Yuna Biography
Yuna whose real name is Yunalis Binti Mat Zara’ai is a Malaysian singer-songwriter and businesswoman born on 14th November 1986 in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. Her most popular song is ‘Crush’ which features Usher.
Yuna Age
The Malaysian born singer and songwriter was born on 14 November 1986 in Alor Setar, Kedah, Malaysia. She is 32 years old as of 2018. Her star sign is Scorpio. Yuna’s birth name or real name is Yunalis Binti Mat Zara’ai
Yuna Parents
Her father, The Hon. Justice Dato’ Mat Zara’ai bin Alias is formerly the Pahang State Legal Advisor and is currently a Judicial Commissioner at the High Court of Johor Bahru and her mother is a retired high school chemistry teacher.
Yuna Husband
Yuna began dating Adam Sinclair, a Malaysian director, in 2015. They met on the set of a television commercial in 2013. On 6th August 2017, they got engaged at her family home in Shah Alam. On 26th January they got married at a special ceremony in Puncak Rimba, Bentong, Pahang.
Yuna Education Background
Yuna attended SMK USJ 4 Subang Jaya, Selangor for her secondary education. In 2009 she graduated with a Bachelor of Legal Studies (Hons.) degree from the Universiti Teknologi MARA in Shah Alam.
Yuna Career | Yuna Singer
At the age of 14, she began writing her own songs and at the age of 19, she first performed her own song, after she learned how to play guitar.
Since 2006 she has performed in numerous acoustic shows and events in many parts of Malaysia. She auditioned for the first season of One in a Million, making it to the top 40 round before she got cut from the competition in 2006.
Yuna
In 2008 she released her self-titled EP which become a massive hit in Malaysia most notably the single “Deeper Conversation”.Yuna’s initial exposure came through the viral success of her music uploaded to
Myspace, which received over one million plays.
Yuna was discovered by the Indie-Pop record label and management company. In February 2011 she got a deal with Fader Label, a record label based in New York. In March 2011 she released her debut US EP,
Decorate, in the United States.
One of the first few people who expressed interest in her music was Farhan Fadzlishah aka Pa’an of 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 (of 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 24 January 2012, her single “Live Your Life” debuted on iTunes.On 24 April 2012, Yuna’s US 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.
Yuna was the first runner-up of MTV Iggy’s Best New Bands in the World. 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 single “Live Your Life”.
In 2012, Yuna was recognised with a National Youth Icon Award, awarded by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, for her exceptional achievements in arts.
In 2013 she was signed with Verve Music Group. On 29th 2013 Yuna released her second international album, Nocturnal, by Verve Records.In December 2014, Yuna released the song “Broke Her” as a single. It features a sample of Drake’s 0 to 100.
On January 31, 2015, Yuna performed in the closing ceremony of 2015 AFC Asian Cup. She has been appointed as Malaysia’s tourism adviser to boost tourist arrivals in the country alongside with Dato’ Siti Nurhaliza and Datuk Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat on June of the same year.
On May 20, 2016, Yuna released her latest album Chapters through Verve Records. The album features the collaboration from Usher, Jhené Aiko and DJ Premier. As of December 2016, the album had been selected by Billboard in 7th place of its 2016 Critics’ Picks for Best R&B Album.
Yuna co-owns a women’s clothes boutique, IAMJETFUEL, in Subang Jaya, Selangor. In 2014, she re-opened the shop with a new name, ‘November Culture’, which is also situated in Subang Jaya with a worldwide online presence. 14Nov by Yuna Zarai (brand name) are clothes and scarves that are designed by Yuna herself. She started introducing this brand in the US by promoting it in fashion shows (Fashion Fighting Famine or #FFFShow) in California. Besides that, she also opened a pop store in New York as well as Los Angeles. Recently, she has launched her new collaboration with Malaysian designer, Hatta Dolmat.
On May 1, 2018, Yuna announced on her Instagram account that the November Culture boutique, has officially ceased operations as she can’t cover expenses due to financial problems.
