song, her ‘online’ musical life never existed.  Living overseas, Sheena came to the realization that the Internet was the best way to share her music with the rest of the world.  And, after joining YouTube, she decided to make a dedicated goal. “1,000,000 video views in 100 days,” Sheena ecstatically asserted. She joined YouTube on November 18^th, 2007 and just 83 days later, she reached her goal!  By the 100th day, she had crossed 1.5 million views worldwide.  And by the time you read this in May, at her current pace of having her videos viewed about 16,000 times a day, she’ll be closer to 3 million views worldwide!

“I don’t know how or what is happening, but I find myself in a whirlwind of positive energy and the creative juices are flowing like never before,” she exclaimed, “I’ve finished another original song called ‘Crazy Place’ which is now up on www.sheenamelwani.com, and songs 3 and 4 are starting to stir in my head at night, while I try to sleep.”  Yes, take note of that website!  The girl who but a few months ago was unknown to the musical world now has a website – sort of.  In fact, Sheena never actually got around to creating a website, because before she could really look into it, a group of her dedicated fans (who discovered her music online) created the site for her, including links to all of her “official” pages, and also including a way for new fans to join Sheena’s mailing list directly.

All this obviously had Sheena more motivated than ever before.  And, because of her desire to make her musical talents known to those in her knew found home so she performed at open-mic opportunities across the city. And, to take things to an entirely different level, Sheena recorded her first YouTube video in her new home’s native language – an “arigatou gozaimasu” to her new Japanese friends for all their support.Sheena’s example demonstrates that all you need is dedication to what you are passionate about…and maybe a laptop! Living halfway across the world from her Boston home, Sheena is still able to persue her dreams of being a singer because of the one thing that is common to us all in this “digital age”: The Internet.

Because of her ardent dedication to music, Sheena is now showcasing her talents on a worldwide platform.  She was contacted by Yahoo! to be a featured artist for the launch of Yahoo! Live – a platform which allows individuals to broadcast live over the internet.  Now Sheena takes requests on “SheenaTV” which is live every Thursday, Saturday and Monday at 9:30am Tokyo time (8:30pm EST).

Sheena affirmed, “(at first) you feel like you don’t belong but it’s very easy to feel like you’re part of something,” and with her musical talents and her outlets in exposing it to everyone, Sheena feels like she’s accomplished more than what she could’ve asked for after moving to Tokyo. It’s been a rollercoaster year for Sheena with much excitement throughout the ride and she sings away with a smile on her face.

Sheena personifies the ability to work your hardest in order to reach a goal. Sheena embodies what dedication, passion, and commitment can allow a person to do.  Don’t ever think, “No I can’t.”  Sheena didn’t – and just at look where she is now.  When asked if she had something to say to her new fans, she smiled and said: “Arigatou Gozaimasu Nihon, Domou Arigatou Gozaimasu!”

For all things “Sheena” feel free to visit www.sheenamelwani.com and join her mailing list.