The Jakarta Post
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsSYA, Def Jam's taboo-breaking female Malaysian rapper
The first female signing for label Def Jam in Southeast Asia, Malaysian hip-hop artist SYA calls for empowerment while taking a sledgehammer to stereotypes of Muslim women.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
This picture taken on October 9, 2021 shows Malaysian hip-hop artist Nur Batrisya Mohammad Nazri, known as SYA, rehearsing after an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) at a studio in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP/Mohd Rasfan)
W
earing sunglasses and a tiger print dress as she raps into a mic, Malaysian hip-hop artist SYA calls for empowerment while taking a sledgehammer to stereotypes of Muslim women.
The first female signing for label Def Jam -- the label behind superstars from Jay-Z and Rihanna to BTS and Justin Bieber -- in Southeast Asia, her debut single "PrettyGirlBop" tackles misogyny and acceptance in her Muslim-majority homeland.
"I just want women to feel more comfortable in their own skin," SYA, whose long dark hair is uncovered, tells AFP.
"I don't have to pretend to be somebody else just to fit what society deems is good."
The track, which also features up-and-coming Singapore artist Yung Raja, includes scenes of SYA dressed in white, and stroking a cat wearing a pearl necklace in a lavish bedroom.
Underlining her desire that women should not be pigeon-holed, it then switches to her holding a snake and wearing a leopard print jacket, as she defiantly raps: "I wanna be like me."
She is among a crop of young artists from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines who have been signed by global music giant Def Jam's Southeast Asian arm.
More from The Weekender
Machines Without a Beating Heart?
As electric cars reshape the driving experience, enthusiasts wrestle with what makes a car special: the roar of its engine, the quirks of an aging machine, or the memories we leave behind the wheel.
FX Harsono revisits Indonesia’s unresolved past in Ambang/Threshold
The veteran artist reworks familiar images of violence and discrimination to confront a history that continues to shape the present.
Farewell, good breast
A cancer diagnosis brings more than the fear of illness. It raises difficult questions about how to protect those we love while revealing unexpected reserves of tenderness and resilience.