Yuna Albums
- 2016: Chapters
- 2013: Nocturnal
- 2010: Decorate
- 2012: Yuna
- 2012: Yuna Terukir Di Bintang
- 2013: Yuna Nocturnal (Deluxe Edition) (Deluxe Edition)
- 2013: Yuna Sixth Street EP
- 2015: Yuna Material
Yuna Songs
- Crush
- Lullabies
- Shine Your Way
- Used to Love You
- Live Your Life
- I Wanna Go
- Best Love
- Fading Flower
- Pulang
- All I Do
- Someone Out of Town
- Lights And Camera
- Rescue
- Falling
- Favourite Thing
- A Whole New World
- Terukir di Bintang
- Bad Idea
- Cinta Sempurna
- Lanes
- Loud Noises
- Best of Me
- See You Go
- Penakut
- Remember My Name
- Random Awesome
- Super Something / Dan Sebenarnya
- Tourist
- Fears and Frustrations
- Gadis Semasa
- Rocket
Yuna Networth
She has a net worth of $1.5 million
Yuna Turban
Yuna always covers her head with headscarves or hijabs, she says that she says she believes in being modest and that is why she covers up.
“I believe in modesty, so I cover myself. It’s gaining a lot of popularity with hijabi fashion bloggers. I’m no different from those girls, except I make music.”
Yuna didn’t grow up wearing a hijab, she describes her native country as “more on the liberal side” and estimates about half the Muslim women in Malaysia sport them by choice—she made the decision to do so around a decade ago, and now keeps hundreds of styles in her daily rotation.
“It became a part of me immediately when I put it on, I feel more confident. A lot of people think it’s a symbol of oppression. But it’s very liberating, actually.”
Part of the empowerment is in the way a headscarf shifts focus toward a woman’s facial features, Yuna explains. “You’re protecting your identity as a woman. You’re protecting your magic, you know?” Yet she refuses to judge anyone for doing otherwise: “On the other end of the spectrum there are women who believe in showing your body, and that’s fine, too,” she says. “It’s an interesting time to see people embracing differences.”
“You know what’s weird? A lot of Southeast Asian girls think that being fair-skinned is beautiful. So they always try to use whitening products. I was never considered beautiful back home. When I got here [to L.A.], a lot of people were so intrigued by my features. I think that’s what I realized—in America, being colorful is beautiful. I always try to tell that to the younger girls back home in Malaysia. I recently tweeted about this—I’m tan, too, you can be on my team.”
Yuna Religion
Yuna is of Muslim religion and despite her career picking in America she still follows her religion beliefs
‘When I first started playing music, I was already covered … wearing headscarves. And, like, normally, people would expect you to change, toss this part of your life away so that you could be a pop star. But I just wanted to make music, not really be a “pop star” pop star. And there are always people who wouldn’t necessarily agree with what I’m doing right now. But … I’m really happy with where I am right now, you know. I’m a Muslim. I don’t try to hide it. I’m also a girl who loves music. And I don’t try to hide that as well.’
Yuna Interview
If you’re not already familiar with Yuna from her hit single “Crush” ft. Usher (or my favorite, the catchy-as-all-hell, “Rescue”), you’ll probably be familiar with some of the company she keeps. Her latest album Rouge (out now), features Tyler, the Creator, G-Eazy, Little Simz, and more. She’s been a professional pop singer-songwriter for over a decade, and her work has only gotten more ambitious as time has gone on. Her hungriness to establish herself as an international artist brought her from Malaysia (where she first became a viral MySpace hit, and later earned numerous awards for her debut EP) to Los Angeles, where she’s lived for the last 8 years and recorded her last 3 albums. We had a chance to chat with Yuna via email about the work that went into this impressive collection.
ALLSTON PUDDING: Your last album drew inspiration from small yet distinct episodes of your life, hence the name Chapters. Did you have any overarching goals/themes in mind when you sat down to write Rouge?
YUNA: I didn’t have a theme in mind when I wrote Rouge. I simply asked myself, “What have you always wanted to write about, but you’ve always been scared to say it in your songs?” and that’s how we got Rouge. It’s definitely an album that came from an honest place, “what you see is what you get,” kind of thing. I’m not trying to write a hit after hit—let’s just sit down and focus on what has been bothering Yuna lately.
