Singer Anggun sets the record straight

By Hera Diani

JAKARTA (JP): From a career as a teen rocker in her homeland to international acclaim today, Anggun C. Sasmi, or simply Anggun, is indeed the pride of the country.

Her self-titled international debut album sold one million copies in over 30 countries and made her a huge music star in Europe, particularly France where she is based.

Her second album, Chrysalis, came out last October and has also been successful, although she has yet to crack the U.S. market.

During a brief stop home in late April for two concerts in Jakarta and Bandung, Anggun, still modest and full of laughter, talked about making albums, the pressure of being in the public eye and what she really thinks about Indonesia.

Q: How's Chrysalis done so far?

A: It's good, I guess, no complaints. But actually I never want to know about my album sales. At least not before I start recording the next album. Because whether the album has succeeded or not must not influence my performance.

But what if your album flops and then producers demand that you produce a more commercial album?

That is what I don't want to do because an album is not made to order. I make an album because I want to make one. I sing because I love the song and I write a song because I have to make one, because of my own wish.

So the market does not influence you at all?

Of course it influences me, because I have fans. But fans like what I do. If they like Britney Spears they will buy her album, not mine. For me, music is a very personal thing. There are musicians who produce hits now, but there are others who build their careers slowly. I prefer the second one. I have too much respect for music. I don't want to be a "tissue" artist who is thrown away once they have been used. That's why I don't want to sing just any song, or wear any clothes.

So, what kind of clothes do you like?

It depends. There's a magazine in Singapore which wrote about me and the very first line of the article went: "Be careful, the record company said that Anggun is difficult". Yes! (laughing). Many people think I'm difficult because I don't always agree on something or am willing to wear anything they offer for photo shoots. I have to see the clothes first and I have to like them. I don't care if it's Versace or Oscar Lawalatta (a young Indonesian designer), I'm not going to wear it if I don't like it.

Here in Asia people make such a big deal about it, while outside Asia, it's a very common thing.

Is it part of building your image?

No. Because it's me in the picture and the picture will always exist. If I don't like the outfit or my eyebrows, well ... You see, I have had bad experiences and I regret them. I just want to be responsible because for me, it's part of being professional.

In a recent article in Singapore's Her World, you said that the wildest thing you ever did was living in Indonesia. Living? No, it's leaving Indonesia. Leave, not live. Maybe they got it wrong. But never mind.

But you also said that the place is "so not me".

Oh, indeed. Well, I've been living in France for six years now. The place (Indonesia) was so not me anymore, I wanted to move to another country. Because I think we just can't stop doing things that we shouldn't. I lived in Indonesia for 20 years, and now I'm almost 27 ... There are great experiences, but also bad ones as well. Here, everything is interpreted differently to what I really mean.

For example, I was raised a Muslim but my parents sent me to a Catholic school so that I wouldn't have a rigid point of view about religion. But people think I converted to another religion. Even if it was true, so what? It's none of their business.

They said that I married a foreigner (Anggun is married to a Frenchman) for my career. If I did it for my career, I'd rather date, not marry. Because marriage is something big, something difficult.

There are just too many narrow-minded reactions.

There's the impression that you despise your own country.

That's what makes me sad. If I say or do something, people say that I'm anti-Indonesian. When I visited Indonesia last November, many were surprised that my Bahasa Indonesia is still good. Oh my God ... hello? I mean, I live in another country, so what? I don't live in Indonesia anymore because I think it's not logical and what's wrong with that? They always draw bad conclusions.

I'm tired of having to explain myself. It doesn't mean that I hate my own country. It's because I think I have to improve. I have to know other countries, other cultures, learn other languages. It's for my own good. If people don't like it, well, what can I say.

People also like to underestimate. Not that I want to be bragged about, but people seem unable to appreciate things without demeaning (others).

I read a tabloid here recently ... "Oh, Anggun has an international career, and Reza (an Indonesian female singer), well, she only made it in Japan". Well, Japan is itself extraordinary.

People just don't appreciate one's hard work. When I first came here with my first (international) album, they said that I had got a record deal from Sony Music because I was already with Sony when I started in Indonesia. No! It has nothing to do with that. They don't know that I have had to excell, that I have to wake up early every morning and work my butt off. But well...

Some also said 'big deal, Anggun made it in Europe, not in the United States'. What do you think of that?

That's because Indonesia is very America-minded. Well, I don't have American dreams because, for me, the States is only one country and its only got hip-hop or soul. Europe is musically richer and more creative.

I toured the United States for nine months to promote my first album. But you see, Americans tend to classify things. So if I don't sing whooohoooo (impersonating Mariah Carey), they get confused. If we don't do hip-hop, it hardly sells.

My album sold 200,000 copies (in the U.S.). It's very few but for me it was excellent because I'm the only Indonesian who has done that. Even Coco Lee didn't get a single airplay.

Why? Doesn't she sing like Mariah Carey, too?

Indeed. But maybe people see that there's something about her which does not match with her personality -- a Chinese who has dyed her hair blonde, singing R&B in a style just like Mariah Carey.

Well, I may not be famous in the States now, so what? America is not the world. And the quality of an artist is not seen by how many albums she sells. Britney Spears sold millions of copies of her albums but it doesn't make her a Mozart. If America is not ready to accept my music, it's OK, I'm not going to sell myself out.

So what will you do next? New album perhaps?

I'm working on it with a Swedish producer now, and also with Bryan Adams (laughing excitedly)

Duet?

No, we only wrote one song together. There are many singers that I'd love to perform a duet with. But I don't know if they want to do it, who am I anyway (laughing).

In November, I've been invited by Amnesty International to sing in front of the Dalai Lama in the Himalayas. There will only be like five singers and there will be Sting, yeah! I'm so excited!