The 32-year-old Kedah songstress grew up in a musical family: her father loved American pop music and played the guitar and piano, while her mother enjoyed singing. Despite writing her own songs since she was 14 and occasionally performing acoustic shows around Malaysia, education took priority.

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“We didn’t have the luxury to pursue music or the arts. It was very important to find a real job, as they say, to support yourself,” Yuna told Riff magazine. “So, it was important for me to be really good in academics. I didn’t plan to be a singer.”

It was only before her final year of studying law at university that Yuna pursued her musical interest, becoming a contestant on One In A Million on the back of her audition song of choice, Bohemian Rhapsody. She made it to the Top 40 before being eliminated, but that didn’t stop her.

2. Yuna started her own label in Malaysia when she was told to change her image

When music executives turned Yuna down for refusing to conform to their stereotype of what it takes to be a successful artist, she took matters into her own hands and started an independent label, Yuna Room Records, with her manager, Wawa. “We learned how to start a label together after labels refused to sign me unless I took off my [head] scarf and sang Malay songs only,” she shared in an Insta story last year. “We used to take meetings with record label giants and people who thought we were kids and never took us seriously.”

Her tenacity resulted in a self-produced EP, featuring hit singles Dan Sebenarnya and Deeper Conversation, that saw her take home accolades for Best New Artist and Best Song in the local music awards, and becoming a household name in Malaysia.

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Fast forward to the present and Yuna remains faithful to her Malaysian roots and is fully supportive of local talent. “We started Yuna Room Records exactly 10 years ago and now manage local indie artists we love so that they don’t have to go through what we went through,” she said in an Insta story post.

In a recent interview with Billboard, Yuna explained her loyalty to her roots: “[It’s] kind of nice that I gave my all to them. It’s that feeling that I contributed something to my home, you know?”

3. MySpace was pivotal to Yuna’s international success

Before Facebook existed, there was MySpace, and it was on this social networking platform that Yuna began posting her music in 2006 and saw her achieve over a million plays and a loyal following from around the world.

“The music scene in MySpace was very, very lively,” she told Riff magazine. “I was discovering new bands every day. I had no idea there was that kind of scene in a country as small as Malaysia. I realised it was all changing; that I didn’t have to audition or send my demo tapes to labels.”

Not long afterwards, American management company Indie-Pop came knocking, and after convincing her to sign with them, got her a record deal with New York-based Fader Label. Yuna would then be introduced to Pharrell and they released her first single, Live Your Life, from her US debut self-titled album in 2012.

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4. Yuna is happy to embrace her Muslim faith

Yuna has never shied away from her religion, openly practising her faith in Islam despite public scrutiny. Her signature modest style – chic turbans and polo necks – attracts lots of attention. “People say, ‘You should let your hair out; you shouldn’t be oppressed – you’re not in Malaysia any more. You should show your curves and be proud of it’,” she said in the Billboard interview. “But I am proud – it’s my choice to cover up my body. I’m not oppressed – I’m free.”

In the catchy song Likes from her latest album, Yuna sings about the bewildering and contradictory criticism she faces for being too conservative or not conservative enough – a plight attributed to her culturally diverse fan base. The chorus goes: “Oh, she doesn’t smoke / She doesn’t show her skin / I heard she doesn’t drink / Who does she think she is?” In the next beat: “Oh, she Muslim, why / She singin’ on stage? / She’s showin’ her neck in public? / I don’t like it / Does not make sense to me.”

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What matters to Yuna is that she stays true to herself. “It’s also a freedom to tell the story that you want. Not letting other people tell your story, which for me is very important because I’m this person,” she told Billboard. “I’m a Muslim Asian woman, making music in the American music industry. It’s kind of unheard of. Being a Muslim Asian woman who’s pretty vocal about her identity, I don’t try to hide myself given the political [environment].”

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