KUALA LUMPUR, Although she is pretty popular in the local Mandarin music scene, rising young star Layla Sania Khairuzikri has never allowed herself to be complacent. Instead, she is taking additional Mandarin classes to improve her command of the language despite having completed her primary and secondary education at Chinese-medium schools.
The 22-year-old singer feels a deeper mastery of the language would add value to her efforts to spread her wings to the field of songwriting.
Layla Sania first gained the attention of viewers during the third season of ‘I Can See Your Voice’ reality show with her rendition of ‘You’re the Only One in My Heart’, a Mandarin song originally sung by Tiger Huang.
The former student of Sek Men Jenis Kebangsaan Cina Chong Hwa here, also dreams of composing her own songs in Mandarin with her father Khairuzikri Mohamad, 47, one day.
She said she composed her first single ‘Que Sera Sera’ in Malay with her father in 2019.
‘Now I want to try (composing songs) in Mandarin,’ she sa
id, adding, ‘… but my Mandarin isn’t that great even though I can speak fluently in that language. I need to learn more if I want to compose songs because the language structure is more poetic,” she told Bernama here.
Layla Sania, who also aspires to become an educator, admires the talent and magical abilities of singer/ composer Firdhaus Farmizi who made a name for himself in China.
Firdhaus became the first Malay singer to achieve success in China when his single ‘Gulf of Alaska’, which he composed himself, went viral on the Chinese TikTok app, Douyin, in 2021, garnering a whopping 170 million views.
“I want to be like him (Firdhaus)… he is not only able to sing but also writes his own songs to the extent of becoming successful in China,” she said, adding she also intends to learn other languages.
Layla Sania launched her first album, titled ‘1671’, last December, comprising 10 songs. Eight of the songs are in Mandarin and they include ‘By Your Side’, ‘Bambino’ (a duet with Bunga Isme), ‘Xing Hai’, ‘Tra
veler’ and ‘I Just Wanna Fall in Love’.
‘I am grateful my songs have managed to capture the attention of fans of various races and successfully penetrated the China market.
“For now, I want to focus more on singing than acting because it is a medium that allows me to express my feelings,” she said, adding her dream is to perform a duet with famous Indonesian singer Judika and winner of season nine of ‘Akademi Fantasia’ Hazama one day.
As a gift to her fans, the artiste, who is signed under Warner Music Malaysia, will release a new single, ‘Man Don Zuo’ (Take a Break), this June.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency