When someone mentions ‘Malaysian girl group’, we immediately think of none other than DOLLA. The iconic four-member homegrown girl group made their debut under Universal Music Malaysia in 2020 and has since made major headway in the local pop music scene. Four girls, one dream, we recently managed to speak to the Fantastic Four on their journey in music and entertainment.
Consisting of Sabronzo, Tabby, Angel and Syasya, the four members of DOLLA were united in their inspiration to do music and make it big in the entertainment industry from a young age.
From strangers to soul sisters
Eldest member, Sabronzo shared that she’s always been inclined to entertain people and put on a good show. “I already knew the entertaining world was something I wanted to go into. But what inspired me to go into a girl group was probably all the girl groups I listened to growing up from all over the world, and I aspire to be like them on stage,” said Sabronzo.
The youngest member, Syasya, also looked up to other global girl group acts as inspiration. She shared that it was K-Pop’s 2NE1 that particularly caught her eye when she was growing up. But one thing for sure is that Syasya probably has it in her genes to wind up in entertainment to begin with, as her grandmother is none other than veteran actress, Rozie Othman.
“I looked up to her for inspiration,” said Syasya
As for Tabby, she talked about how she’d always loved music and how music has helped her through a lot of emotional and difficult times in her life.
“It’s very meaningful to me, so that inspired me to sing and express myself in that way. Since I was about five years old, I’ve been jamming out to music,” said Tabby.
Angel is somehow intrigued by the world of sound with a huge interest in learning how to play instruments, piano, guitar, and all that had something to do with music. “Growing up I used to go to karaoke a lot with my mum, and that’s always been a part of me. So I always told myself I wanted to do music, or music. “said Angel.
Challenges in the creative process
Established through an audition held by Universal Music Malaysia in 2019, the four girls hailing from different backgrounds were eventually joined under the single banner of DOLLA. Turning our attention to music, we asked the girls what goes into the makings of a hit single, and what they found most challenging in music. Interestingly, it was the languages that took a toll on them.
Angel shared, “We sometimes have to make two versions of the same song in different languages or have multiple languages in one song. So sometimes we get confused with the language and that’s the difficult part. But it’s also fun.
We always work together and ask each other for help based on each person’s language expertise and we also go for vocal training to test our resonance and language, shout out to Cikguw Shafi for that.”
When controversy arises, they focus on the positive
Commenting on how they navigate controversy in local, conservative media as a girl group, Sabronzo said the group would try to focus on the positive, and their supporters, iDolla plays a big part in it.
“We still take constructive criticism where there is any, as there’s always room to grow and improve. We try to focus on our goals and the music. We hope to bring Malaysia to the world’s platform. Our intention is good, and hopefully, people will be able to see that.” She added.
Touching on what they think about the music scene especially for pop groups in Malaysia today, Tabby shared, “I think it’s diversifying in genres, it’s growing, and we’re glad to see that there are more pop groups and that people are trying to experiment with their sound, concepts, and styles because that’s what we think our industry needs. For aspiring talents: just be brave, and do what you want to do, so our industry can grow more, and in a creative way. Hopefully, it can also motivate younger people to become entertainers as well.”
The identity of DOLLA’s music
The Malaysian girl-crush group first debuted with the single, ‘Dolla Make You Wanna’, which was followed by ‘Impikan’ and ‘Berani’, before the release of their latest hit, ‘BAD’. Tabby commented that DOLLA’s music is always grounded around women empowerment in some way.
“It’s anything pop and trending and sounds super good to us, and to the people, hopefully. In the future, we’re hoping to evolve and try to experiment with new genres as well, so who knows what you guys might hear from us? You’ll be hearing some new and different kinds of stuff from us soon.” Said Tabby.
Syasya also revealed that new songs are coming from DOLLA this year. Sharing their upcoming collaboration with singer-songwriter Naim Daniel, Syasya said that the collaboration will be a special one as it is poised to reveal a new side to the group that fans have not yet seen.
The girls are clear with their music direction and are planning to try out all new and different things.
“We’re also planning a lot of other new things for us, merchandise, tours, and hopefully an album next year, so stay tuned.” said Syasya.
DOLLA is set to perform at the Good Vibes Weekender on 23 September 2022 (Friday).
“It’ll be different from all the other live shows we’ve done so far. Us and the team put a lot of effort into putting it together, so we hope that you guys love it as much as we loved putting it together. Be prepared for an experience!”
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