Despite blowing up massively on TikTok, the quintet explain how they’re still held back by a lack of role models and a culturally unaware music industry
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.
