Cape Town - With everything already knocking South Africans down, Eskom is what broke the camel’s back this week when it announced the ever-dreadful load shedding.
But, one South African influencer, Sed Pillay has decided to see the light in this dark moment and has opted to bring citizens together in laughter as they resonate to his parodies on TikTok.
Pillay, 28, originally from Durban, is a management consultant who specialises in analytics in Johannesburg and took his first stint at producing content during the hard lockdown period in 2020.
@sedpillay The Sound of Silence - Now on Spotify 🤩#funny #southafrica #mzansi #tiktoksa #tiktokcomedyclub #durban #joburg #capetown #loadshedding #parody #music #singing ♬ original sound - Sed
He told IOL his sister, also a prominent content producer on TikTok, started making videos and he just wanted to ‘try’.
“I tried and it took off from there. The responses have been up and down, far more ups than downs. The responses have been positive. I keep things light, fun and family friendly.
“At times it is overwhelming when I get stopped in malls for pictures,” Pillay said.
He is all about people relating to his content and it seems becoming content producers has worked well in his relationship, too, as his fiance also produces content on TikTok.
@sedpillay abcdefu - Now on Spotify 🤩 #funny #southafrica #mzansi #tiktoksa #tiktokcomedyclub #durban #joburg #capetown #loadshedding #parody #music #singing ♬ original sound - Sed
Pillay with his handle @sedpillay has a following of nearly 90 000 and over 2.2 million likes.
Social media has loved his content so much, Pillay decided to produce three parodies on load shedding and just what South Africans are feeling.
In his sound of silence parody (originally by Simon and Garfunkel) which was posted in November, Pillay goes:
“Hello darkness my old friend Eskom has done it once again. We thought that things were going all too well. Elections came and now it’s gone to hell”.
This video was liked nearly 30 000 times and shared over 8 000 times.
@sedpillay L-O-V-E - Now on Spotify 🤩 #funny #southafrica #mzansi #tiktoksa #tiktokcomedyclub #durban #joburg #capetown #loadshedding #parody #music #singing ♬ original sound - Sed
In his latest videos, one posted earlier this month, Pillay takes on the hit song “abcdefu” by Gayle and goes: “electricity was working fine but you know that it's too good to be true”.
This video was well received as it got over 178 000 likes and over 21 000 shares as the power utility announced rolling blackouts.
In the latest video published on Thursday, Pillay took on the “L-O-V-E” song by The Hit Crew.
Social media users are loving the content, with many thanking him for making their ‘Eskom dark days’ a bit lighter.
When asked why parodies, he said: “I usually do musical parodies and the idea came because of load shedding”.
Pillay said he just wanted to lift the spirits of heavy-hearted South Africans.
“It’s a light message. I don’t want to insult anyone. We are all in this together.
“There’s nothing we can do but light candles and move forward,” he added.