By Jocelle Koh

We all have traditions associated with our culture. Growing up in Singapore, Lunar New Year traditions such staying up late on Lunar New Year eve to wish our parents long life, and repeating well-rehearsed strings of greetings in broken Mandarin to receive our red packets are not unfamiliar to me.

But while the essence of celebrating New Year in a traditional way is not entirely lost on me, in recent years I’ve been amazed to discover the surge of activity that comes along with Chinese New Year and Hari Raya Puasa (celebration of the end of Ramadan/fasting month) across the border in Malaysia year after year.

In the month preceding the big week (or even two), Malaysians go big or go home with towering installations celebrating their cultures and homely traditions, selling a plethora of snacks and traditional attire to get you in the mood…and not to mention the festive songs that promise to bombard your ears in every public space and shopping mall.

Baby Jocelle celebrating CNY with her sibling!

And while Singapore has been known to release a catchy Chinese New Year jingle or two every year, this is nothing compared to Malaysia, which released an estimated 350 Chinese New Year songs in 2025, with the number climbing to 400 in 2026, and Raya songs following a similar but less pronounced trend due to the religious connotations of the holiday.

The week of Chinese New Year in 2026, nine out of ten top spots on the Recording Industry Malaysia Chinese music charts were original Chinese New Year songs by local artists and public figures, while as we enter the end of Ramadan in the weeks preceding Hari Raya, five out of top ten spots were original Raya or Ramadan themed songs.

To help us dig deeper into this phenomenon, we’ve called on some experts to shed light on these trends and how they’ve irreversibly shaped Malaysia’s celebration practices during these festive periods year after year.

Chinese New Year Songs (新年歌)

Singer-songwriter, producer, actress and academic Dr. Soo Wincci shared with us that the trend of marketable festive songs has actually been around for over 30 years, since the 1990s, combining the population’s love for festive celebrations with entertainment content.

“Festive songs phenomenon actually started in the 1990s, back then tapes were sold and a lot of singers especially for Chinese New Year will come out with (cassette) tape, VCD or event CD… (the trend) went up and down. The trend came back again with the rise of social media and exploded after covid. Malaysia has (always) been a multi racial country and also we love celebrations so from time to time it would explode.”

In recent years, this festive song movement has snowballed to the point where brands and businesses are considering it a highly effective marketing tactic, encouraging more and more public figures to jump on the CNY trend. For example, Malaysian singer-songwriter and influencer Dior 大穎’s 2025 Chinese New Year song “Happy Oily Oily 樂油油” (a play on the term ‘樂悠悠 Le you you” which means extreme happiness) currently has over 5.6 million views on YouTube.

The Chinese New Year trend has given significant opportunity to a new generation of Malaysian artists to cut through the clutter and appeal to an export-heavy market, and none more influential and progressive than Malaysian KOL-artist boyband 3P, whose viral and unique take on original Chinese New Year songs year after year have taken them beyond Malaysia’s borders through collaborations and positive response from regions such as Singapore and Taiwan.

With viral Chinese New Year songs such as “時光大耳窿 (The Loan Shark of Time)” (2026, 4 million views), “YES蛇 (Yes Snake, a play on ‘Yes Sir’)” (2025, 13 million views), “我的媽呀 Oh my mum” (2023, 22 million views), 3P’s visually indulgent and eye-catching videos, tongue in cheek lyricism and unexpected collaborations with the likes of Hong Kong’s Nancy Sit and Singapore’s Mark Lee and Jasper Lai ignite a refreshing combination of nostalgia and fun that bring the celebratory mood like no other for the younger generations.

The group (made up of Caven Tang, Kevin Ong, and Danny Lee) shared how this endeavour started, and how they inject their own sense of creativity into each original song.

“We actually started our first Chinese New Year song, 21 Banluck, just for fun as a Chinese New Year content. From there, our interest started to grow, and we continued producing more original songs, not just during the cny period…Most of our Chinese New Year songs aren’t “typical” of what people usually listen (to). We like to explore and experiment with different music genres and styles, hoping the audience can connect with the message or genuinely enjoy the song.”

