Widi Asmoro Comes With Runner's Dilemma Song, Brings Stories About Mental Health Issues

JAKARTA - After more than ten years of not being heard from in the Indonesian music scene, Widi Asmoro is back as a soloist and expresses his concerns through his new track, Runner's Dilemma.

With pop music colors and a touch of new-age classic style, Runner's Dilemma brings Widi's story in dealing with mental health issues. Tired of the '9 to 5' routine and monotonous life, as if making Widi stuck between the choice to keep going or run and give up.

"This is an issue that is closest to me. Not many people are ready to accept that they have mental health problems. I am one of them. It feels like time is moving so fast, the morning work hasn't been done, suddenly it's noon and without feeling it's already evening. A new feeling Yesterday was Monday, now it's Sunday and preparing for Monday again," said Widi Asmoro, in a written statement received by VOI, Wednesday, October 27.

"And with this pandemic, it feels like work doesn't stop. The challenges of work come and go as if they are endless. The limitation of space due to the 'lockdown' makes social relations also disrupted. There is no more time to go out with friends to share stories because with social limitations, virtual conversations are not satisfying and make me lose my grip," added Widi.

Widi also entrusted Fifan Christa (Atlesta) and his team in the city of Malang for the music production and orchestration sector. The vocal sessions were carried out in Singapore with Ong Jean Wei as sound director and David 'DSML' Siow as record engineer, before finally undergoing the mixing-mastering stage at SCIFI Studio, Malaysia.

This song also includes Yudhi Arfani who is the guitarist of Widi Asmoro in his indie pop quintet, Everybody Loves Irene. Making this song a song that was done in three countries; Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

The cover visual for this single depicts a road that has no clear end. Like a runner who must prepare for the race to the finish line. Likewise, life seems to keep running without stopping.

Using the moniker Widasroom, Widi Asmoro, who has been on hiatus from Indonesian music for a long time since moving to Singapore, has released 3 solo singles and Runner's Dilemma is his latest single released through an independent channel. Still carrying the indie pop color that Everybody Loves Irene usually shows, but through her solo project, Widasroom has a more mature theme.

If together with Everybody Loves Irene, his songs are themed on the romance of adolescence, now he raises the theme around parenting and the problems of office workers. Widasroom is Widi Asmoro's vent session through music. As a father and office worker who still has a love for music, Widi wants to remain known in the music scene by releasing songs.

"Mental health is something new for me. I never imagined I would have this problem until physically I had mobility problems for no apparent reason. Medical treatment was done but it didn't go away. Then I decided to open myself up to a psychologist counselor in Singapore. Alhamdulillah "These consultation sessions made my health condition gradually recover. I finally knew that I had a mental problem and I learned to accept the situation," said Widi.

"In this process of coming to terms with myself, I wrote the song Runner's Dilemma. The words in this song are personal mantras and are made like communicating with yourself. I decided to also release it and share this story so that other friends may also be able to If you have a similar issue, you can pay more attention to maintaining mental health like physical and physical health," added Widi.

Currently Runner's Dilemma has been released through digital music streaming platforms such as Apple Music, Deezer, Spotify and YouTube.