I knew there was something different about the voice singing ‘I feel a little rush/I think I've got a little crush on you’ the moment I heard it. I was curious as to who she was because her voice was soothing, yet powerful, and didn’t seem to fade away; almost as though each time it hit the note la-la-la-la-la-lala… the sound would stick to my ears like an echo. Yuna Zarai is a Malaysian singer-songwriter who is well known for songs like Crush, Too Close and Used To Love You. She started out with posting pop song covers on MySpace but eventually decided to move straight up to America, and now her music is not just pop, as she tries to incorporate a lot of different styles in her music. Her voice may remind you of Sade, but she also has her own personal style.

She is on tour in the US and it was quite a coincidence that I came across her song and I was fortunate to get the chance to see her live and it gave a glimpse into not only what her songs mean but how she is as a person. She was talking to everyone before she began singing and she was telling everyone how grateful she was of being there with us and how it felt like she is extremely underrated in media. She started with the song Lullabies and her voice shot through my heart, so that I ended up staying at the concert longer than I intended to.

“Like lullabies you are

Forever in my mind

I see you in all

The pieces in my life…”

Surely there are countless voices like that, but her lyrics and her voice has its own feel to it, and reminded me of my mother, and how she took care of me when I would be ill and how she ran her hand through my hair as I fell asleep on her lap and Lullabies talks exactly about that.

She also sang the powerful Used to Love You which is about her becoming stronger after a breakup and how she doesn’t care about her ex anymore. It features Jhene Aiko and it is not unlike her songs which are mostly about realizing who she is outside of the relationship and that she is better than that. Yuna started her career with pop-rock themes but she portrays more R&B and soul in her recent album Chapters which is about relationships that didn’t work out and how she is still healing.

Even though she found someone but she is unsure if it is worth to break her wall for him. In her song Too Close she is starting to admire this man and she can’t find a reason to walk away and he keeps finding reasons to stay but she has been too hurt before to think it is a good idea to let him in. But at the same time she likes him and she wants to trust him. I had only heard most of her music on that very night, but each of her songs were so relatable that I didn't want to leave.

"Let this heart beat [x3]

Lead you..."

According to Genius, she hopes he will confess his love to her that she can trust him even though she is at an extremely vulnerable state. Undoubtedly everyone goes through a heartbreak and holding on to the sadness will only make us retreat back into our shells but we must break our walls when needed.

Yuna doesn’t only speak to the soul because of her voice, but she is also just like all of us. Her song Time is about her childhood and how she started singing.

“I've learnt and lost along the way

Yeah, I made mistakes

Yeah I felt all kinds of pain

And the reason why I'm here to stay

Is because my momma said

For things to be alright,

It takes time

It takes a little time, baby

It will be fine, yeah

It takes time, baby"

We all need time to heal, to grow and to achieve our goals. Yuna has come a long way from home, a long way in music and I see her being one of the best in the industry because she has worked hard for these things. She is also a devout Muslim and unlike other women in the industry who fall into the trap of objectification of women as sex symbols, she prefers to stay covered and with her head wrap and turtlenecks she is not only an iconic voice, but an influential woman and role model to a lot of girls. While she has faced criticism she still manages to stick to her ideals and she only wants to play music. Isn't she simply bae?