NATASHA Sass is no stranger to the Malaysian music industry.
Seven years ago, at the age of 16, she was discovered and signed to Universal Music Malaysia as a recording artiste.
She started singing even earlier — when she was 6.
Over the years, she was opening act for Bruno Mars, Usher and Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza.
Born to a German father and Malaysian mother, the beautiful and talented 23-year-old is now ready to solidify her presence in the entertainment arena with the introduction of her debut album, 'Still Standing'.
Close to her heart
Natasha says the journey of making her debut album, which had begun slightly more than a year ago, had been a memorably beautiful one.
She began working on this album in early 2022, when she would spend days composing and writing lyrics.
This is the first time in Natasha's music career that she had the chance to be 100 per cent involved in the writing and composition of the songs, allowing them to be completely hers.
As such, this album is a project that is very close to her heart.
Having had to slow down her musical journey in Malaysia to focus on her studies a few years before, Natasha feels that the time is now ripe for her to launch her debut album.
After that "break", Natasha says this album, aptly titled 'Still Standing', is her way of "making a comeback" with a story to tell.
"It simply means that no matter what life throws at you, you choose to keep standing," she adds.
The album consists of five tracks: 'Memory', 'Lost Love', 'Manusia', 'Love Myself Instead', and 'Round And Around'.
German exposure
Before this, Natasha released seven singles, including three German songs, which were produced, recorded and released in Germany.
Being half German, Natasha is also fluent in the language.
"I'd say I'm fluent in German because I attended German schools here and also when my family was living in Singapore.
"I'm thankful for this opportunity (growing up multilingual), as it's a blessing to know more than one language," says Natasha, who is also fluent in English, and her grasp of Malay could put some full-blooded Malays to shame.
On her opportunities in Germany, Natasha says it all started after she appeared on a TV show there in 2015, singing an English song, one of the singles she had recorded in the past.
"From there, people approached and I recorded three singles, one released in 2018 ('Wenn Ich Schlaf') and two more the following year ('Seelenverwandt' and 'Hellwach')," says Natasha of the songs, which are of the "schlager" genre (a mixed of pop and dance music popular in Germany).
She also spent some time promoting the songs there, which resulted in her amassing followers.
"The fans there are still quite of an old-school type. Whenever I visited my grandmum, she'd show me the mail sent to me," says Natasha grinning.
One of the singles also made it to the top chart of a radio station where she was based then, in a small town called Langenfeld, situated between Cologne and Düsseldorf.
Besides Germany, Natasha also has another single outside Malaysia.
"In 2021, I released 'My Perfect Partner' in the Philippines. So after I'm done promoting 'Still Standing' here, maybe I'd return there to promote this album, too."