KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — If you celebrated Aidilfitri in Malaysia last year, chances are you’ve heard of Alamak Raya Lagi, the infectious hit by local girl group De Fam.
Released just before Ramadan, the catchy track was everywhere — on radio, in shopping malls, and Ramadan bazaars — while its music video amassed nearly 50 million views on YouTube.
The song even gained international traction, sparking dance challenges on social media.
South Korean pop group TRI.BE and Japanese dance troupe AvantGardey joined the trend, further cementing its popularity, despite criticism from some conservative quarters over its title and lyrics.
This was despite some negative criticism by the conservative quarters who deemed the title as a slight on the arrival of the holy celebration, while one of its lines also received frowns from the puritans.
Malay Mail catches up with members of the trio along with the songwriters behind the song to hear what they feel about it — one year later.
Behind the viral success
De Fam’s rapper, Sophia Liana, one of the song’s writers, admitted thee group — which also included Azira Syafinaz and Cik Manggis — were stunned by the overwhelming response.
“Even though the song was misunderstood at first, it is nothing deeper than us just talking about how chaotic preparing for Hari Raya can be, but we still love celebrating it nonetheless,” she told Malay Mail.
She added that its success in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, and Brunei was unexpected.
“This was one of the most iconic challenges we’ve ever done,” she added.
For Azira, the song remains a career highlight, with over 5 million Spotify plays and continuous requests for performances — even outside the festive season.
“This is actually what we want, we do hope our song can be an evergreen song that will be played every year without fail like those old Hari Raya songs.
“Let’s hope in 10 years time, people will still sing and dance to Alamak Raya Lagi,” said the singer and actress.
Originally planned for 2023, the release was postponed to March 8, 2024, due to strategic planning.
How ‘Alamak Raya Lagi’ was born
Produced under Faithful Publishing (FP) — the record company of the award-winning artist Faizal Tahir — the song was co-written with in-house talents Ja’a, Awan, Mage, and Glowrush.
According to Ja’a, inspiration struck during a stressful day at the office in early 2023. A casual jam session turned into a songwriting session, and within an hour, the first demo was done.
“We really thought it was just another Faithful project where all of the talents at Faithful Publishing would sing it together just for fun,” he said, saying he did not expect it to be pitched to De Fam, who had by then recorded a number of hits.
They said the song was partly inspired by Malaysia’s Aidilfitri celebration in 2022, which caught many off guard after it was announced to be celebrated one day earlier than when most had expected.
For Awan, this was her first-ever songwriting credit, despite having no musical background.
She credited the song’s success to strong teamwork from production to marketing, with De Fam playing a key role in shaping its reach.
Setting a new benchmark
Following its success, Ja’a admitted that Alamak Raya Lagi has become the standard for FP’s Raya projects.
This year, he is involved in multiple festive tracks, including Fazura and Syasya Rizal’s Raya Pum Pang, with clients specifically requesting songs that sound “like Alamak Raya Lagi.”
Despite this, replicating its exact impact is nearly impossible.
While De Fam won’t be releasing a new Raya song this year, they dropped a dangdut-style ‘Koplo’ remix of Alamak Raya Lagi earlier this month.
And who knows? In 10 years, we might still be singing and dancing to it.
