Yuna wants her latest work to showcase the new her. But to pull that off, she had to focus her attention on a record that would, essentially, never end. She found that in Rouge. During the album’s year-long creative process, the Malaysian singer reached out for guest verses from some of the biggest rappers in the game (Tyler, The Creator, G-Eazy), went in a funkier direction than her previous projects and appropriately titled the last song on the record “Tiada Akhir,” which means “no ending” in her native Malay.

“I’m just happy that, in this album, people get to see that grown-up Yuna,” she says. “The woman that I am today was built from all the records that I’ve put out before. This is the new me.”

Rouge, which dropped July 12, is a continuation of the 32-year-old singer’s musical resume and an introduction to Yuna’s new funk-driven soul sound. It’s a far cry from the folk-pop fans are used to, but represents a new, star-studded beginning for a singer looking to soon take over the R&B world.

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