We’ve seen her grace the local and international music festival circuits including St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival Singapore, Music Matters Live, Baybeats, Good Vibes Festival Malaysia, Asian Picks Fukuoka Japan, Malaysian singer-songwriter Froya has enjoyed significant rotation on both local and international airwaves. Froya’s quirky charm and distinctive vocals have remained a constant while her music has consistently evolved since her earliest Indie Pop endeavours into a more experimental, yet readily accessible, groove-driven synth electronica (can we plug in our personal favourites are, ‘Halloumi Honey‘ and ‘Magarita?‘.
Over the years, the self-produced songbird has consistently put out eclectically invigorating singles. The versatility of her songwriting, production, and vocal skills has allowed her to collaborate with various artists across different genres both locally and internationally. Two of her most exciting collaborations ‘Work It Out’ with Diskopolis (Malaysia) in 2019, and ‘Not Yours’ with SNOWK (Japan) and Nude (France) in 2020 was signed with Paris’ most intriguing music label, Kitsuné Musiqué. Working under the wing of one of the producers from SNOWK, Froya continues to work on more collaborations and future releases around the world.
We got Froya recently to create her Popwire O.S.T by sharing the soundtracks which inspired and was of impact.
From the idea of romance from early childhood, family, a key movie shower scene 😉 and some recent collaborative works she has done in the recent few years.
Danny Elfman, Ice Dance (OST from Edward Scissorhands)
‘Ice Dance‘ was THE soundtrack that formed the idea of romance in my early childhood… Dark night, falling snow, light bells, warm strings, and Johnny… I meant Edward Scissorhands! Still gives me goosebumps until this day.
Joe Hisaishi, A Town with An Ocean View (OST for Kiki’s Delivery Service)
I must have watched this cartoon at least 30 times…! Me and my brother were obsessed with the Japanese anime movie ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service‘! The opening of this soundtrack always seems to breathe life and brings me energy.
M83, Midight City (OST for Warm Bodies)
This song is a solid evergreen piece! As an Indie head, it hits all the right notes. A few movies featured ‘Midnight City‘, but I think the movie, ‘Warm Bodies‘ quite cleverly placed this track during a key shower scene. (wink* wink* ladies!)
Bon Iver, Skinny Love (OST for Grey’s Anatomy – S502)
My first love for Bon Iver’s music starts with ‘Skinny Love‘. So much honesty, emotions and… it just makes you stop to embrace the moment you’re in… Pretty much bawled my eyes out when it appeared in the Grey’s Anatomy heartbreak scene.
Coldplay, Atlas (OST for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Coldplay has been a keystone influence in my early songwriting, especially what they did with the first album ‘Parachute‘. The single, ‘Atlas‘ brings back the early Coldplay songwriting style without having to please the commercial side of things.
Alt-J, Hunger of The Pine (Featured in the pilot episode of “Unreal”. But my favorite is the video directed by Nabil Elderkin)
I was spellbound when I first discovered Alt-J’s music. Raw, gritty, bold and breaking all boundaries. I still feel really honored to share the same stage with Alt-J at Good Vibes Festival in 2018. They have definitely inspired one of my upcoming singles that I’ll be releasing this year.
Froya, Halloumi Honey
Shamelessly plugging my own music here, been working on this track on and off over the span of 4 years… but I’m very happy with how it arrived at its final form. I could picture this track being featured in an underwater scene playing in slow motion… Just throwing my ideas out there!
UQiYO, Froya, invisible
UQiYO and I started this track in Tokyo based on our experience in Niigata, a beautiful snowy region of Japan. ‘invisible‘ will always be that special song for me because it was my first experience traveling and collaborating with another artist in a foreign country. It has not happened yet, but I can imagine the track being played in any bittersweet Japanese or Korean drama series!
SNOWK x Froya, Miyanomori
It was an instant love when SNOWK invited me to collaborate on ‘Miyanomori‘. I’ve been driving around with this track a lot and it’s pretty uplifting! I’m hoping it could be featured as a montage for some road trips in some upcoming film or TV series.
Tokimeki Records x Froya, Turn it Into Love
It was an honor to cover one of Kylie Minogue’s biggest hits and I’m super grateful for the opportunity from Tokimeki Records. Kylie is one of the first few female artists I listened to growing up and still have mad respect for her staying in the industry for so long, especially with everything she’s been through. I could imagine this cover being used in any 80s themed TV series… During car chase scenes maybe?
Charli XCX, Boom Clap (OST to The Fault In Our Stars)
I’m never going to get rid of Charli’s XCX songs in my personal playlist. I often channel my “inner girl power” while listening to Charlie. Very empowering!
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