Zitat des Tages von Yuna:
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.
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 was doing quite well in Malaysia... Everyone was so excited about my music, and they started accepting me as an artist.
I've seen a couple white girls coming to my concerts wearing head wraps, and I think they look so cute. It's kind of sad to see that people are really into separation, trying to separate everybody and making a clear division of 'us against you,' even with fashion. That sucks. It's not the way the world is supposed to be.
'Places to Go' is something that I would never normally write because I would usually be worried with what people would think about me.
Fame is definitely a monster: it can suck you in and spit you out and change you. The biggest challenge is to remain yourself regardless of what people say about you.
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 used to read a lot of fashion magazines: my favourite was 'Nylon.' I used to cut out all the pictures from magazines, and I had this book where I would keep all of the stuff that inspired me.
Feminism is universal. You can't just fight for one type of freedom or one type of female power. You know what? Muslim women want to cover up, and we have to fight for our right to do that, too.
I've always been singing all my life, but I started playing guitar when I was 19, and that was my final year in university, in law school. I think that happened when I started making a lot of friends who were in the independent music scene.
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.
I just realized the best way to live your life is to just be you, as cliche as it sounds. I grew up trying to please everyone.
I'm a huge 'SK-II' person. I'm their Malaysian spokesperson. But I truly love their products - it's not just something that I endorse. I always moisturize with the SK-II Essential Power Rich Cream.
Being in the spotlight, you know, you tend to kind of forget who you are. And being an artist... it could be a very superficial job. It could be very pretentious as well.
I started singing very early. I was six or seven years old, and I was singing along to TV commercials and figuring out, 'Oh, hey, I can sing in tune. This is really cool.' But the songwriting thing came much much later, when I was 19 years old.
I'm a Muslim. I don't try to hide it. I'm also a girl who loves music.
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.
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.
The best thing to do when you're writing is to write about something you know instead of pretending. I mean, you can do that too, obviously, but when you write from your heart, it works so much better.
People think it's very strange because I love whale watching - you don't see whales a lot where I'm from.
I try to look at people like Adele and Norah Jones, who are very successful but don't have to deal with scandals.
I come from a jazzy, acoustic, folky background. Everything has to work with melodies; the words have to have meaning.
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.
There's a lot of buying power from the Middle East. Girls from Dubai want to be able to wear Asos, and you have people travelling all the way to the States just to go shopping.
For Eid - or Raya, as the Malaysians call it - we love to shop for new clothes for the festive season. There will be open houses to go to, and Malaysians love to look good for these.
I think feminism is that you just have to stick it all out. I remember this one time when someone interviewed me, and I was young, and they said, 'Do you see yourself as a feminist?' And I was like, 'I don't know. I'm not really comfortable calling myself a feminist.'
I want girls to know that equality exists in this world. You can do anything you want.
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.
People pay attention to artists and celebrities, so they have the opportunity to do something great with this limelight. I, for one, have no problem with Kanye running for president, because if it's something that he truly believes in and it can lead to greater good, why not? I'm all for that.
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.
Home, to me, is where I am and where I feel most comfortable. Obviously, Malaysia is home. In L.A., my home is my apartment because that's my Malaysia.
My label understands that I am really attached to Malaysia, that I come home a lot.
I write songs about love because, above all, love is the most human thing we have together. Feelings are a part of us every day. You feel things every day, no matter where you are. So that's what I write about.
When I first started in Malaysia, having a Muslim Malay girl singing and holding a guitar was new to everyone. Even Muslims there had issues with it; they found it weird.
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.
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.
