KUALA LUMPUR: All-female trio De Fam may not ring a bell, but Tune Studios’ first music act is riding high on the airwaves with its hit single Supergirls.
The infectious tune, says the group’s producer Bryan Buoro of Australia, has become so synonymous with De Fam that many listeners think it is the trio’s collective name.
“I may be the producer, but they’re very much involved in the making of their hit single. We hold lots of discussions on how to make it a ‘blast’ with listeners, and the girls work incredibly hard to make it happen,” said Bouro, Tune Studios’ head of artistes and repertoire.
De Fam, he said, was formed early this year and the girls came up with their name which is street slang for “the famous” or “the family”.
“They’ve been best pals for a long time... they’re almost like family. And yes, they’re also on the right track to fame with their hard work and discipline.”
De Fam comprises Kuala Lumpur-born Sophia Liana Sobri, 24, Azira Shafinaz Ramlan, 24, and Nurshazwani Shamsuddin (Cik Manggis), 26.
The trio are fans of dance music and they have been following the genre since their schooldays.
They are committed to performing songs with meaningful lyrics that mostly address women’s empowerment and wholesome values for youths.
“The three of us met as members of dance troupe Funku Fresh Family, based in Wangsa Maju, seven years back,” said Sophia.
“We bonded instantly because of our love for creating music videos centred around popular dance music hits,” added Azira.
To date, the girls have covered the hit dance songs Black Widow (by Rita Ora), I’m Not The Only One (Sam Smith) and LA Love (Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas).
“Supergirls, however, is our Youtube star music video, and now recorded 300,000 views in the last three weeks,” said Sophia.
The girls’ first claim to fame was as back-up dancers to local hip hop artiste Caprice in his music video for the single XDe Hal Bro released last year.
Counting Malique, Missy Elliot, Beyonce, Dayang Nurfaizah and Jessie J as their role models, De Fam aspires to add colour to the local dance music scene.
Azira, a business graduate from Taylor’s University College has been on print and TV advertisements while Sophia, a mass communications graduate from KDU University College has had a cameo role in the romantic comedy TV series Kisah Cinta Adam Dan Hawa.
“Our families have always been 100 percent supportive of our career in music, so long as we graduated with degrees or diplomas,” said Cik Manggis, who is also a performing arts graduate from Universiti Teknologi Mara.
De Fam will be releasing a new single in November, and for Hari Raya, the girls will be promoting a duet with the rock group Oh Chentaku titled #Syawal Swag. The song is promoted by Tune Talk.