Malaysian artists singing Chinese songs are nothing new on the Chinese music scene - fans are very familiar with talents like Michael Wong (Guang Liang) and Gary Chaw (Cao Ge) both ethnic Chinese who speak fluent Putonghua.

But nowadays there's a new talent from the Malay peninsula being acclaimed in China and she isn't ethnic Chinese.

Over the past six months, Shila Amzah, a Malaysian Muslim, who usually appears on television in China in long-sleeved gowns and headscarves, has been charming Chinese audiences with her unique English- and Chinese-language love songs. On August 16, Amzah will debut in her first solo concert in the Chinese mainland at Shanghai's Luwan Stadium.

Born in Kuala Lumpur in 1990, Amzah grew up in a show business family. Her father Amir Amzah Salleh, aka ND Lala, is a popular Malaysian singer, and her mother, Fauziah Sarman, is a well-known actress.

An early start

She always seemed to have singing in her blood and at the age of 10, Amzah (with some help from her father), released her first album Terima Kasih Guru (Thank You, Teacher) and this caught the attention of some experienced music producers. In 2005, EMI released Amzah's second album Sha-hila and three years later she featured in a group album, Ost 5 Jingga.

In 2007, she was runner-up on the Malaysian television talent quest One in a Million - a show designed to discover the finest young singers in the country and which offered the winner a million ringgits ($314,900). Just one year later, she won the Asia New Singer Competition in Penang, northwestern Malaysia.

Last October when China's President Xi Jinping visited Malaysia, Amzah was selected as a representative of Malaysian artists to perform for him.

(Main) Malaysian singer Shila Amzah

The big chance for Amzah to take China by storm came in February when she appeared in Hunan Satellite TV's I Am a Singer (Season II) in which seven experienced artists vied with each other for the top prize.

Though she speaks only a little Chinese herself, she sang, with great feeling, several Chinese love songs throughout the contest. The first time she appeared on the stage, she sang "Xiang Ni De Ye" ("Thinking of You on a Lonely Night"), and her performance pushed her to number two on the rankings for that show.

A poster for the coming solo concert of Shila Amzah in Shanghai Photos: Courtesy of 3rd Floor Public Relations

Online fans

Well aware that I Am a Singer was not only watched by Chinese but also by Malaysian fans online, Amzah also performed some English-language numbers including Beyoncé's "Listen" and Adele Adkins' "Rolling in the Deep."

The leading Chinese music critic Ke'erqinfu spoke highly of Amzah's performance on the show, and even compared her to Chang Shilei, the acclaimed Chinese singer and songwriter who helped create the "You and Me" theme song for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Within a month of her appearance on the show, her Sina Weibo followers soared thirtyfold and nowadays her account attracts more than two million followers.

"I Am a Singer was definitely a great stepping stone for me to get to know more about Chinese music and Chinese audiences," the singer told the Global Times in an e-mail.

"The most rewarding part of I Am a Singer was me getting to learn to speak Chinese in a short period of time with superstars like Han Lei, Zhang Jie, Bibi (Zhou Bichang), G.E.M. (Gloria Tang Tsz-kei), Power Station and Zhang Yu (Phil Chang). And I got a lot of advice from them in terms of music and a lot more," Amzah said.

She set out two years ago to push her music career in China when she appeared in the Shanghai DragonTV talent show Asian Wave and was proclaimed the winner. 

A new challenge

"Because I don't like to be in a comfort zone all the time, I thought I needed a new challenge. And I figured there's a lot of good Chinese music, so why not China?" Amzah said.

One of her favorite performers is Leehom Wang, the New York-born Chinese singer and songwriter. After Amzah sang Wang's "Forever Love" on I Am a Singer, unexpectedly she was personally praised by Wang, who wrote in his microblog "thank you for singing the song in such wonderful way."

"I really love being here in China. I love all the challenges, which are mostly language barriers," confessed Amzah, who revealed that she has been learning Chinese as quickly as she can.

Having already impressed Chinese audiences with love ballads, Amzah told the Global Times that her favorite music styles were rock and R&B, and she would like to try more rock and upbeat songs in the future.

In the upcoming concert, Amzah will present not only already popular Chinese ballads but also new Chinese songs, and some English-language numbers as well. 

Date: August 16, 7:30 pm

Venue: Luwan Stadium

卢湾体育馆

Address: 128 Zhaojiabang Road

肇嘉浜路128号

Tickets: 380 yuan ($61.62) to 1,280 yuan

Call 400-610-3721 for details