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Yes, Azalina Othman Rapping To “Baek” Has Gone Viral But How Many Of You Know About Datin Rosmah Mansor’s Music Career?
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Yes, Azalina Othman Rapping To “Baek” Has Gone Viral But How Many Of You Know About Datin Rosmah Mansor’s Music Career?

by Deric EctAugust 5, 2015

Notorious politician Azalina Othman, once renowned for being an advocate of all things fitness and sports, has been cropping up in the news a fair bit lately.

Here is Azalina on the stage at an open house event, singing Joe Flizzow‘s “Baek” (featuring Joe Flizzow himself), and changing its lyrics to champion political organisations Barisan National and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as well as – in a bizarre twist – the state of Johor.

We last spoke of Azalina in our coverage of the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (FINAS) open house event held at Chef Ismail‘s Restoran Rebung, in which she used the opportunity to say a few things about the industry.

Despite garnering some amount of negative attention from social media as well as Perak mufti Harussani Zakaria, Azalina is still in high spirits as evident in her impromptu performance.

This is of course the first high-profile Malaysian politician performing music on video since Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor‘s infamous cover of “If Tomorrow Never Comes”! How many of you actually know about this hidden gem, fellas?

Rosmah recorded the Garth Brooks classic because of her love for karaoke, but she didn’t just half-ass things. As if just doing her own take of the song wasn’t enough, there’s even a video to accompany the entire thing.

As you can see above, the music video showcases current prime minister of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Najib Razak, with his family at home, interspersed with shots of them visiting disabled children and strolling in a garden. When was the last time we had a first lady take music so seriously?

Azalina’s performance has inspired fan art on Facebook, such as this piece by Izzuddin Arudin.

If we had to pick between Azalina and Rosmah for who we think would have a better chance at a music career, we’d have to go for Rosmah. If you asked us why, we’d tell you this: Rosmah’s song has gained so many layers of subtext ever since it was first recorded.

Like a top-dollar Bordeaux, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s “If Tomorrow Never Comes” continues to gain complexity – aging beautifully by the day.

Elsewhere, we know Michelle Obama has been working on a rap album since 2013 (which has yet to materialize), while former French first lady Carla Bruni was basically a legit singer-songwriter even before she got jiggy with the prime minister of France.

In any case, we’re looking forward to when we’ll next see another Malaysian politician getting involved in the arts! We’re not very well-versed in the subject, so if you know of any other examples make sure to e-mail us at .


What do you think, folks?

Who has a better shot at being a musical sensation?

Azalina Othman
Rosmah Mansor

Poll Maker

About The Author
Profile photo of Deric Ect
Deric Ect
Deric is contributor and former managing editor of The Daily Seni.
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