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Asia’s Sweetheart:
Shila Amzah
ThereisnostoppingthisMalaysiansingingsensation.
N
urshahilabintiAmir
Amzah,
better known
as Shila Amzah, started
her music career when
she was nine-years-old
and released her debut
album -
Terima Kasih
Guruku
-a year later. However, Shila used
to accompany her dad to recording studios
since the age of four.
She continued her singing career by
breaking into Shanghai’s music scene and
rose to fame after winning two popular tal-
ent shows. She was the Grand Champion
for
AsianWave (Season 1)
in 2012 and the
second runner-up of the
I Am A Singer
singing contest (Season 2) in 2014.
Shila is also an award winning singer-
songwriter, composer, musician, dancer,
actress, businesswoman and record
producer. As the saying goes, “the apple
doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Shila’s dad,
N.D. Lala was a popular local singer and
her mother, Fauziah Sarman, is a well
known actress.
She has won awards for Best Pop
Song and Best Song at one of Malaysia’s
prestigious music awards, the
Anugerah
Industri Muzik (AIM).
She also took home
the first runner-up title of reality singing
competition
One in a Million (Season 2)
and the champion title in the
Asia New
Singer Competition
in 2008.
Being dubbed as Asia’s Sweetheart,
Princess of Music and National Treasure
of Malaysia, Shila is definitely a star to be
reckoned with. She has also worked with
some big names in the industry such as
EricWoo, Wang LeehomandMiley Cyrus.
Gearing up for China
She has also been charming the Chinese
audiences with her unique English and
Chinese language love songs. She shares
her take on singing in Chinese: “I think
Chinese songs have a bigger range in
terms of singing skills. It’s really because
Tunes
of their music development and I
think I’ve improved my singing
ability tremendously as a result.”
Getting into a completely differ-
ent demographic has helped her
grow as an artiste as well as get-
ting a understanding of people
from different backgrounds and
cultures.
Shila, who is currently based
in China, took lessons in 2012 to
brush up on her Mandarin and
has since been able to speak
like a native. “Of course the
language itself was a huge
challenge. In order to pen-
etrate the market, I trained
hard and practised the
language every day. I have
to admit that my Chinese
friends from China did
help me a lot in improv-
ing my Mandarin skills,”
said Shila. She is also
currently learning the
Cantonese dialect as she
wants to break into the Hong
Kong market next.
Promising Future
Shila’s fan base is not only re-
stricted to Malaysia and China,
she has captured many hearts
in Singapore, Hong Kong, Las
Vegas, Kazakhstan and many
other countries. She keeps in
touch with her fans via her blog
as well as Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram accounts.
“I’m so excited for my
first Mandarin album tour.
I just want my music to be
recognised and be known
as a singer-songwriter in-
ternationally. Ultimately, I
want to promote Malaysia
to the world.”
W o r d s :
B r i a n n e J a s m i n A e r i a