Fildza | 7.12.2000

Sungguh Anggun is how I would describe the petite Indonesian singer with the big voice.

Born to an artiste father and a mother with blue blood, Anggun is no princess. Blessed with flawless skin and nice features, the only thing that struck me was Anggun's humble nature.

Different from the other artistes that I have interviewed, Anggun has absolutely no airs around her. I think it's me but it's probably the fact that we are Asian that made it easier to identify with each other.

Leaving Indonesia when she was a teen was the craziest thing that she has ever done. Mentally prepared to adapt to the culture shock, she went to London to seek a new life. Unfortunately, London became the place that she hates most.

Having lived in Paris for a number of years already, it is no doubt that the beautiful singer had adapted to the French lifestyle easily. “I was expecting the changes. Expecting things to be so different. It wasn't hard in my head knowing that they don't eat rice so what? I was there to learn to adapt myself. That's your ability as a woman or a human being. Animals don't adapt. We are civilized animals, we evolve. People are scared of changes.”

In Singapore to promote her latest album, “Chrysalis”, she took almost two years to come out with the new album. “I was busy. The first album was released in 33 countries but not at the same time. The promotions of the album was only finished in October last year,” remarked Anggun.

All the songs in “Chrysalis” was written by her. “Although if I don't physically write the lyrics in my previous albums, I contributed a lot to the birth of the songs.”

The difference between the two albums is obvious. “Both are different. People don't actually listen to it properly. The first album, I wrote all the songs and there were Indonesian ethnic sounds. “Chrysalis” is the first album in so many years that I included guitars and distortion. It even sounds like B52. These are the so many different elements in the albums. People have the perception that my albums sound alike because they only listen to the first three seconds of each song. I'm so used to hearing that,” added Anggun.

She decided to do away with her Indonesian elements because she want get rid with the stereotype that just because she's an Indonesian, she has to do Indonesian sounds, wear batik or write her songs in Indonesian.

“I don't want my identity to become a limit, a boundary. I'm so proud of it. I want to show it (my identity) in a more intelligent way. The album is still very Indonesian in the feel, in the lyrical point of view. When you read the lyrics, even though the language is English, the point of view, the theme or the sounds still sound Indonesian. It comes from an Indonesian point of view. I like to show the Indonesian part in a very subtle way. It's like putting on perfume. You can smell it but you can't see.”

The way Anggun writes her songs was much or less influenced by the French culture. She got her inspiration by referring to the way the French write their metaphors, which isn't as straightforward as the English language. “I hate singing Westlife or Britney Spears type of lyrics. It's so unpersonal. Indonesian speak in metaphors naturally because we don't have much vocabulary. We put a lot of images so that people can understand what we talk about. The French language is also the same but I think that they are even worse. They have words for everything but yet they put images to it,” Anggun said in a matter of factly.

No one can imagine that this beauty cites Freddie Mercury as the one who taught her to sing. She used to listen to him everyday and tried to imitate the way he sings when she was growing up. The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Indonesian ethnic sounds are her strongest musical influence. Weirdly enough, Anggun's music does not remotely sound like her influences.

This lady spent more than 20 minutes with us reporters in an intimate round table interview at Four Seasons Hotel. Here's one juicy fact that all you Anggun fans should know. Anggun will always travel with her “guling” or in English its called bolster. Without it she can't sleep. “It's very embarrassing because I will have this enormous bag that I have to carry around even if I only stayed for a day. I would fold my outfits into tiny pieces and the “guling” will take up the whole place,” Anggun said with a tint of shyness.