Yuna (singer)

Yuna
Yuna during the rehearsal of the 24th annual Juara Lagu.
Background information
Birth name	Yunalis Mat Zara'ai
Born	(1986-11-14) 14 November 1986 Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia
Origin	Kedah, Malaysia
Genres	Adult alternative, acoustic, folk rock, r&b, indie pop[1]
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Businesswoman
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Ukulele
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Yuna Room Records (2008–present) Indie-Pop Music (2011–present) Fader Label (2011–2012) Verve Records (2013-present)
Website	yunamusic.com
Members	Yuna Farhan Fadzlishah Efry Arwis Adil Ali Shafiq Adam Shahrir

Yunalis Mat Zara'ai (born 14 November 1986 in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia), commercially known as Yuna, is a Malaysian singer, songwriter, and businesswoman.^[2]

Early life and education

Yunalis Mat Zara'ai was born on the 14 November 1986 in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia to parents from Perak. Yuna is of Malay-Bugis descent.^[3] Her father, Dato' Mat Za'raai is the current legal advisor of Pahang^[4] and her mother is a high school teacher.

Yuna attended SMK USJ 4, where she completed her secondary education.^{[citation needed]} After this, Yuna attended Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam, where she studied law at its Faculty of Law.^[3] In 2009, she graduated with a Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons.) degree.^{[citation needed]}

Career

During her tertiary studies, Yuna was involved in the music scene. Yuna is an independent Malaysian singer-songwriter. She began writing her own songs when she was 14 years old, and her first performance of her own songs was at the age of 19, after she learned how to play guitar. She has performed in numerous acoustic shows and events in many parts of Malaysia since 2006.

Yuna was eventually discovered in the US by the Indie-Pop record label and management company. They flew out to Malaysia to convince her to sign with them and then proceeded to get her a deal with FADER Label, a record label based in New York, in February 2011.^[5] She released her debut US EP, Decorate, in the United States in March the same year.^[6]

One of the first few people who expressed interest in her music was Farhan Fadzlishah aka Pa'an (Telephony Delivery), who later became her supporting guitarist. Along the way, Efry Arwis (Lightcraft) helped her with the bass while Adib Azfar handled the drums. Adil Ali (Seven Collar T-shirt) replaced Adib Azfar after the latter quit to concentrate on his drumming role in Oh Chentaku. Yuna performs with her band when she is not active in acoustic gigs.

On January 24, 2012, her new single "Live Your Life" debuted on iTunes. The track was produced by Grammy Award-winning producer Pharrell Williams.^[7] MTV Iggy described the track as, "polished until it gleams but instead of burying Yuna, it lifts her up. The track has hints that a diva is waiting to shine." On February 16, 2012, the official music video for "Live Your Life" was released.

On April 24, 2012, Yuna's U.S. debut self-titled album was released. Debuting at No.23 on the Pop chart and No.86 on the Top 100 Albums on iTunes, Yuna was also No.23 on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart. Accolades from fans and critics alike, such as Billboard, NPR, Elle, NY Times, Vibe Claire and National Geographic, who raves that her sound is “as fresh, honest and deeply personal as anything by Bon Iver or tUnEyArDs," have been rolling in.

She performed "Live Your Life" on late-night TV shows Conan and Last Call with Carson Daly. She was featured on the CBS Evening News in a featured profile piece and toured with Graffiti6 with stops at Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. She also contributed to the Savages soundtrack on the track, Here Comes the Sun.

Yuna started out as a solo MySpace artist in 2006, singing in both English and Malay.

Yuna's meteoric rise in the Malaysian indie music scene is largely due to the strong following she gained via Myspace. Having played at many gigs since the release of her Demo, EP and then two local albums, she is now focusing on promoting and performing music on her debut US Album. Yuna also will be a part of Lollapalooza 2012 line up.

In 2008, she released her self-titled EP which become a massive hit in Malaysia most notably the single 'Deeper Conversation'.^[8]

Yuna was the first runner-up of MTV Iggy's Best New Bands in the World.^[9] She performed at the historic MTV Studios in Times Square New York singing "Decorate", "Come As You Are", "Lullabies" which is produced by Chris Braide and her new single "Live Your Life", which is produced by Pharrell Williams of N.E.R.D.

Yuna recently signed with Verve Music Group.^[10] Multiple Grammy-winning producer David Foster, who heads the creative operations of Verve, tweeted: "I'm really excited about the next hot artist to join Verve Music. Stay tuned and keep an eye out for Yuna in 2013".

