In 2013, Sharmila posted a video on YouTube and told the world she was an artist. By her own account, the decade that followed was defined by silence. On October 7, 2026, the Dutch singer-songwriter answered it with a new single called “Censorship.”
Before the Spotlight
Sharmila did not arrive in music from nowhere. She trained as a social worker and spent years with children’s homes, women’s shelters and refugees in the Netherlands. Music ran alongside that work: eight years of jazz ballet as a child, vocal lessons later, and performances in both the Netherlands and the United States.
Then came 2013. She says publicly calling herself an artist led to years of separation from her daughter and a long struggle to be heard. She adds a cultural layer to the story. As a woman of color and a single mother, she says, claiming the title of artist in the Netherlands is treated as taboo.
The Name at the Center
At the heart of her story is her daughter, Tanisha. From an early age, Tanisha joined her mother at recording studios and performances, learning how the music world works up close. She grew into a singer-songwriter who composed her own music on keyboard. She passed away in 2021, and Sharmila says Tanisha was “silenced forever.”
Her memory runs through Sharmila’s recent work. “Golden Heart,” released in August 2026, is a tribute to her.
Five Songs in Six Weeks
The pace of Sharmila’s releases says something on its own. On August 28, she put out four singles: “Golden Heart,” “Right And Wrong,” “Human Race” and “No Music On Mars.” Together they cover grief, fairness, creative freedom and humanity’s shared future. Then, on October 7, came “Censorship,” the most direct of the group. It names its subject in the title and leaves no room for guessing.
The Question Behind the Song
Strip away the details and the song asks something simple: what does a society lose when an artist is pushed into silence?
Sharmila’s answer is to keep going. She keeps writing, keeps releasing and keeps speaking up for freedom of expression. “Censorship” is out now.
Listen to “Censorship” on Spotify and watch the video on YouTube.
