By SHARMILA NAIR

alltherage@thestar.com.my

ALIFF Aziz is seriously ready to carve a name for himself in the international music industry. The 21-year-old Singaporean singer has been working hard for over six years in the scene and is not planning to slow down any time soon.

“I really want to do all I can in the music industry now. You can’t stay long as an artiste if you don’t work hard in the earlier years. The ‘lifespan’ of an artist is just about five years, if you’re lucky – and I plan to make it longer than that,” said Aliff.

The singer got his start after winning Anugerah, a Singaporean talent show, in 2007 and hasn’t stopped since. Well, he did take a two-year break for national service, but he’s now back to promote his self-titled third album, and make a name for himself in Malaysia.

“It’s an all-out pop album but there are several slow tracks which show off my vocal range,” said Aliff. Although he didn’t write any tracks on the latest album, Aliff is working towards coming up with his own material for the next one. He is learning to play the guitar, hoping that it would help him with the songwriting process in the future.

“I’m in middle of a difficult transition. I used to sing to teenagers but now as an adult, I’m focusing on reaching out to an older age group. It’s a really risky move and it takes a lot of strategic planning to get me to where I want to be.

“I want to shed the ‘boyish’ image people have identified with for the last five years but at the same time, I still want to be relevant to my younger fans. Well, to be able to reach that balance, it would be awesome,” said Aliff.

Coming from a musically-inclined lineage – his family members love to sing and his uncles are in several local bands – Aliff believes that he is destined to do music and nothing else; and the response from his fans pushes him to do better and stay longer in the industry.

“I have had people come up to me and say that my music has changed their lives. Listening to things like that is the best satisfaction I can get out of my experience as a singer,” he said.

Aliff Aziz’ self-titled album is out in stores now. Check out Aliff on facebook.com/aliffangels and watch his videos at youtube.com/aliffazizvevo.