Pre Raya Event with Asian Wave winner Shila Amzah
Venue : Courts Singapore Megastore & Courts Singapore Causeway Point
Date : 7-7- 2013
MALASIAN pop singer Shila Amzah, 23, was in Singapore on Sunday to meet fans and sign autographs at Courts Megastore in Tampines and Courts Causeway Point, in her role as Courts’ Mega Raya Sale Ambassador.
She has been busy recording songs for an upcoming album in Malay, due to be released later this year, and learning Mandarin. Though the singer is bilingual in Malay and English and won the competition by memorising the Chinese lyrics, she aspires to be trilingual.
“It is super hard. It ain’t easy, I tell you. But I’m based in Shanghai so I have no choice. I’m learning. I can order food, I can make basic conversation and I can get around the city without getting lost,” she says.
Despite the language barrier, Shila, who declined to reveal her relationship status, is enjoying her time there.
“It is good to get out of my comfort zone and push myself to try new things,” she says.
She hopes to eventually be able to write her own songs in Mandarin.
“My dream is to have a concert of songs which I wrote myself, in English, Malay and Mandarin,” she says.
Working on her upcoming Malay-language album, which does not have a title or release date yet, has been her first experience getting involved in every aspect of production, including lyrics- and music-writing.
“Singing other people’s songs is easy, but after 13 years of experience, I thought it was the perfect time to really get involved in the process and perhaps, in the future, start writing songs for other people,” she says.
The eldest of five children, she caught the music bug from her father at age nine.
By the time she was 10, she had released her first album,Terima Kasih Guru.
“I decided to become a singer because when I first saw him on the stage, singing his own songs, he became so connected to his fans. I realised it was something that would eventually make myself and other people happy,” she says.
A fan of pop, she has recently been “obsessed” with American country music, including with artistes such as Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood and the Dixie Chicks.
It is an influence she hopes to share with her fans through her upcoming album, which will contain seven songs with a country pop vibe.
“In Malaysia, there is no country music so I thought it would be nice to start it and let Malaysian listeners get an idea of how beautiful country music is.
“I like country music because the singers are storytellers and I think the most important thing is to make people believe whatever you are singing. I think country music is a very sincere genre,” she says.
