It’s good to see Malaysian-born and L.A.-based Yuna making some waves with the release of Chapters, her fourth studio album release, which was kicked off with a single called “Crush,” featuring Usher.
The images here are from a combo interview/fashion shoot with New York magazine, covering her early days as a singer in Malaysia (she started at the age of seven), her decision to enroll in law school and her eventual move first to Australia, then Singapore, and the United Kingdom, and finally, her ultimate goal, the United States.
As with most interviews, Yuna is asked about her Muslim faith, along with her choice to wear a hijab. “It’s my personal choice. It’s just kind of weird when people say ‘take off your hijab and be you’ because this is me, I’m being myself. I’m not oppressed. This is very liberating that I get to do this and be in the music industry. I like that I don’t have to conform to the normal women-in-music-selling-sex-appeal thing,” she comments.
Yuna also addresses the issue of colorism, saying, “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. Embrace the color of your skin and your own beauty.”
The singer is also a business, man, and the article touches on her November Culture e-commerce site, along with her collaboration with her Uniqlo Hana Tajima hijab capsule. She also has a collaboration coming up called Hatta x Yuna that will be out in August.
