这真的是全世界最棒的工作了！老板是杰克强森，在太阳能录音室上班录音，白天自弹自唱，找时间手工自制音乐录像带，闲暇之余上网PO到YouTube，跟白线条团员聊音乐创作，暑假跟Pete York一起巡回演唱，然后再来个告示牌新人榜Heatseakers亚军。一个没有任何背景平凡无奇的女生，Zee Avi凭着她如爵士女伶般的醉人嗓音，打败网络上各路创作人马，成为全世界最棒唱片公司唯一女歌手!
2年前，Zee Avi将自己创作片段上传到YouTube，原本只是让好友观赏后就要删除，没想到却收到路过网友们滚雪球般的热情回应，从20笔一下子跳到3000笔，其中一笔来自白线条乐团(The White Stripes)经纪人Ian Montone，在他的穿针引荐下，Zee Avi成为杰克强森自创音乐厂牌Brushfire Records旗下唯一的创作才女。
一个来自未开发的大自然东马岛屿上的女生，身材娇小却在YouTube上累积了超过150万网友，Zee Avi用她的歌声再度证明了一句俗谚：「音乐无国界」。用创作获得Brushfire唱片公司的赏识，将自己的才华与传奇人物连结在一起，唱片公司创始人之一 Emmett Malloy说：「Zee Avi 放上YouTube的影片有一种神秘感，而她的嗓音和影像则让人觉得时空好像暂停了，她拥有的特质非常吸引我们。」透过电话和email确认好签约事宜后，Zee Avi在YouTube上的热门点播曲”No Christmas For Me”便收录在2008年的圣诞选辑『This Warm December』中；之后前往洛杉矶，在杰克强森知名的太阳能发电录音室Plastic Plant，录制她第一张创作专辑。
以拿手的吉他、夏威夷四弦琴(Ukulele)，搭配上独特慵懒舒服的嗓音，打造自成一格的音乐氛围，Zee Avi一手包办专辑所有词曲创作。首支主打曲在Folk领域中混搭爵士味觉的“Bitter Heart”，令人想起多项葛莱美奖加冕的Norah Jones相同质感；接下来散发淡淡闲适乡村音韵的“Honey Bee”；利用夏威夷四弦琴弹奏、带来新纽奥良Swing Jazz风味的“Just You And Me”以及“Kantoi”；让人回忆起Peggy Lee/佩姬李“Is That All There Is”的“Is This The End”；美国热门影集「私家医情」第二季结局配乐“Monte”；翻唱80年代英国首席乐团The Smiths主唱Morrissey /莫里西歌曲、唱出爽朗Acoustic的“First Of The Gang To Die”…等。听着Zee Avi的歌声，如同躺在沙滩上迎着微风拂面、阳光暖暖包围，似乎什么事都变得不重要。(
Zee Avi (also known as KokoKaina) is a Malaysian singer-songwriter and musician. Her song "No Christmas For Me" is featured on Brushfire Records's 2008 Christmas album This Warm December[1]. She was discovered as a result of years of posting videos on youtube under the moniker KokoKaina. Her single 'Bitter Heart' is currently available on the US iTunes store, and her full self-titled debut album will follow on May 19th.
Zee Avi is just 23 but she’s an old soul. A huge talent in a petite frame bringing a universal message from the unlikely birthplace of Borneo, an ancient island east of Malaysia which remains an untouched, natural paradise, an apt description of her songs. How Avi came to record her debut album in L.A., the first joint release from Ian Montone’s Monotone Label and Jack Johnson’s Brushfire Records, is a true 21st century tale of the way the Internet has transformed the music business and shrunk the globe in the process. Born in the tiny town of Miri in Sarawak on the island of Borneo, Zee grew up near the South China Sea in a liberal, encouraging household where her father owned an energy consultancy. “I was bred to be a lawyer,” she says, but music was in her blood. Her father’s father sang and played double-bass, accordion, violin and guitar in bands. At age 12, Zee moved from Borneo to Kuala Lumpur where she has been based since. At 17, Zee started locking herself in a room for hours on end to learn to play guitar. Guitar took a back seat for 4 years while she was studying fashion design in London. When she returned to Kuala Lumpur, she picked the instrument back up and began writing songs and performing with a band. Zee began recording her songs on a webcam and posting them on YouTube for a friend to hear. “I remember getting so excited when there was one new comment from some random person I didn’t know… One read ‘I’m lost for words - I shall favorite it and ponder if that’s OK,’ ” The day before her 22nd birthday, Zee posted what she intended to be “my last video,” a holiday song, “No Christmas for Me.” By the time she checked her e-mail Avi had almost 3,000 messages including a slew of label offers. One email came from Ian Montone, who had been shown the YouTube clip by Raconteurs’ drummer, Patrick Keeler, prompting Montone to get in touch and offer to release her music on the Monotone Label. With an eclectic pool of influences that range from such eccentrics as Cat Power, Regina Spektor, Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, Jolie Holland, Daniel Johnston and Chris Garneau, to jazz greats Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, to classics like Velvet Underground and Led Zeppelin, this self-described “rock lover at heart” captures the dark, bittersweet qualities of romance with a crack left open for hope and optimism.