Yuna

An adult alternative artist with a refined, jazz-inflected style and tender vocal delivery, Malaysian singer/songwriter Yuna rose to prominence via social media in the mid- to late 2000s. Her breakthrough hit, “Deeper Conversation,” won Best Song at the Malaysian equivalent of the Grammys after its release in 2008. She went on to international success, recording with Pharrell Williams and touring with Lollapalooza in 2012. “Crush,” a single pairing Yuna and American hitmaker Usher from her third album, Chapters, reached the R&B chart in the U.S. and topped the singles chart in Malaysia in 2016. She has since continued to refine her nuanced blend of R&B and pop, as with 2019′s Rouge, singles like “2021′s “Don’t Blame It on Love” with Pink Sweat$, and her fifth album, 2022′s Y5.
Born Yunalis binti Mat Zara'ai in the town of Kedah, Yuna began writing songs at age 14. She soon taught herself to play guitar and performed live for the first time in 2006 while attending law school. Yuna went on to net over one million plays after uploading her music to social media. This online success led to a record deal with the Fader label.
Joined by guitarist Pa'an, bassist Efry Arwis, and drummer Adib Azfar, Yuna made her recorded debut in Malaysia with a self-titled EP in 2008. It snagged five Anugerah Industri Muzik nominations. She took home four trophies, including Best New Artist and Best Song, for “Deeper Conversation.” The Decorate EP followed two years later and was released stateside in 2011. It included the viral hit “Rocket,” which won raves in mainstream U.S. music publications and from hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons. In the meantime, Yuna was nominated as one of MTV Iggy’s Best New Bands in the World in 2011, and she marked the occasion by playing at the historic MTV Studios. She rang in 2012 with the single “Live Your Life,” produced by Pharrell Williams, as a preamble to her self-titled full-length debut, which arrived that April. It reached the Top 20 of the Billboard Heatseekers chart. Later that year, Yuna shared the Lollapalooza stage with the likes of Florence + the Machine, Jack White, and Childish Gambino. Her second full-length, the Verve-issued Nocturnal, returned her to the Heatseekers chart upon its release in 2013. She performed on late-night TV’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2014.
Yuna returned in 2016 with the hit “Crush” featuring Usher. It was included on the album Chapters, which peaked at number 16 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart later the same year. She performed another single from Chapters, “Used to Love You,” on Late Night with Seth Myers in mid-2017, standing in for Jhené Aiko, who was featured on the studio version of the song. A handful of singles, including a stand-alone cover of Post Malone’s “Better Now,” followed in 2018 and led to the July 2019 release of the singer’s fourth internationally distributed album, Rouge. Guest verses from the likes of Tyler, the Creator, Little Simz, and G-Eazy made it her most collaborative full-length to date and helped the album reach number 18 on Billboard’s Top Heatseekers chart. More non-album tracks followed, including 2020′s “Dance Like Nobody’s Watc
hing” and 2021′s “Don’t Blame It on Love” (featuring Pink Sweat$). In March 2022, she released the EP Y1, featuring the single “Pantone 17 13 30.” It marked the first of five EPs leading up to the release of her fifth full-length, Y5. The series spawned singles like “Risk It All,” “Fool for You,” and “Enough.” ~ Marcy Donelson & Chrysta Cherrie