When Yuna first started making music from Malaysia years ago, reaching a global milestone of one billion Spotify streams probably sounded impossible.
Today, the Malaysian singer-songwriter has officially become the first Malaysian artiste to surpass one billion streams across all credits on Spotify, further cementing her position as one of Malaysia’s biggest international music success stories.
But while celebrating the historic achievement, Yuna is also speaking openly about another topic currently dominating the entertainment industry, artificial intelligence in music.
Yuna, 40, whose full name is Yunalis Mat Zara’ai, said technology may continue evolving rapidly, but music that genuinely touches people still requires something machines cannot recreate: human emotion, personal experiences, authenticity, and soul.
A Historic Milestone For Malaysian Music
Yuna admitted the billion-stream achievement came as a complete surprise to her.
According to the singer, she never entered the music industry with streaming numbers, records, or global milestones in mind. Instead, her focus was always on creating music honestly and authentically.
“When I first started this journey, I never imagined reaching one billion streams.”
Interestingly, Yuna only discovered the achievement after receiving congratulatory messages from fans online.
Rather than viewing it purely as a statistic, she described the milestone as a meaningful bonus in her journey as an independent artiste.
She also expressed gratitude toward Malaysian listeners, who remain among the biggest contributors to the global streaming success of her music.
Why Yuna Believes AI Cannot Replace Human Creativity
As AI-generated music tools become increasingly popular worldwide, Yuna shared her concerns about creators relying too heavily on artificial intelligence for songwriting, vocals, and music production.
While she acknowledged that AI can assist with refining creative work, she believes machines still lack the emotional depth, imperfections, and humanity that come naturally from human experiences.
“To me, AI can help refine a piece of work, but I’m not comfortable with people relying on it too heavily.”
According to Yuna, some of the most powerful songs are created through spontaneous emotions, heartbreak, memories, struggles, joy, and personal growth — things that cannot simply be programmed into a machine.
“AI may be able to generate a song structure, but it cannot create the kind of emotion that comes from real human experiences.”
For Yuna, the emotional imperfections within music are exactly what make songs feel alive, relatable, and emotionally powerful.
Her Own Experience Experimenting With AI Music
Yuna also revealed that she had experimented with AI music tools during her time in the United States when the technology first started gaining attention.
However, she admitted the results felt unnatural, emotionally disconnected, and overly dramatic.
“I asked AI to write a song and it generated these bombastic words that even we don’t use in our daily conversations.”
Rather than sounding sincere, she felt the lyrics came across as forced and artificial.
“It’s the human touch that makes a song feel alive and relatable.”
The singer also voiced concerns about copyright issues, noting that AI systems are believed to learn by referencing existing artistes’ works and creative materials.
Beyond that, she also mentioned concerns about the environmental impact of AI data centres.
Despite AI’s rapid rise across the entertainment industry, Yuna said she personally still prefers traditional songwriting methods.
“I’ve never used AI to make songs, and honestly, I wouldn’t even know how to use it. I’m more comfortable with the usual creative process because I believe music should come from within.”
Sources: 1| 2
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