Singer Syafinaz officially started off as a child singer with
RTM when she was only 9 years old alongside a duet partner, Eliza. Syafinaz continued her singing journey by going solo at the age of 15 and produced her first album,
Syafinaz launched in 1989. She then kickstarted her singing career as a pop singer by releasing
Ingin Bersamamu album in 1999, followed by
Syyh in 2001. Her career achievements as a pop singer include a Gold Medal in the R&B/Pop/Rock/Contemporary category during the 1999 World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA) in Los Angeles. Additionally, she's been nominated twice in
Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) for Best Female Vocal for her albums
Ingin Bersamamu (1999) and
Syyh (2001), a nomination in Anugerah Bintang Popular Berita Harian for Popular Female Singer in the year 1998/99, Sri Angkasa Award and Anugerah ERA 2002. Between 2001 and 2020, Syafinaz collaborated in producing two featured singles respectively with Dennis Lau entitled "Mahkota"
(Crown) in 2009, In 2023, Syafinaz once again collaborated with violinist Dennis Lau in producing a song entitled "Glory". "Glory" was composed by Dennis Lau, while Tessh R.S., also known as Tinta, wrote the lyrics. Tinta also wrote the lyrics to Syafinaz's hit song "Ingin Bersamamu". On 29 July 2023, a month after "Glory" was recorded, Tinta passed away. Although Syafinaz and Dennis were devastated by this loss, they worked on "Glory" until it was completed, and released on 15 December 2023. "Glory" features themes of patriotism and community harmony.
Teaching During her final year as a student in the
Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Syafinaz was trusted with the responsibility as a lecturer assistant by Siti Chairani Prohoeman. She was then immediately recruited as a lecturer in the UiTM right after her graduation in 1995. Today, Syafinaz does not only lecture in UiTM, but also in The National Arts Academy (ASWARA) as well. In addition, Syafinaz was elected as one of the board of director at ASWARA in 2020. She is also an advisor, vocal master, director, and a conductor for the National Choir of Malaysia, and Genius Seni Koir Group (formerly known as Permata Seni Koir). Under the leadership of Syafinaz and the other teaching staffs of
JKKN, the National Choir of Malaysia have won two gold medals for Vocal Group category and Mix Choir category in the 4th Bali International Choir Festival 2015; and additionally, the Genius Seni Koir group also earned a silver medal for the Pop
Ensembles category and a gold medal for the
Folklore with
Accompaniment category in
World Choir Games that was held in
Gangneung,
South Korea in July 2023. Syafinaz was also invited to conduct the
Vienna Boys' Choir during the group's tour in Malaysia in 2011. Moreover, Syafinaz also provides private voice tutoring and known to have tutored several well known local singers including Misha Omar, Khai Bahar,
Ernie Zakri, Hael Husaini, and many more. She was the music advisor for the reality programme Audition II, and a vocal coach in Malaysia national singing competition Bintang RTM 2018. She was also chosen as one of the mentors in the reality show Mentor for the show's 7th season installation, Mentor 7 2018. In Mentor 7, Syafinaz was the only mentor who managed to keep both of her protégés (Lazarul and Ranisha) up to the semi-final until Lazarul was eliminated in the
semi-final. Syafinaz also managed to maintain the youngest and only female protégé (Ranisha, 18) from the beginning towards the
final of Mentor 7.
Jury/critic Syafinaz has extensive experience as a jury in numerous local singing competitions and reality shows, including
Akademi Fantasia Season 3 (guest) and 4 (guest); Who Will Win, Mentor,
One in a Million (OiAM) Season 1, 2 and 3; Pop Krew, The Band, Bintang Kecil RTM, Bintang RTM, AF Megastar 2017, Separuh Akhir Muzik-Muzik (SFMM36), Gegar Vaganza Season 6 (guest), 7 (guest), 8 (fixed), 9 (fixed) and 10 (fixed). Syafinaz was also the Captain of a team of 50 celebrity jurors for Astro's second season of
All Together Now Malaysia 2022. Her partnership with her co-jury,
Paul Moss in
OiAM landed them a nomination for Best On-Screen Chemistry Award in
Shout! Awards in 2009. What makes Syafinaz one of Malaysia's celebrated jury and critics in local singing competitions are her motivating encouragements, constructive remarks and pointers from the academic point of views. ==Special events and appearances==