During a podcast with Shubhankar Mishra, Shilpa talked about how the pay is by the work and not because of a gender.

“The pay is always by your work so it is never that oh he’s being paid more because he is a guy. No. You are being paid because you have done all this work,” said Shilpa, when asked if female singers get paid less as compared to male singers.

Talking about female singer’s getting shadowed by male counterparts, she said: “That’s true. you should ask the makers. We say that we need equal share in the song, film, in the story. The makers have to realize.”

Shilpa has recorded songs in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil languages. During her college days, composer Mithoon offered her to record the song "Tose Naina" from the 2007 film “Anwar”, marking her Hindi debut.

"Abacha" from Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam and "Oru Maalai Neram" from Naan Mahaan Alla were her debut songs in Telugu and Tamil respectively.

She rose to fame "Woh Ajnabee" from The Train and "Khuda Jaane" from Bachna Ae Haseeno. Shilpa then collaborated with Ilaiyaraaja for “Paa”, where she performed the song "Mudi Mudi Ittefaq Se".

In 2012, Rao teamed up with A. R. Rahman for the song "Ishq Shava" for Yash Chopra's swan song “Jab Tak Hai Jaan”, followed by Pritam's "Malang" from Dhoom 3 and Vishal–Shekhar's "Meherbaan" from Bang Bang!

Her collaborations with Amit Trivedi were also acclaimed with songs such as "Manmarziyaan". She was the final Indian singer to perform in Coke Studio Pakistan with the song "Paar Chanaa De".

"Besharam Rang", "Kaavaalaa" from Jailer, "Chaleya" from Jawan and "Chuttamalle" from Devara: Part 1 are some of her commercially successful songs.