I love my headscarf. I wear my head wrap every day with my hoop earrings.
Yuna
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.
Whenever I Google for clothes, I always look at what Angelina Jolie is wearing. I love Sienna Miller, and I really like Rihanna's style, too. There's the edgy girl, classy girl, and the Bohemian chic girl. I guess I'm all of that combined into one.
I use the 'Too Faced Chocolate Bar Eye Shadow' Palette every day. I've tried a bunch of stuff, but this is my favorite. For eyebrows, I use the 'Anastasia Beverly Hills Dipbrow' Pomade in Dark Brown, and for mascara, I don't use anything else but 'Urban Decay Perversion' Mascara.
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.
Embrace the color of your skin and your own beauty.
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.
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'.
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.'
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.
Racism is everywhere - the older generations in Malaysia still say things like, 'She's darker-skinned; maybe don't marry her,' and it's very judgmental. A lot of girls do try to get fairness cream to lighten their skin, and I'm against all of that.
The first time I heard Adam Feeney and Chester Stone Hansen's 'Vibez,' it was used in Drake's '0-100' as a sample.
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.
Religion is a huge part of me; I'm a practicing Muslim. I'm pretty much open about it if people were to answer questions. At the end of the day, I'm just a normal girl. I have my own beliefs just like everyone else. I have a strong belief in something, but I also love music.
I feel very honoured and humbled to have people think, 'If Yuna can break through, then why can't we?' It takes a lot of work, but I tell people to just have that focus. Always be humble and a learner, practice and do research.
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 think you can soften people's hearts, even if they have a lot of hate. Music can do that if it's beautiful and honest. If I can do that - soften just one person's heart - I consider myself successful already.
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.
I feel like fashion and music relate to each other in a lot of ways. I always had to be creative: I'm a very creative person. I always liked making stuff. Apart from music, I always liked making clothes. You're able to express yourself.
People think it's very strange because I love whale watching - you don't see whales a lot where I'm from.
Once in a while, I write in Malay and work on something fun that's more for the local Malaysian market, and when that happens, it's always something really special; it speaks volumes that I'm doing it for my fans who have been there for me since day one.
I love Feist. I love Francoise Hardy. She was a French singer-songwriter in the '60s who was pretty huge. I think I'm drawn to her sincerity. I love Fiona Apple, too - she's quirky and really honest in her lyrics.
I like that I don't have to conform to the normal women-in-music-selling-sex-appeal thing.
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 fashion world is so interesting because it's always changing, but if you know yourself really well, despite of all the changes in the fashion trends, you know how to stay true to yourself.
I grew up listening to a lot of different types of music, and R&B in particular was something that I loved - Aaliyah, Usher, Alicia Keys, TLC.
I love traveling. I've been doing it since I was 16.
Being a musician and artist can feel superficial at times - you talk about yourself every day and pose for photos for the magazines and newspapers, and it can be very tiring for your well-being.
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 didn't take music seriously in the beginning. It just kind of a hobby to me. It was something that I love doing for fun.
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.
Appreciate your heart; really know how to take care of your heart.
I really like the idea of modesty. By the time I got into music, I was already wearing the scarf all the time, and it's really personal to me, my Muslim beliefs, so I decided to keep it and find a way to work around it. I don't see it as a restriction or limitation - I can still be me and get into music and be an entertainer.
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.
Whenever I write a new song, it always happens when I come back from Europe or Egypt or something like that. It's always from travelling.
When I got signed to the 'Fader' Label, they got really excited about having me as their new artist. They were promoting my music everywhere. Pharrell was one of the producers who wanted to work with me, so I was really lucky to be one of those people who got to work with him.
I grew up listening to a lot of Malaysian pop music, which is kind of like a mixture of traditional and pop... I was also listening to a lot of English music as well.
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.
One of the reasons I picked up the guitar is because I saw a video of Feist performing in Paris.
I try to look at people like Adele and Norah Jones, who are very successful but don't have to deal with scandals.
Lupe Fiasco is kinda cool. I like him a lot.
I grew up in a town called Subang Jaya, and made a lot of friends from around Kuala Lumpur.
Just look at 'K-pop' - who would've expected American fans to embrace it? It's really cool to be one of those artists who can break through the American market. I'm not trying to conquer America; I just want to make music and see if people like it.
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.'
I enjoy fashion and taking the effort to present myself well, and I'm glad that a lot of people refer to me as a 'Hijabster'. I'm not the greatest fan of the term, but I think girls everywhere should be confident in their own skin and be inspired to look and feel good inside and out.
I come from a jazzy, acoustic, folky background. Everything has to work with melodies; the words have to have meaning.
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 kind of always struggled writing in Malay, because Malay is such a beautiful language. And it gets really hard, you know, if you want to make it into a song. You have to make it sound beautiful, use the right words.
For 'Chapters', I decided to let go of my insecurities, found myself some talented R&B producers, and worked with them.
I always put on M.A.C. Prep and Primer before anything.
