Yuna shares ‘Y1’, the first of five new EPs

The first EP from Malaysian singer-songwriter Yuna‘s upcoming five-part fifth studio album ‘Y5’ has been released on major streaming platforms.

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The EP, titled ‘Y1’, was released today (March 11) with the remaining four EPs to be gradually released throughout the year to form the entirety of ‘Y5’. The album also represents Yuna’s first project as an independent artist in ten years.

Listen to ‘Y1’ below.

Yuna has been sharing her thoughts and inspirations behind each track on ‘Y1’ in the run-up to the EP’s release, revealing some very personal information about herself in the process. On March 9, she shared in an Instagram post that the EP’s first track ‘Hello’, deals with the death of her cousin the previous year, calling it her “most personal project to date”.

She also shared that the song ‘Cigarette’ deals with “the temporariness of artists in the music industry”, explaining, “I noticed that when I was doing a lot of cool things I attracted a lot of people and opportunities and when I’m kinda idle and taking a break they all just go away looking for the next one.”

“Sometimes just like any other normal human being I find myself giving into the pressure & overwork myself trying to be relevant.. At the end of the day all I can do is just be myself and make the music I love and share it with the world.”

Yuna has previously mentioned in an Instagram Stories Q&A that ‘Y5’ does not contain any artist collaborations as of yet, though she revealed in April last year that she had been working with producer Malay – who worked on Frank Ocean’s critically acclaimed ‘Channel Orange’ – for the album.

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A post shared by Y U N A (@yuna)

Following the EP’s release, Yuna has also announced that the EP is set to receive a visual accompaniment, which will be available on her YouTube channel on Saturday (March 12) at 7AM MYT.

Yuna was recently featured on South Korean producer and singer-songwriter SHAUN‘s latest single, ‘So Right’, which was released on February 24. The collaborative single follows her own collaboration on ‘Don’t Blame It On Love’ with American R&B singer Pink Sweat$ in June last year, and the release of ‘Dance Like Nobody’s Watching’ in December 2020.

It is currently unknown if either track will be included on one of the ‘Y5’ EPs.

In April 2021, she worked with Filipino R&B singer James Reid on a remix of ‘Dance Like Nobody’s Watching’. She would also go on to co-write two singles released by Malaysian singer Ai.Z last year, ‘The Last Thing’ and ‘Use Me’.

The post Yuna shares ‘Y1’, the first of five new EPs appeared first on NME.