Singer Anggun sets the record straight

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!