'Lite-jazz' singer Andien at crossroads
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Being famous at the tender age of 20 is not easy, especially when the artist has, at an even younger age, sold multiplatinum records from singing jazz, a genre that draws relatively few devotees.
It is hard to find the right balance between the artist's aspiration of wanting to mature musically alongside her coming-of-age and the urge from her record company to broaden her mass appeal.
The third album of lite-jazz singer Andien, Gemintang (Stars), was born out of such tension.
Having successfully scored hits from her previous albums -- impressive records produced by two of the country's jazz mavericks, Elfa Secioria and Indra Lesmana -- there was no other way but up for Andien; instead she chose to tone down her musical ideals and took a more market-friendly approach.
"As I grow older I also have to appeal to people of my age -- I have to adopt a new image because I'm no longer a singing high- school student. I have to compromise with my record label about what songs will be released as singles," she told The Jakarta Post in an interview at a posh hotel in South Jakarta.
To achieve the objective Andien and her record label Warner Music Indonesia hired Tohpati, one of the country's finest live guitarists, to serve as producer of the album.
The third album has Tohpati's signature all over it.
If Andien's 2000 debut Bisikan Hati (Whispers from the Heart) had classic touches, it was from Secoria's bossanova big band; her 2002 album, Kinanti, was the fruit of Indra's dalliance with trip-hop, while Gemintang has adopted a stripped-down approach.
Songs are built from the chord progression of Tohpati's acoustic guitar.
It was a safe bet: Coupled with Andien's sexy vocals, it will easily lodge in listeners' consciousness for weeks.
Andien, however, dismissed a notion that she was selling out in her latest record. "I can't say that my two previous albums are better. Bang Elfa, Indra and Tohpati are icons in the country's jazz scene and each has their own style.
"I can't say that one is lighter than the other but both have the essential characteristic of jazz -- honesty -- and that is what I offer in my new album," she said.
Tohpati composed all the songs, while Andien wrote all the lyrics.
The album's new sound, however, belies the fact that Andien has absorbed the bulk of musical influences that she could easily have put on her new records.
"My musical references have grown over the years and they have influenced the way I sing, for instance, and my approach to music ... but again I was faced with the choice of what the market wants and my idealism," said Andien, who hopes to write her own songs and produce albums herself in the future.
The avowed Ella Fitzgerald fan said that she was lucky enough not to have become too famous or a musical trend-setter, something that would have driven her to complacency and shut out influences from other artists.
Andien, now a second-year student at the University of Indonesia, seems to have taken her popularity in her stride and is not bothered about becoming something she is not.
"You might have found me a totally different person if we'd had this conversation at my campus canteen. You're seeing my alter ego now," she said.