Nice black coat

For Siti Nurhaliza, Hari Raya is “hari kemenangan” (a day of victory).

“And we celebrate by embracing the spirit of family, visiting each other, and taking the time to show our appreciation towards each other,” she tells CNA Lifestyle.

Ikhlas, the special Hari Raya song Malaysia’s biggest star has been working on with Singapore’s Taufik Batisah and Indonesia’s Nissa Sabyan, encapsulates all that, and more.

“Ikhlas is a reminder for us to always be grateful for all our blessings, especially during this blessed month,” said the award-winning songstress. “I’m very excited for our fans to finally be able to listen to (the song).”

Composed by Omar K and Ikhwan Fatanna and inspired by the theme of togetherness, Ikhlas and its accompanying music video was released today (May 31) exclusively on Apple Music. It will be available on other platforms from June 7.

BRINGING TOGETHER THREE OF THE REGION'S BIGGEST STARS

Ikhlas, which translates to “Sincere” in English, is also the song that brought three of the region's biggest stars together for the first time.

For erstwhile Singapore Idol Taufik Batisah, it was “amazing to see three different voices and personalities connect together for this song.” He told CNA Lifestyle that although he has performed with Siti Nurhaliza on stage several time before, they have never recorded a song together.

“I am glad it finally happened,” he said.

He added: “Despite all of us coming from different countries and having different cultures, at the end of the day we’re all human, and have much more in common than we know.”