Charted in Heatseekers Album on Billboard "Live Your Life".^[11]

In 2012, Yuna was recognized with a National Youth Icon Award, awarded by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, for her exceptional achievements in arts.^[12]

Artistry

Musical style

Yuna describes her music as "a cross between Mary Poppins and Coldplay".^[13] She explain about musical style, "I can’t believe people still hold onto that! It was a quote that I had on, like, my MySpace music page seven years ago. But yeah, what I meant to say is I like to incorporate a lot of different genres in my music, and, you know, having a sense of honesty and sincerity in the lyrics as well. But I’m still pop at the same time."^[14]

Influences

Yuna has cited Coldplay, Bob Dylan, and Feist as influences, having been introduced to them by her father. Growing up in Malaysia, she listened to a lot of The Cardigans and Fiona Apple, Garbage.^[15]

Personal life

Yuna co-owns a women's clothes boutique, IAMJETFUELshop, in Subang Jaya, Selangor.^[16]

She was once romantically linked with the Malaysian TV host Qi Qushairi Razali,^[17] but the relationship ended in early 2012 when it proved too difficult to balance their relationship whilst Qi lives in Malaysia.^[18]

Discography

Awards

Anugerah Industri Muzik (Music Industry Awards)

Anugerah Industri Muzik (or AIM) (literal English translation: Music Industry Awards), is an annual event similar to Grammy Awards which recognized Malaysia's finest artists.^[19][20] Yuna has received nine awards (including the special Kembara Award in 2011).

The year indicates the ceremony year, awarding the previous years' works.

Anugerah Planet Muzik (Planet Music Awards)

Anugerah Planet Muzik (or APM) (literal English translation: Planet Music Awards), is an annual event with the collaborations of three different countries - Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Each year, different country will play host where it will gather all artists from the trio participating countries to compete for two main parts of the categories - Best Achievement (judged by professional judges from all three countries) and Most Popular (voted by voters from all participating countries and through Short Message Service (SMS) and forms in magazines). Yuna has received nine nominations.

Anugerah Juara Lagu (Song Champion Awards)

Anugerah Juara Lagu (or AJL) (literal English translation: Song Champion Awards), is a yearly event which recognized the musical composition of a song based on the collaborations of three parties - lyricist, composer and the artiste. Its weekly programme will gather singles and songs nominations from various artistes where they will compete till their songs will be included as the finalists before ultimately nominated to be judged by professional judges. From 1986 until 1991, the finalists for the final were chosen based on monthly winners, and from 1992 until 2008, the songs were separated into three main categories - Ballad, Irama Malaysia and Ethnic Creative Song and also Pop Rock. However, from 2009 onwards, all of the categories were revamped and all final 12 finalists were made to compete against each other with no category limitations. Yuna has five songs qualified for the contest throughout four years of participation. In 2012, she won the award show highest title, the Champion of Champions with Terukir di Bintang, her seventh Malay language song.^[25]

Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian (Berita Harian's Most Popular Star Awards)

Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian (or ABPBH) (literal English translation: Berita Harian's Most Popular Star Awards), is an award ceremony that recognizes the most popular artistes of the year. The award is a yearly ceremony organized by one of Malaysia's newspapers, Berita Harian with results entirely based on votes cast by readers. Yuna has received five nominations and won three awards.^[26][27][28]

SHOUT! Awards

The Shout! Awards is an entertainment award show created to celebrate the Malaysian entertainment scene which is said has rapidly developed. The award recognizes people of music, television, film and radio industry as well as the entertainment industry as a whole. Yuna has received thirteen nominations and won five awards including the award show highest honour, The Ultimate Shout! Award.

Others

In popular culture

Yuna covered "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles for the 2012 film, Savages. The song was featured during the ending credits."Tourist" was featured as part of the soundtrack in season 1 of a US TV series, Arrow.^[33] Her song "Favourite Thing" was featured in another US TV series, Pretty Little Liars. She was featured in the Malaysian version of KakaoTalk advertisement, released in Malaysian, English, and Chinese language. She also recorded a song in collaboration with Adam Young of Owl City called "Shine Your Way" for the soundtrack of the animated film The Croods. The film was released by DreamWorks Animation in March 2013. A remix version of her song "Live Your Life" by MeLo-X appeared on the in-game radio station WorldWide FM in the video game Grand Theft Auto 5.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yuna (singer).

• Official website
• IAMJETFUELshop official website
• Yuna on MTV