Exploring Self-identities, Singapore Singer Sezairi Will Bring More Indonesian Songs

Sezai during the hearing session in Jakarta (Ivan Two Men/VOI)

JAKARTA - The name Sezairi Sezali may still be foreign to Indonesian music lovers, this soloist from Singapore has achievements to be proud of.

The song, entitled 'It's You', received 199 million streams on Spotify. The song, which was released in 2018, was also certified by 13 Platinums in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and 1 Gold in Taiwan. The 37-year-old singer is the first Singaporean artist to achieve this success.

Most recently, the winner of the Singapore Idol event in 2009 launched a single titled Kata, which uses Indonesian. This song became special, because in previous songs, Sezairi preferred English.

Despite being born and raised in Singapore, Sezairi has Indonesian blood. His mother's family comes from Pekalongan, Central Java. While his father's family comes from Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan. This made him see Indonesia with all its cultural wealth - including language - is an inseparable part of him.

Therefore, Sezairi, who wrote her new single in Indonesian, did not feel difficult even though it was not the main language.

"It feels like this is the most natural and the most powerful," said Sezairi during a hearing session in Cipete, South Jakarta recently.

Meanwhile, the release of the word became a moment when the Seirri explored her identity, which resulted in a commitment to releasing Indonesian-language songs.

The word is one of several Indonesian-language songs that are material for his upcoming album. Broadly speaking, this song tells the story of a complex relationship, which makes us reach the point where so much is in our heads, but none can be spoken in words.

"This song tells the story of someone who is really tired of everything, who can no longer even express the word to his loved ones, can't explain what he feels because everything is very quiet," he said.

Meanwhile, Teddy Adhitya became a collaborator in songwriting. Not without reason, the two have been friends and have been involved in a music project together.

"The reason why it's so easy for me to work with Teddy is because we have the same philosophy of songwriting," concluded Sezairi.