Twenty-year-old Shakila Karim, a former pupil at Joyce Frankland Academy in Newport, is launching her first single since becoming a student at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance in London.

The song, called ‘The Mask Is Always On’, is co-produced by fellow student Milxnake. Since meeting at the music college, the pair have become good friends and are now working on Shakila’s first EP, which is due to be released later this year.

Although Shakila has previously released original songs, this single is the first one she has written entirely by herself and is available from many online stories including iTunes, Spotify and Amazon.

“I’ve worked with some brilliant people,” Shakila said. “They may not be famous just yet but they’re extremely talented and I’ve enjoyed working with them. “I’m on a journey of discovery and it’s only now that I’m developing a clear artistic vision. I feel that I’m now much more mature musically - and I’m really enjoying working with Milxnake.

“I feel that Milxnake understands me really well. We get on like a house on fire and, hopefully, The Mask Is Always On will be a track many people will enjoy listening to. We expect to be working on lots of things together in the near future.”

Milxnake first met Shakila almost two years ago at the college in London and when they discovered they were both from Hertfordshire, they became good friends.

Milxnake said: “We discovered that both of us were from Hertfordshire and, since then, we’ve got to know each other really well.

“When I first saw Shakila perform, I thought she was highly talented. I’m delighted to work with Shakila. We spend a lot of time together, complement each other’s skills - and like the same kind of music.

“I hope people will like our first collaboration and, if so, we’ll then be able to release more of the stuff we’ve been working on.”

Shakila Karim was born in Whitechapel, in East London, and educated at Joyce Frankland Academy. Alumni of the school include Jamie Oliver, as well as the Grammy-winning producer, Paul Epworth.

Shakila has her sights set on being the first chart-topping pop star of Bangladeshi descent.