Yana Talks Self-Expression, Music and Her New Chanel Fragrance Crush

For singer-songwriter Shalma Eliana, better known as Yana, growing into herself has meant learning to trust her own voice. Today, the rising artist is more intentional about the people she surrounds herself with, the choices she makes and the stories she tells through music.

That sense of self-expression takes centre stage in her latest chapter as Harper’s BAZAAR Malaysia’s October New Gen cover star, alongside Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu. A new interpretation of the iconic Coco Mademoiselle fragrance, it brings together the signature depth of patchouli with floral notes of jasmine and rose, balanced by the warmth of tonka bean.

The fragrance’s interplay of intensity and freshness resonates with Yana, who describes herself as someone drawn to the balance between musk and florals. Here, she talks about finding her voice, the lessons music has taught her and the experiences shaping the artist she hopes to become.

Singer-songwriter Yana talks finding her voice, the evolution of her music and her love for Chanel’s Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu.

I can honestly say Yana right now, as a person and as an artist, the way I live my life and the way I see the world, all of them coexist, and the product of that is my music. As the person I am today, I move with more intention. I’m more intentional with how I do things and with what I choose to do, the conversations that I have, and the group of friends that I choose to be with. That’s very different from my past, where everything was just more about me trying to fit into a mould. Now, it’s more about just being unapologetically me, or at least, that’s what I try to do every day.

When I first started making music, it was just more about putting out something that was nice to listen to, something catchy. But right now, it’s more about being honest and a form of self-expression more than anything else.

In light of that, beyond my personal journey, my hope is that I could possibly inspire other souls to be authentically themselves and honest with themselves. At the start, I didn’t even have the capacity to think far enough to figure out what my purpose might be. But now, I think that for me, as an artist and as a person, my purpose is beyond just fame and numbers. Of course, I want to reach out to more people, but the point is being impactful as a singer-songwriter and actually connecting with people. Even if it’s not even a hundred people, if I could change the life of or touch even one person, that’s the main purpose for me.

I think the most Yana thing about me is that I’m just a bubble of joy. I feel like the people who are really close to me know that I can just burst into this insane energy, like very high on energy for five or 10 minutes, and then I’m just like… oh. I have a crazy amount of energy, and then I get really drained.

Oh my god, I feel like music has taught me to be more honest with myself. I think music isn’t supposed to be formed or moulded into a specific something, you know? And I think that, in turn, teaches me about life as well.

There’s really no right or wrong. It’s really about being honest with yourself and what you believe in, what touches you, what makes you feel good, and whatever feels right. Sometimes people’s opinions are just people’s opinions, and they’re not always the best for you. You gotta listen to yourself and trust yourself, and I’ve learned that through music, no doubt.

Of course, the Coco Mademoiselle Crush Absolu.

I definitely would like to have my own headline show one day. To be able to fill a venue with everyone who connects with not only my music, but in turn, the person that I am.

I hope to fill a room with people who genuinely appreciate human connection and self-expression. Being on stage, connecting with thousands and thousands of people, is amazing, of course, but the bigger dream in that is actually seeing everyone connect with each other, being vulnerable, but also feeling like they’re not alone. To be a part of that healing process, if I can.

Do you remember your first experience with a Chanel fragrance? If so, what do you recall from that experience?

My first experience with a Chanel fragrance was back when I was 19, or maybe 20? It was surrounded by the most amazing people. One of them was using a Chanel perfume, and I was socialising a lot at that point in my life.

I met a lot of amazing people and was surrounded by a group of friends that I was really close with. We had a really good time back then, actually. We explored, went out for dinner, had game nights together, and had deep conversations, like really meaningful conversations at the time. We were all going through this phase together, but all in all, we just enjoyed life together. Especially in my early 20s, it was a really fun time. I feel like I’m being brought back to that memory right now, actually, thinking of this question.

I love a fragrance that sits in between musky and floral. I feel like that’s so me, because I’m neither here nor there, like I could be both. I’m not the most feminine, but I’m also not the most masculine. Having both floral and musk notes creates balance for me, and I think I live up to that balance as well.

Oh, I loved it. I absolutely loved it. Like I said, I love a balanced fragrance, and this perfume is just such a good example of that balance. It’s crazy, because I remember first smelling this perfume, and I recently went to the Café Mademoiselle event in Mid Valley, where they explained the ingredients and notes to us, and I realised, okay, I get why I love it so much. It’s so balanced with the musk and floral notes, it’s definitely my kind of fragrance. It’s not too overpowering on either end, if that makes sense.

If you could bottle one moment from your life and turn it into a fragrance, which moment would you choose?

Choosing one moment is so hard. Mm, if I had to choose one, I would say it was this one moment in Switzerland. I had travelled there with my friends, and I was sitting outside on the balcony of the place that we were staying at. The whole view was icy mountains and it was kind of dark, but the moon was shining, just there in the sky, and I fell asleep.

When I woke up, the view was still the exact same, but it was morning, and everything was just so clear and magical. I feel like that moment combined, from night time to morning, I would love to bottle it into a perfume. That moment from dark to bright. Something that sits between the musky night time and bright, fresh day.

Yana: Oh, how do I say this? I think it’s encountering relationships that I didn’t know I deserved. Honestly, before, I had great friends who knew how to have fun, but now I feel like my relationships have more meaning, depth and substance. I think that was really unexpected for me. These relationships just came into my life unexpectedly, without me having to chase for them, and I believe that we attract what we are. The better you are as a person, the more you treat yourself well, and the more good things you do, the more good things will come to you. So I think that’s it. The relationships I have now make me feel like I’ve worked really hard on myself and done really well to have been able to meet all these amazing people who are in my life right now.