Expanding from the festive song market towards original catalog too, the boys are a perfect representation of how far a collaborative and celebratory spirit can get you in Malaysia’s music market.

Hari Raya Songs (Raya Song)

As for Hari Raya, due to the preceding Ramadan month being a period of deep reflection and stillness, there are more nuances to songs which resonate with audiences during this time. While there is certainly still an uptick in celebratory tracks, such as the infinitely memable TikTok favourite “Alamak Raya Lagi” by DeFam and the afrobeats-meets-dangdut style “Serempun” by Mimifly which feature fresh new sounds incorporated with visually familiar themes, there are also slower but equally iconic sounds which contribute to the festive season.

Malaysian music industry professional Azlan Amirruddin (Believe Malaysia Singapore) shares several hallmarks which make the ‘Raya’ sound a unique duality that may not be found elsewhere.

“A quintessential Raya song almost always plays on a beautiful duality, profound nostalgia mixed with overwhelming joy. On one hand, we have themes of balik kampung (returning home), seeking forgiveness (bermaaf-maafan), and a gentle melancholy for loved ones who have passed on or the simple village life of the past. We hear this in the minor keys and traditional phrasing of the classics. On the other hand, there’s the vibrant, upbeat celebration of completing a month of fasting. Musically, we’ll often hear a fusion of modern pop with traditional Malay instrumentation, like the rhythmic beating of the kompang, the strumming of the gambus, or the upbeat tempo of joget and inang rhythms. It’s a vibe that instantly tells a Malaysian, ‘It’s time to celebrate.’”

One such track which lives on the more melancholy side of the Raya spectrum is Singaporean veteran artist Imran Ajmain’s 2025 viral hit ‘Seribu Tahun Lagi (A Thousand Years From Now)’, a nod to his 2006 classic ‘Seribu Tahun’.

With over 13 million streams on Spotify and counting, the song’s inclusion in a Ramadan-Raya drama sparked fresh interest in Ajmain’s bulletproof catalog, representing a full circle moment. A slow, enchanting and heart wrenching ballad, Imran shared with us how it connected specially (but unintentionally) with Raya-prepping audiences:

“Ramadan and Raya is a season of reflection, we think about loved ones, lost ones, and the passage of time. “Seribu Tahun Lagi” speaks about a loss of love that you thought you could wait a thousand years more, and I think audiences found that sentiment very resonant during Ramadan-Raya, when we remember those who are no longer with us (alive or dearly departed). The song wasn’t written with Ramadan-Raya in mind, but the emotion it carries; longing, hopelessness, sacrifice, naturally found its home in this Ramadan-Raya season.”

Ajmain reflects on the flip side of this celebratory period and why it connects so with Malaysian audiences due to the nuances of this particularly important period spiritually and emotionally.

“Ramadan strips away a lot of the noise in our daily lives, and that stillness makes us more fragile, more sensitive. We find ourselves reminiscing about better times, and sometimes sitting with unbearable loss or regret. When you see others celebrating with their loved ones and yours are no longer there, that feeling is something visual storytelling captures in a way that music alone sometimes can’t. Together, they become something very powerful.”

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While these examples show us that celebration is well and truly in the blood of all Malaysian audiences, Dr Soo Wincci who holds a PhD in Artistic Production warns that from a business and economics standpoint, this trend is not a sustainable singular pathway to success.

“In 2026, not just 400 cny songs (were produced), Raya (songs) as well were flooding non stop…we are predicting the trend will go down again as knowing Malaysia trend max only wil last 3-5 years… 2026 will come to a peak then go down again. I think next year will go in moderation due to loads of economical and international wars going on… those who only depend on festive songs will among (those) to be cut during any economical downturn.”

Nevertheless, such a unique phenomenon continues to mark the Malaysian nationwide core values of family and togetherness like few others do. Of returning home, respecting tradition, and the importance of returning to one’s roots, even if it is just for one week in a year.

Special thanks to 3P, Azlan Amirruddin, Dr. Soo Wincci and Imran Ajmain for their assistance on this piece! For those who are celebrating the upcoming Hari Raya period, wishing you Selamat Hari Raya, Maaf Zahir Dan Batin!