Music plays an important part in our daily lives. In Malaysia, local talents that made waves in the music industry locally are increasing. For the past 10 years, a new generation of talents have made it into the limelight, gracing the stage of various renowned festivals and also getting signed up by Malaysia’s renowned recording companies. Here, Top 10 of Malaysia takes a look at its list of the nation’s top ten new generation inspiring talents in the music industry some of whom have even made a name for themselves abroad.
Nik Qistina
Nik Qistina was signed up by Universal Music Malaysia at the tender age of 13 in 2016. The talented artiste then released her first English pop single called “Young Hearts” which reached 100,000 plays on Spotify. It also made its way to the iTunes Top 100 chart in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Philippine. Qistina also performed alongside American talented young singer, Greyson Chance at Istana Budaya in the presence of renowned pop queen, Siti Nurhaliza. She also performed at places such as Merdekarya, Timbre and Barlai.
Bil Musa
Nabilah Musa, commonly known as Bil Musa started writing her own songs and playing the piano at the tender age of seven. In 2014, her talents were spotted by Yuna Room Records after she performed a song she wrote for Yuna personally. A year later, the talented Bil released her self-titled Indie EP under the label, which attracted many other artistes. Also being a passionate storyteller and writer, Bil collaborated with Indie band Enterprise on their English single. She is also no stranger to performing at local festivals such as Rock the World, Soundsgood and Iskarnival. Surfing on a new wave in January 2017, she released her full-length album and was featured in Era’s “Baru Nak Up” list.
Talitha Tan
Young and talented singer-songwriter, Talitha Tan has won the hearts of many with her lovable personality and soulful voice. She has performed numerous times locally and internationally at festivals such as Sky Music Festival 2016 in Japan, during Malaysia’s SEA Games 2017 closing ceremony, Urbanscapes, Publika Jazz Festival, Tiger Bites and Good Vibes Festival 2017. Her single debut album “Okay” was streamed 1.8 million times on Spotify and was played frequently on radio stations while her second single “Please Stay”, which was released at the end of 2017, hit 1 million streams. Besides, Talitha has also performed alongside famous artistes such as Man Bai, Darren Ashley and Ali Aiman.
Kyoto Protocol
Local Indie Band, Kyoto Protocol is formed by Fuad Alhabshi, keyboardist Gael Oliveres, guitarist Hairi Haneefa, bassist Shakeil Bashir and drummer Shanjeev Reddy. The band won second place at the Yamaha Asian Beat Malaysian Finals 2009 and their debut album titled “An Album”, with its two famous songs, “Pussycat” and “Never Know” top the charts in 2011 at number one of various local radio stations. The band won numerous awards and also performed at various festivals such as at Rockway, Urbanscapes, Baybeats in Singapore and BeastieRock in Taiwan. The band also performed at Future Music Festival Asia in 2013.
Poovanesvary Sri Rama (Poova)
Multiple award winner, singer, songwriter, composer, producer, Poovanesvary Sri Rama, most commonly known as Poova is one of Malaysia’s well-known young talents in the music industry. She has performed at festivals such as Macau Jazz Festial and Hong Kong Asian Pop Music Festival at also at countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Thailand, Indonesia and even the United Kingdom. Poova also represented Malaysia in the Asia wide Hong Kong Asian-Pop Music Festival (HKAMF) 2015 competition. Besides being a renowned singer, Poova also ventured into the world of fashion and modelling for designers, shows and magazines.
Sufian Suhaimi
Young singer, Sufian Suhaimi was acknowledged by the Malaysia Book of Records for his song “Di Matamu” that was one of the most viewed music videos among our local celebrities and Malay song category on You Tube. His song “Terakhir” also has more than 25 million views. The singer also made it to the final session of “Anugerah Juara Lagu” in 2017. Sufian was ranked second as the most streamed Malaysian artistes in 2018.
Santesh Kumar
Famous for the songs “Amalina” and “Mymuna”, the award-winning singer and composer, Santesh Kumar is also honoured with a place in the Malaysia Book of Records. His songs have also been one of the most trending Malaysian songs on You Tube in 2018. Santesh has also performed with famous Malaysian artistes such as Awie and David Arumugam. Besides being a talented singer, Santesh also plays the piano keyboard, guitar and drum. This zealous singer strives to be the top in the Malay music market and he has written two songs which are the “Joget Kahwin” and “Raya Malaysia”.
Kayda Aziz
Wan Nur Khaleda Roslan, commonly known as Kayda Aziz is one of the leading female artistes in Malaysia for Hip Hop and R&B. Kayda started writing her own music at the age of 13 and performed Hip Hop throughout her teenage years. In 2013, Kayda performed professionally at Singapore and Malaysia while completing her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. She also collaborated with Malaysian singer cum rapper, Hunny Madu for “Go Hard or Gostan”. Her first album “Love for No Reason” was produced by Indonesia’s rising star, Emir Hermono.
Irma Seleman
Irma Seleman is one of Malaysia’s uprising R&B and Soul songbird. She was featured in a local TV show (Mentor) Talent Show as a background vocalist and was also the artist of the month Hitz.tv. She also performed at the Michael Buble Crazy Love Tourʼs pocket stage and was also featured at the Indie Youth Festival and Borneo Jazz Festival Preview. Irma has also performed at various festivals such as RAWBoston, Utica Music Festival in New York and the New England Indonesian Jazz Festival.
Elizabeth Tan
After being a You Tube sensation in 2013, award-winner Elizabeth Tan started her singing career and officially became a recording artist in 2014 and released her first single “Knock Knock” and it was ranked among the top 10 songs on all of Malaysia’s top radio charts. Elizabeth’s success made her one of the most sought-after talents and soon after, she released 2 albums titled, “Police Entry” and “Semua Sudah” and they earned her the number one spot as one of Malaysia’s well-known young artistes. Besides, this talented singer has also acted in movies such as “Misteri Dilaila (2018)”, “Busker (2018)” and “UWMMM (2015)”.
