Yuna has got engaged to boyfriend Adam Sinclair, the Malaysian singer-songwriter formally announced on Sunday (Aug 6).
It was a “traditional Malay engagement” ceremony, said the 31-year-old, held at her family home in Shah Alam, Selangor on Saturday.
“We decorated my whole house with fresh flowers, opened our home to Adam’s family and our uncles (representing our families) had a little chit chat about our plan getting hitched.
“They exchanged beautiful poems and our families exchanged gifts… making this whole thing legit (sic)!” said Yuna, who is signed with David Foster’s Verve Music Group, on Instagram.
The traditional Malay gift exchange – a move Yuna described as “staying true to our roots” – involved both sides presenting items like dress material, cakes and other sweets on trays.
In an interview with Channel NewsAsia in November last year, the award-winning star said she thought it “important to hold on to (her) Malaysian roots” while pursuing her career in the US.
The event was pastel-themed, with Yuna wearing a periwinkle blue lace dress by Malaysian designer Hatta Dolmat.
Earlier on Saturday, 33-year-old Adam, who directed Yuna’s Pulang music video, shared a photo of him as a child with the caption: “Are you sure, @yunaleese?”. The caption was addressed to Yuna on her private Instagram meant “for family and friends”.
The Lullabies and Rescue star shared a childhood photo of her own on her @yunamusic account as well, with the caption: “We came a long way, didn’t we?”
Yuna’s other half is brother to Malaysian actor Ashraf Sinclair, who has been married to Indonesian star Bunga Citra Lestari since 2008.
KUALA LUMPUR: Penyanyi antarabangsa berhijab, Yuna, berikrar untuk kekal di Amerika Syarikat dan meneruskan kerjayanya di sana.
Ini meskipun di tengah-tengah kebimbangan tentang tindak balas anti-Muslim di negara itu menyusuli kemenangan Donald Trump dalam pilihan raya presiden.
Yuna menegaskan demikian setelah sesetengah peminatnya meminta beliau pulang ke Malaysia, lapor Malay Mail Online.
Encik Trump, semasa berkempen untuk menjadi presiden, sebelum ini menyeru agar semua orang Islam diharamkan daripada memasuki Amerika Syarikat.
“Saya akan pulang ke rumah sekali-sekala untuk pekerjaan/keluarga. Namun, ingat. Pelajar Malaysia di sini kena terus di sini untuk belajar. Kena jadi ‘brave’ macam mereka,” tulis Yuna di laman Twitternya semalam (9 Nov).
I am coming home for a bit for work/family. But. Remember. Malaysian students here kene stay utk study. Kene jadi brave mcm diorang. https://t.co/JViH1PVIOd
Catatan Twitter Yuna itu sudah dikongsi lebih 3,650 kali sejauh ini.
“Nampaknya, kami harus bekerja lebih keras untuk menggalak rasa kasih sayang, hormat, kesefahaman dan persamaan,” kata Yuna dalam satu lagi kiriman di Twitter seperti ditukil Malay Mail Online.
Selain retorik anti-Muslim, Encik Trump semasa kempen pilihan raya juga menyifatkan warga Mexico sebagai “perogol” dan “penjenayah.”
Bagaimanapun, laman The Independent melaporkan bahawa kenyataan Encik Trump yang menyeru orang Islam dilarang masuk ke Amerika Syarikat itu sudah dipadamkan dari laman rasminya.
It’s afternoon rush in Los Angeles, and Yuna is cruising through Mid-Wilshire in a black SUV with the windows rolled down. At a stoplight, the singer-songwriter, who left her native Malaysia for the land of movie stars and pricey green juices in 2011, cues up Snapchat and flips the camera to selfie mode. “Some guy on the street just shouted, ‘You’re beautiful!’ ” she says, letting out a pinched giggle. “That just made my entire day!”
Los Angeles looks good on Yuna, even if she doesn’t fit the Hollywood standard for pop star — hair always wrapped in a hijab (she’s a devout Muslim); a stylishly chaste wardrobe that covers her from turtleneck on down; a label home, Verve, known for legacy jazz and adult contemporary artists like Barry Manilow. The 29-year-old born Yunalis Zarai is a long plane ride from her homeland, where not so long ago she posted shy folk-pop songs to MySpace and, warmed by the feedback, hit the reset button to move to America and meet her mentor, Pharrell Williams. Today, she’s markedly different: Her third and best album, Chapters (May 20), is edgy alt-soul featuring Usher,Jhene Aiko and DJ Premier. The songs — including “Crush,” her first Billboard chart hit — are inspired by a wrecked relationship and powered by Yuna’s new confidence in herself and her opinions. “I was a timid girl before,” says Yuna hours earlier, perched at a table in a warehouse photo studio and dressed in all black. “A lot of people said, ‘Your problem is always holding back.’ I didn’t want to hold back anymore.”
“Yuna thinks differently than a lot of people — she has something to say, and she won’t compromise,” says Verve chairman David Foster, who has won 16 Grammys producing and writing for Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and others. “I’m much older than her, but I relate to her lyrics, and my stepdaughters, Gigi and Bella [Hadid], they’re crazy for her too. She’s speaking to a lot of generations.”
“Trump’s out there promoting hate,” says Yuna Ramona Rosales.
