Kuala Lumpur&rsquo;s hottest music star sound off on the city&rsquo;s sonic underground &mdash; and how he burns the house down.

Daaliah&rsquo;s music isn&rsquo;t just something you listen to, it&rsquo;s something you feel. It&rsquo;s intimate but wide open, like a late-night drive through unfamiliar streets. Finding his sound didn&rsquo;t come easy, but the journey&rsquo;s written into every note. He&rsquo;s played stages around the globe, but ask him and he&rsquo;ll tell you: <a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/personalities/interview-this-is-how-noki-does-it">Malaysia&rsquo;s got a pulse</a> all its own &mdash; raw, fearless and genre-defying. And he&rsquo;s here to turn up the volume. You&rsquo;ve performed on international stages. When you&rsquo;re abroad, do you feel a sense of responsibility to represent Malaysian or Southeast Asian culture, or is your focus more personal and internal? Absolutely. One of the first things people ask me after a show is, &ldquo;Where are you from?&rdquo; And there&rsquo;s a real sense of pride in being able to say, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m from Malaysia.&rdquo; On a personal level, it&rsquo;s meaningful to represent my roots on a global platform. When it comes to music, though, it&rsquo;s a bit trickier. Malaysia doesn&rsquo;t yet have a strong, recognisable identity in this particular genre on the international stage. So just showing up and putting ourselves out there is already a powerful statement &mdash; it&rsquo;s our way of saying, &ldquo;Hey, we can do this too.&rdquo; Do you see DJing more as performance art, emotional therapy, or something else entirely? Honestly, it&rsquo;s both. DJing is <a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/personalities/interview-on-the-floor-with-sean-ng">performance art, but it&rsquo;s also deeply therapeutic</a> &mdash; for me and, hopefully, for the audience. When I create a set, I try to match the vibe of the moment or the energy I want to bring to a space. Music has this incredible ability to play with your emotions &mdash; it can lift you, break you, or send you somewhere else entirely. For me, it&rsquo;s a creative outlet that allows both myself and the crowd to feel free, to be who we want to be and to fully live in that shared moment.

You&rsquo;ve spoken about the importance of staying true to yourself. How do you maintain your authenticity while keeping up with the ever-changing global music scene? I try to stay endlessly curious. Most of my inspiration comes from the small, everyday moments &mdash; my friends, my family, and the random things I notice in daily life. I like to zoom in on those little details and see where they lead me. That kind of grounding helps me stay true to who I am. I don&rsquo;t ignore trends, but I also don&rsquo;t chase them. I try to listen to my gut &mdash; yes, it sounds clich&eacute; &mdash; but it&rsquo;s the most honest way I can continue making music that feels like me. With so many platforms being algorithm-driven now, how do you keep your live sets feeling organic and unpredictable? I try not to overthink it. These days, especially post-pandemic, many DJs focus on creating content for social media. But the truth is, a 30-second clip can&rsquo;t capture the full emotional arc of a set. A real DJ set is storytelling. It&rsquo;s a journey that builds and evolves over time &mdash; usually an hour or more. For me, the magic is in being present and creating something honest in that moment. That&rsquo;s what keeps it real.

"Music has this incredible ability to play with your emotions &mdash; it can lift you, break you, or send you somewhere else entirely." - Daaliah

Do you think Malaysian audiences are more open to genre-blending and fluid sounds now compared to five years ago? Definitely, especially the younger generation. Older listeners often have set expectations when it comes to music, but younger audiences are growing up with TikTok, Instagram Reels and Spotify Discover. They&rsquo;re constantly exposed to <a href="https://www.hommesmalaysia.com/personalities/interview-the-magic-of-alyph">unexpected mashups and genre-bending</a> tracks. Because of that, they&rsquo;re much more open to sounds that cross boundaries. It&rsquo;s exciting to see how much more receptive they&rsquo;ve become. Malaysia&rsquo;s music scene is still relatively underrepresented on the global stage. What do you think international audiences are missing or overlooking? I don&rsquo;t think they&rsquo;re misunderstanding us &mdash; I just think they haven&rsquo;t been exposed to enough of what we have to offer. Unlike countries like Korea, Indonesia or the Philippines, Malaysia doesn&rsquo;t yet have that same global recognition in music. There&rsquo;s incredible talent here, but the industry lacks the support it needs &mdash; especially from the government or larger institutions. If we had more funding and proper platforms to showcase our work, I believe Malaysia could really carve out its place on the map. Right now, the potential is there &mdash; it just needs to be nurtured.

CREDITS: Creative Direction Syazil Abd Rahim Photography Joe Ng Styling Amelia Tan Hair Juno Ko Makeup Eranthe Loo Photography Assistant David Ong

Interview: Daaliah is spinning the world into a tizzy

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