Appreciate your heart; really know how to take care of your heart.
— Yuna
I grew up in a town called Subang Jaya, and made a lot of friends from around Kuala Lumpur.
For Eid - or Raya, as the Malaysians call it - we love to shop for new clothes for the festive season. There will be open houses to go to, and Malaysians love to look good for these.
I've seen a couple white girls coming to my concerts wearing head wraps, and I think they look so cute. It's kind of sad to see that people are really into separation, trying to separate everybody and making a clear division of 'us against you,' even with fashion. That sucks. It's not the way the world is supposed to be.
I used to read a lot of fashion magazines: my favourite was 'Nylon.' I used to cut out all the pictures from magazines, and I had this book where I would keep all of the stuff that inspired me.
When I first started in Malaysia, having a Muslim Malay girl singing and holding a guitar was new to everyone. Even Muslims there had issues with it; they found it weird.
Sometimes I have a melody in my head; sometimes it's just a verse. I read lines from a book or movies that I watch and grab a few quotes and start writing on paper. From there, I record a really rough version and work on the song.
Music has to change. I don't want to stay the same forever.
I love traveling. I've been doing it since I was 16.
If I get to a place early in the morning, I try to walk around by myself. I still try to find cool places to go to, like a record store in St. Louis or some restaurant in Chicago.
I didn't expect to have music as my main thing. I always thought I was going to be a lawyer. When I graduated, I was doing really well with my music in Malaysia. I had stable income, and I had really good momentum in the music industry, so I had to make a decision whether to stop that and continue being a lawyer.
I guess music is very global.
The first time I heard Adam Feeney and Chester Stone Hansen's 'Vibez,' it was used in Drake's '0-100' as a sample.
I have people who say, 'You should dress up like this, or you should dress more modest; you should cover up more.' And then, at the other end of the spectrum, you have, like, 'Why are you still wearing your scarf? You're in America, you know.'
Fame is definitely a monster: it can suck you in and spit you out and change you. The biggest challenge is to remain yourself regardless of what people say about you.
A lot of the songs are based on my previous relationship. It didn't work out. I lost him, and it ruined me. I had to learn to get back on my feet. I used that heartbreak to create something really beautiful.
I came from a strong jazz/ singer-songwriter/folk influence, but in L.A., I learned how to have a balance between all these genres and R&B music and hip-hop, mixing them all together.
I don't really like the idea of putting myself in any category now... I think that people are looking for music that's real and honest and that they can relate to emotionally.
It's something that I do every year - every Ramadan to be exact - taking an 18-hour flight back home to Malaysia from Los Angeles. I'm born and raised in Malaysia, and Ramadan and Eid has always been my favorite time of the year.
Feminism is universal. You can't just fight for one type of freedom or one type of female power. You know what? Muslim women want to cover up, and we have to fight for our right to do that, too.
I write songs about love because, above all, love is the most human thing we have together. Feelings are a part of us every day. You feel things every day, no matter where you are. So that's what I write about.
There's a lot of buying power from the Middle East. Girls from Dubai want to be able to wear Asos, and you have people travelling all the way to the States just to go shopping.
Lupe Fiasco is kinda cool. I like him a lot.
'Sixth Street' is probably a new chapter for me. All of the songs were written in my apartment where I'm most comfortable, and at that point, I understood who I was and knew what I was feeling about life.
In my final year of law school, everything became real. Malaysian TV shows wanted me to perform big concerts. So, after graduating, I decided to go for it. I didn't think I'd be a good lawyer anyway.
Being in the public eye, you can't really avoid a lot of questions. A lot of questions are being thrown at you, whether it's about your personal life or your personal beliefs, and I'm happy to answer them all.
I've found just the right amount of balance in my life. I'm this pop artist in America, but I'm also Malaysian. And I'm also Muslim.
In Malaysia, we have a lot of divas, like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey singers. And they were all so so talented, just very talented. For example, there's this one jazz singer, her name is Sheila Majid, and I was always singing her songs.
People think it's very strange because I love whale watching - you don't see whales a lot where I'm from.
I try to look at people like Adele and Norah Jones, who are very successful but don't have to deal with scandals.
If you just work on that one thing that's, like, important to you, that has been supportive of you, who has been loving you all this time, if you are able to see that, then that is your 'best love'.
My style is all I have. When I go on stage, that's me in my comfort zone. It's not a costume. It's just me. And I want every woman to feel that way.
I was truly honored to work with legendary DJ and producer DJ Premier. I still can't believe I have a track with Premier; it really is one of the best songs I've written in a long time.
The working environment in L.A. is really refreshing, really good. Because in Malaysia, it's a small country - you end up working with the same people that you like and that you know.
I used to be affected by criticism thrown at me, and I would get really down. But I got to a point where I just decided to go for it, no matter what negativity is around you.
Eid is here! On the first day, it is a custom for all Malaysian Muslims to ask for forgiveness from our parents. We kiss their hands and wish them 'Selamat Hari Raya' or 'Eid Mubarak.' 'Maaf Zahir dan Batin' means 'to apologize in spirit and actions.'
It's like with feminism. We talk a lot about feminism meaning complete freedom, and for some people, that means, like, 'Free the nipple!' But there's another end of the feminist spectrum, and that's where people like me are.
I love Gwen Stefani. I'd watch what she'd wear over and over again and think, 'How do I nail this style?' And then, I like that classic beauty, too. Audrey Hepburn, she's so elegant.
Muslim girls, we love fashion! Whether we wear the hijab or not - it's our choice - and it's time the industry took note. Finally, fashion stores are open to that idea.
One of the reasons I picked up the guitar is because I saw a video of Feist performing in Paris.
When I was younger I would go to the airport with my friends and drive out 2 A.M., 3 A.M. in the morning and just hang out until sunrise watching planes fly in and fly out. Just sit there and dream about how, one day, that's going to be us in those flights. We're gonna be one of those people with places to go.
You learn so much about yourself as an artist. I never would have thought that I could sing every night, you know? Travel and perform every single night, and travel to another city the next day and do it all over again? You learn a lot of new things about yourself, and you make a lot of connections with people.
I think, from the very beginning, I always knew that I needed to get out of Malaysia and do my thing somewhere else.
Sometimes when you're a songwriter, you kind of have this egotistic thing: you just want to write something that you love, and you don't care about if people like it or not, but personally, I want to write something that people can jive to.
I started singing very early. I was six or seven years old, and I was singing along to TV commercials and figuring out, 'Oh, hey, I can sing in tune. This is really cool.' But the songwriting thing came much much later, when I was 19 years old.
A lot of people think that because I'm from Malaysia, I'm driven by Malaysian sound, but actually, it's mostly just my melodies.
I wasn't trained to be in front of a camera, so there were a lot of challenges at first. But I didn't want to be fake.
I love my headscarf. I wear my head wrap every day with my hoop earrings.
I want girls to know that equality exists in this world. You can do anything you want.
I like that I don't have to conform to the normal women-in-music-selling-sex-appeal thing.
