THERE are few talented people who are willing to take huge chances with their careers, especially when they are at the top.
One person who did make that leap was Yunalis Zara’ai, better known as Yuna. She was already a major singing star in Malaysia, winning numerous accolades with her hit song Dan Sebenarnya from her self-titled EP, when she decided to move to the United States to pursue a career there.
In 2011, Yuna signed with the small recording company Fader Label, located in Los Angeles. She scored her first international hit with Live Your Life (produced by Pharrell Williams), appeared at prestigious music events such as Lollapalooza and the Soul Train Music Awards, and even recorded a duet with Usher called Crush.
Her songs have been featured in highly rated TV series such as Arrow, and movies such as The Croods.
During our tele-conference interview, Yuna was in Kuala Lumpur with her husband and family.
“My husband and I flew back just before the MCO started. We knew we had to quarantine ourselves for two weeks and so we did that. I was scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles on April 1 but I obviously could not, because it was on lockdown everywhere. So I have been at home, trying to stay creative. It has been nice. I get to spend more time with my parents, helping around the house.”
April 5 happened to be the first anniversary of her hit song Forevermore, with a music video directed by her husband Adam Sinclair, and which showcased her home state of Perlis.
“My husband and I were toying with the idea of going back to Malaysia and shooting a music video. I grew up in Perlis and went to all these places like the football stadium to watch football. It was a good experience.”
Yuna also spoke about how her career has grown from the time she began writing songs at the age of 14.
“I think most of my songs are pop or R&B. Back then I used to listen to a lot of R&B music but I didn’t have a teacher to guide me.
“I was born and raised in Malaysia, and R&B did not come from Malaysia. It is from Chicago, it is from Atlanta. The only exposure I had as a kid was from MTV.
“I lived in LA for nine years and you get sucked into that R&B world. I am glad I recorded albums that were R&B-driven.”
Unlike many singers out there who waited for someone to discover them, Yuna got herself noticed when she put her music up on MySpace.
“When I decided to go to LA to pursue my music career I was at the peak of my career at that time in Malaysia. But I just knew I needed to do something to promote my English music. When I decided to move to LA, a lot of people, even other artistes, asked me why I was leaving Malaysia when I was at the top of my game. They felt I was throwing everything away and running away to LA.
“But I was not running away. I had achieved so many things in Malaysia, and I wanted to do something I always wanted to do. It felt important.
“That confidence needs to come from you and not someone else forcing you to do it, you must really want to do it [yourself].”
Yuna thinks that a lot of our local artistes, while talented, are unwilling to take that big step because they don’t want to be away from their family or an industry they know well, and take that big leap into the unknown.
“It can be very scary when you are out there. The American music industry is a whole different ballgame. If you don’t know the right people or have the right person managing you, you could end up wasting your time.”
Yuna said finding the right producer or management company takes time. So you need to plan your move.
“For me there was an opportunity to do so because I found management that was really interested in me. I had to do research and I made this person fly out to Malaysia to meet me. Things like these take a lot of work.”
She believes one must be willing to do the work and make sacrifices.
“Working with Pharrell was a bonus. We had this opportunity to be in the studio with him and we did this song (Live Your Life). Before Pharrell, I had worked with other producers and other songwriters. It felt like I was doing proper singer-songwriter work, so I was really excited.
“When I released that EP I was so happy. After I met Pharrell I recorded my first album Nocturnal. That is when I knew that I wanted to do this for a very long time. I don’t plan on stopping.”
Many Asian artistes had to contend with the initial perception in the US that Asian artistes only do pop.
“Now there are many Asians or half-Asians who are doing urban music. There are artistes like Jhene Aiko whom I have worked with. She is based in LA and she has this huge following. There is also Anderson Paak who is half-African American, half-Korean. I was very lucky when I started out because they were already there, it just proves that race doesn’t matter if you put out really good music.”
There is no doubt that Yuna is living the dream. Her songs have hit the Billboard charts, and she has done the late show rounds.
She was even a guest in the Soul Train Music Awards and was nominated for a BET Award (for Crush), a huge honour reserved for urban music artistes. She also writes songs for other people.
“I just feel I still have a long way to go, I know I have done all these things. I have been doing this for almost 10 years. I think there is more work to be done, there are still a lot of things to learn and there are still a lot of things I want to achieve.
“I still see this as only the beginning. I am excited to see what comes next.”
She hopes when things get better, she can return to the studio and maybe go on tour.
Other than being a singer-songwriter and entrepreneur, Yuna hopes to add ‘actress’ to her resume.
She has attended auditions for acting roles in films such as Star Wars: Solo and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and as a vocal talent for animation series.
“I have not found the right role yet. It is fun to attend auditions. I am trying to see where I can fit in the film industry. It is a lot of work. There is also a lot of work in music that I haven’t explored yet. We’ll see.”
