yq array manipulation returns string literal instead of an array

I am currently trying to manipulate a yaml file using yq. For example purposes I condensed it down to the important parts. There is a keys variables that I am using to replace the values of .spec.data. However, I am getting no the desired result. It creates a string literal for spec.data instead of keeping it in array format with its new items. How to achieve the replacement of an array with its new items without turning into as string literal?

original yaml

spec:
  data:
    - secretKey: VARIABLE_1
      remoteRef: 
        key: VARIABL_1
    - secretKey: VARIABLE_N
      remoteRef: 
        key: VARIABLE_N

curent yaml output

spec:
  data: |-
    - secretKey: NEW_VARIABLE_1
      remoteRef:
        key: NEW_VARIABLE_1
    - secretKey: NEW_VARIABLE_2
      remoteRef:
        key: NEW_VARIABLE_2
    - secretKey: NEW_VARIABLE_N
      remoteRef:
        key: NEW_VARIABLE_N

desires yaml output

spec:
  data: 
    - secretKey: NEW_VARIABLE_1
      remoteRef:
        key: NEW_VARIABLE_1
    - secretKey: NEW_VARIABLE_2
      remoteRef:
        key: NEW_VARIABLE_2
    - secretKey: NEW_VARIABLE_N
      remoteRef:
        key: NEW_VARIABLE_N

code

bashArray=("NEW_VARIABLE_1" "NEW_VARIABLE_2" "NEW_VARIABLE_N")

keys=$(jq -c -n '$ARGS.positional' --args "${bashArray[@]}")

# Create a JSON array of the new data
new_data=$(echo "$keys" | jq -nR '[inputs|{secretKey: ., remoteRef: {key: .}}]')

# # Convert the JSON array to YAML and update the file
new_data_yaml=$(echo "$new_data" | yq e -P -  )

yq e -i ".spec.data = \"$new_data_yaml\"" test.yaml

Assuming you are using mikefarah/yq, you can use ... style="" to reformat the YAML code. Also, you can import JSON directly, you can use env for easier import through environment variables, and you can use += to append to an existing array:

# If $new_data is a JSON array
new_data="$new_data" yq e -i '.spec.data += (env(new_data) | ... style="")' file.yaml