Yuna was raised in Alor Setar, Malaysia, by her legal-adviser father and chemistry-teacher mother. “It was a very conservative environment — we watched what we said.” Yuna spent her childhood focused on her education, set on becoming a lawyer. As a hobby, in between poring over textbooks, she taught herself guitar watching YouTube, writing songs in both Malay and English, inspired by her heroes Lauryn Hill (“she was life-changing for me”) and Feist. Music started taking priority a year before she graduated from university in 2009, when she self-released EPs to local acclaim and won second place in a national songwriting contest. At first, she felt like an outsider in the country’s music biz. Malaysia may be predominantly Muslim, but much like in America, “women singers are seen as sexy here — you have to let your hair out and be beautiful,” she says. “I struggled with that.” Instead, Yuna shrouded her image in mystery, letting her music speak for her. “I didn’t put up a proper photo of myself — it was cropped, up until my nose. People didn’t know what I looked like until my first show. They were shocked in the beginning, but they accepted me.”
Her music began attracting international fans online as well — including her now manager Ben Willis, who encouraged her to chase bigger dreams and start over in Los Angeles. Things began quickly: Fader Label, the influential magazine’s indie imprint, signed Yuna and introduced her to Williams, who produced much of her 2012 self-titled global debut (it peaked at No. 19 on the Heatseekers chart). In 2013, Yuna signed with Verve and released Nocturnal, which featured cutting-edge R&B producers like Om’Mas Keith (Frank Ocean).
Yuna and Usher on the set of the video for “Crush.” Courtesy of Verve Music Group 2016.
But despite the warm welcome, Yuna still sometimes deals with criticism and condescension when it comes to her image. “People say, ‘You should let your hair out; you shouldn’t be oppressed — you’re not in Malaysia anymore. You should show your curves and be proud of it.’ But I am proud — it’s my choice to cover up my body. I’m not oppressed — I’m free.”
Yuna loves Rihanna‘s music, praising several tracks from Anti, but doesn’t feel the need to dress (or undress) like her. “It’s easier to just be me and not try to look like her,” she says. “I have nothing against Miley Cyrus onstage being herself, but girls like Adele andAndra Day, we don’t get enough credit. We have talent; we don’t count on the extra stuff. We just want to play music.”
Chapters is a breakup album, inspired by the crumbling of a real-life relationship, although Yuna doesn’t offer many details in person. On the album, however, she puts it all out there, wondering aloud how he’s moving on when she’s stuck behind — particularly on “Used to Love You,” featuring Aiko, who pushed Yuna to come out of her shell. “She’s very blunt and direct — she expresses what other girls are feeling,” Yuna says of Aiko. “I see her as a big sister. When I go through stuff, I listen to her music. The last two years of my life, she played a huge part in it.”
Suddenly alone in Los Angeles, Yuna had to learn how to be “more tough” like Aiko, she says. “I used to be dependent on my ex. I didn’t know how to love myself. So I made a mental note: ‘In 2016, I’m going to be single.’ When this album comes out, I want to be in a good place.”
Yuna smiles when discussing her plans to push Chapters on tour in Europe and the States through May, and just bought a piano for her apartment to start work on a new album, which she says won’t wallow in the sadness of the past. “Crush,” featuring Usher, is her first song to crack U.S. radio, rising 22-18 on the April 30 Adult R&B chart. She says she feels at home in the Los Angeles soul scene, and America overall — even as she warily eyes the anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim fervor stoked by Donald Trump and others. “He’s out there promoting hate, violence,” she says. “It’s really weird that this is acceptable in a modern, advanced country.
“But I’m not too worried about it,” she adds. “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.”
Since her move to Los Angeles five years ago, Malaysian singer Yunahas gained a strong following in the US.
Fans fell in love with her dreamy, soulful voice in hits like Falling and Come Back, which are from her second international album Nocturnal (2013).
But it is not only her music that has piqued stateside interest.
As a hijab-wearing Muslim musician, the 28-year-old is a rarity in the US music scene and her modest yet chic style has become a talking point in the industry.
The New York Timeseven labelled her “the poster girl for a group of young Malaysian Muslim women, dubbed hijabsters, or hipsters who wear the hijab”.
Not one for labels, the Kedah-born Yuna, whose real name is Yunalis Zarai, told The New Paper yesterday: “I’m not hiding the fact that I’m Muslim and a singer-songwriter.
“I don’t like to be put in a box or labelled a certain way, but if people can relate to me in that way, then, why not?
“I’m hoping my music speaks for itself. I don’t want the element of shock where people go, ‘Oh my God, she’s Muslim!’.”
Yuna was in town for a concert at the MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands last night. Tomorrow, she performs in Kuala Lumpur.
The founder-designer of fashion and lifestyle label November Culturealso fronted a Uniqlo campaign in July.
DESIGNED BY FRIEND
The Hana Tajima For Uniqlo clothing line, designed by her good friend, UK-born fashion blogger-designer Hana Tajima, targets women who would like to dress modestly. It is available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
This marketing move, as well as Swedish fashion giant H&M’s recent advertisement which features its first hijab-wearing Muslim model Mariah Idrissi, is something Yuna celebrates.
“I think it’s empowering and inspirational, what Hana Tajima is doing.
“I’m all about empowering others to feel comfortable in their own skin and giving them the means to do so with the right clothes,” she said.
“The world is slowly accepting the fact that there are people who like modesty and that not everything is about sex appeal.
“We have these values that we hold onto and we want others to accept us for that. We don’t want to be seen as sex objects.
“Just when you think all hope is lost when you watch MTV or the MTV Video Music Awards, a positive change is slowly taking place.”
The direction of Yuna’s music is also evolving. Her new album, slated for a February release, will see a more “mature and urban” sound.
She has worked with US artists like singer-producer Pharrell Williams and electronic act Owl City and her latest celebrity collaborator is R&B star Usher.
“I wrote a song (and) I thought (it) would be great if Usher featured on it. I reached out to him and he said yes.
“He is super sweet, down-to-earth and always smiling.
“I respect that he is a person who is in a place in life where he’s content and wants to try new projects. I admire his courage in exploring things with me because I’m not like other artists,” she said.
