South Asian pop music sensation – Yohani, bagged top honors in the categories of “Most Popular Music Video” and “Most Viewed Music Video of 2021” at the TV Derana Music Video Awards held recently. The win comes on the back of the launch of Yohani’s debut album – “Kella,” which was released on all major streaming platforms earlier in the month.
Yohani and her team returned to Sri Lanka to attend the award show following her performance in Los Angeles, USA and appearance at the Formula 1 Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi representing luxury Swiss watchmaker – Tag Heuer.
“I had a really good time at the award show, and it’s an honour to win the top award. I’m excited and happy to be back home after touring last month, it was great to meet everyone from the industry and spend time supporting the local fraternity. As always, I’m really thankful to Dilanjan and the team that is behind me, who work tirelessly to let me do what I love doing,” commented Yohani following the event.
Yohani performed her breakout single “Manike,” and made the debut performance of her album’s title track “Kella” at the award show to resounding ovations from the audience. Yohani’s performance of “Kella” was received with overwhelming enthusiasm at the show. The track is an empowering pop hit which explores themes of identity and self-expression, recurring themes in the album which comprises 14 tracks inspired by true events and characterizations of real women.
“Derana Music Video Awards has always been a project that is very close to my heart, and the aim of bringing this event back to life after a lapse of eight years was to get Sri Lankan musicians and video-makers together in one place to celebrate and support each other. It was a pleasure to see Yohani back on stage here at home with her homecoming performance of “Kella” and of course winning Gold in the “Most Popular Video of the Year” category. I’m excited to see what’s to come for Yohani and the local industry at large,” commented Sharmila Dharmarasa Fonseka, Director Programming of TV Derana.
Yohani’s first win of the night came in the category of “Most Viewed Music Video of 2021” for “Manike.” The video currently sits at 245 million views, convincingly ahead of the winner of the same category for the year 2022 which totaled at 24 million views. The win aligns with Yohani’s dominant hold on the Sri Lankan industry which was recently showcased by her record count of 18 billion total views on YouTube for her discography of 37 songs which translated to 11 billion minutes of listenership in the past year.
“We are all really happy to be back home and Yohani’s performance of “Kella” is really special for all of us. We have been saving the debut to be done at home in Sri Lanka, and we are all very grateful to the organizers for giving us the stage at this star-studded event. We are only just getting started and I’m confident that we will have a remarkable year in 2024. I’m looking forward to positioning Sri Lanka in the global industry as a talent powerhouse,” commented Dilanjan Seneviratne, Business Manager for Yohani.