AP: You’ve mentioned in other interviews that making this album was “freeing.” What were you able to accomplish this time around creatively that you weren’t able to pursue in the past?
YUNA: I’ve always felt a little scared exploring my love for funk music… worried that it’s too upbeat or fun for a Yuna song. My fans have always loved the chill, relaxing, wholesome Yuna, but I really just wanted to have fun on this album. I think I felt more free working on this album, I wasn’t holding back.
AP: Which track from the album was your favorite to write and produce, and why?
YUNA: It would have to be “Blank Marquee.” The first time my writer Chloe Angelides, producer Robin Hannibal, and I sat down and wrote this chorus to the song [“Who are you without me?/ You’re just a blank marquee/ Tryna cop my steez/ Get your own POV”]…we were screaming! It was so much fun! We were looking at each other like, “Oh okay, so we’re really saying this!” It was kinda like a fun, sassy song to sing.
AP: When you first sat down with Little Simz to discuss the writing of this song “Pink Youth,” did you have different approaches to how you both wanted to portray female empowerment?
YUNA: I actually finished the whole song before I sent it over to Little Simz. I met Simz 2 years ago in London and I just loved her whole energy. She’s the real deal. I just sent it over, I told her what the song is about and what I felt about it, and I let her do her thing! She killed it! I still can’t believe I have her on one of my songs… she’s amazing.
AP: I love the superhero motif for the “Pink Youth” music video, too! Can you talk about the differences between the processes for storywriting in that video and songwriting? Will you consider scripting projects again in the future?
We were trying to find an idea for a music video for “Pink Youth,” and my manager said, “Hey, let’s do animation,”… but I’m not a huge fan of animation UNLESS if it’s anime, or comic book animation, or something in those lines. We reached out to Carl Jones and my husband Adam Sinclair (who also directed “Blank Marquee” and “Forevermore”), and I made like 7-page story/mood boards of this world that we would want to see in “Pink Youth”… and the rest is history! I honestly love the project so much, I would be down to really get involved in animation projects like this one. It looked so cool!
AP: What specific trait about “Castaway” made you want Tyler, the Creator on that track (as opposed to any of the other tracks you’ve written)? How did that collaboration play out in the studio?
YUNA: “Castaway” is about my first meeting with a record label, and I was pretty bummed that they didn’t really give me a chance. It really is about someone not believing in you, and you refuse to give in, and just find another place to chase your dreams. So when I finished recording it, I really wanted someone to jump on it, and I felt like the music, the lyrics… Tyler would be perfect on it! And true enough, he did an amazing job. I’m so happy that he’s on my favorite track of the album.
AP: Overall, this album has a lot more collaborative works than previous albums. What’s something that all of these artists share that made you want to bring them all together on Rouge?
YUNA: They’re real human beings. It’s really hard to see the real human beneath all the tough artist exterior. But these people, somehow—I’ve met them, talked to them, and I know a little about them just enough to know what they care about, how they treat people, how their eyes light up when some things were mentioned—that’s important to me. Because I care about my work and if I’m working with someone, they better be people who care about real things.
AP: Now that you’ve been living in the US for the last 8 years and your last 3 albums have been produced in L.A., how has your process for creating music evolved from when you recording in Malaysia?
YUNA: Of course, after going on a lot of writing and recording sessions, I became better as a songwriter, and my love for music grew immensely. Malaysia was great and I loved working with my friends, but I needed to expand my horizon, and in L.A., I was able to walk down different paths to discover new things that I can do as a singer-songwriter.
AP: You’ve mentioned that you had never labeled yourself as a “Muslim singer-songwriter” until you came to the States and that label was thrust upon you. Now that Trump has been elected and anti-Muslim hate crimes in the US have been on the rise, have you reflected on what it means to a public figure who is so open about her faith?
YUNA: You just have to be tough. I’ve gone through a lot of challenges being who I am and doing what I do, and it’s important for me to keep ongoing. This is my life, and I’m going to live it. This is my job, and I am going to do my job. It’s important for me to stay positive, and alert of course, but promote peace and love at all times, with a smile on my face.
Source: All Ston Pudding