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Sabtu, 24 November 2012

Yuna - Google Blog Search

Yuna - Google Blog Search

[Interview] A Few Things <b>Yuna</b>-ver Knew! | PoachedMag

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 06:00 PM PST

Having recently completed a 3-month summer and fall tour in the United States, playing over 50 shows, we at Poached Mag were lucky to be able to catch up with the talented Yuna for a quick chat about her music and her experiences in the music industry abroad.

How do you feel about being a Malay woman in the international music industry?

I feel that it's just a matter of being yourself. When people say that I'm a Muslim singer, it's on point and it's who I am. I am proud of it and I don't try to run away from it. I'm a very positive person, I don't think about all the negative stuff. I just take things as it is, and the main thing is that I get to be myself and I'm happy being myself!

You worked with Pharrell recently, so do you have any future collaborations coming up?

Working with Pharrell was an amazing experience. I never thought that I would be so lucky to work with a huge producer like him. To be able to meet him was life changing because I've learnt so much from him and I got to experience a lot of things. I recently just met up with one of my favourite guitarist Mike Einziger. He plays for Incubus and hopefully we get to work together in December. We're still planning! We met up and there was chemistry and a really good vibe, and I feel like we can make good music together so I'm excited!

You mentioned that you learned a lot of things from Pharrell, what is one thing that you can take away from that whole experience?

I've written songs for like 5-6 years and I was never able to have fun like or fully enjoy what I do. I was still reserving myself. With him I'm just able to enjoy music and explore music. I really get to play with music. You can do a lot of things with it! What I learn from him is to just to be brave enough to try new things, and still be able to keep my own identity and my own style musically.

Do you feel like you can experiment more when you're in the US rather than in Malaysia?

It's not to say that I don't get to experiment in Malaysia, I always get to work with a lot of people and talented musicians. But America has a huge music industry and you get to meet a lot of people. It's not just all these big names you get to work with, but even all these independent artists that are just like me and just starting out. They want to work with someone. That's their culture in the music industry. They always want to work with someone new and someone different. And I'm lucky that I get to experiment with music with so many people.

How different is it performing in the US and back in Asia?

It's kind of the same. People react the same way to music. If people hear good music, they will enjoy it. The only thing different about it is that over there, these people are probably listening to my music for the first time and listening to me performing for the first time. So it's all about the first impression and I get a little bit nervous. But I enjoy performing for both crowds, and I always enjoy coming back to perform for my local fans.

So what do you think would set you apart from other artist?

I don't know… maybe I have more clothes on? (laughs) I think probably that I write my own songs, which is one of the most important things that separate an artist from other artists. It's the ability to write your own songs. And have your own identity and your own idea of how you want to look like instead of being just cookie-cutter. I feel very blessed to be able to do that and to start out that way. I wasn't in reality TV shows and people don't know me from a competition. I started out on my own and we had my own ideas. And people could see me for who I really am and they remember me for that. I would like to think that people are drawn to me because of the identity that I have.

Is there anything on your bucket list? What more do you want to achieve?

I think the best thing that I can achieve is the Grammys. Being nominated would be enough for me. I don't know if I'm on my way there but I'm working hard. However, that's not my main goal. I'm just working hard to share my music with as many people as I can. I think being a singer-songwriter, that's all you want. You just want to share your music and make people happy and make connections with people. I feel that in life that's why you have friends. You need to be surrounded by people and you need to have connections with people. And I'm lucky to be able to do that for a living.

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Check out our review of Yuna's recent concert here in Singapore.

Images courtesy of Qamarul Asyraf
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