Exclusive Khalif Difki, Learning From Ariel NOAH To Find Your Own Music Colors

JAKARTA - Difki Khalif has just released a new single titled Dinah Mencuruh on May 10. The song is the 5th single, after debuting through the song Cinta Yang Dimbuh on January 15, 2021.

Through the song Denah Kehitung, Difki wants to convey a statement of affection and longing to someone special by analogizing himself as a house.

"Specifically, in the song Dnah Kehitung, I would like to convey a statement of affection and longing for people who are important to me. It could be a girlfriend, family or parents," said Difki Khalif while visiting the VOI office in Central Jakarta, Wednesday, May 24.

"Only, I analogize myself as a house, where I am as a house, where there is a living room, dining room, study room to the bedroom," he continued.

Through his song, Difki analogizes every room in the house, such as the living room, family room, bedroom and room as stages in an introduction to someone.

The living room is described as a room where you first know. The living room is depicted when you know many stories from the known person. The dining room depicts an introduction to taste. While the learning room describes the knowledge of the advantages and disadvantages of the person you want to know.

Meanwhile, Difki got the depiction of the room in the house after he saw room tour content that had been rife on YouTube. Not only that, he was also inspired by his father's profession as an architect.

Idenya dari tahun 2017. Saat itu saya terinspirasi sama konten-konten di YouTube yang lagi marak-maraknya room tour. Jadi, gua sebagai penulis menjadikan diri gua sebagai pemikir cerita, dimana gua pengin ketika membuat lagunya dengan tulisan dan dikemas dengan musiknya, orang yang mendengar itu bisa langsung termbar visualnya bagaimana, ujar Difki.

"I'm also from a young age familiar with buildings, because of the architect's father," he continued.

In the process of recording the song Dnah Kehitung', Difki tells a unique story, which he has never done before. He revealed that the lyrics of the song were still being worked on, the day before taking vocals.

"If it's related to the production of the song, coincidentally when I took the vocals, I said at 12 pm, I wrote the lyrics last night. So the chase. Usually when we make songs, we have composed the lyrics, we have made the tone, give it to the team, as soon as we approve it, we will record it. This is not, it has not been approved by the Musica team (recorded label) at that time, but just make it, then the afternoon recording, "he said.

Meanwhile, an obstacle in releasing his latest single, Difki said that he felt he had to be responsible for performing a better one than the song he had previously released.

"Every single we have to be responsible for, where our work must be further improved. If I'm a writer from the point of view of the story, writing and the music itself. So, how can there be an increase from the previous single," he said.

The difference between the five songs that have ever been released, said Difki, is packaged in a quite random way. As a songwriter, he just wants to write and sing songs with a lot of different styles.

"I'm a bit random, huh. Many say from the first single to the fifth person is confused, what is the genre. Honestly, if I'm a story teller, I want to tell you according to my mood. According to me, a songwriter must compose songs and write in any style," he said.

Difki was grateful when he saw that the listeners of the song could understand what he meant when writing songs. Although the number is still relatively small, he feels successful as someone who wants to tell a story.

"As a songwriter, I have one principle where my goal when making songs is to be a storywriter, I have to find people who may have stories just like me, but they can't vent it in writing or songs. My job is how to represent people who actually want to tell stories," said Difki.

"In addition to appreciating them, they also feel represented in comments on YouTube. Many have heard that for me it is a success," he added.

Difki admitted that his presence in the Indonesian music industry could not be separated from the figure of Ariel NOAH who was his cousin. Since childhood, he had heard and was inspired by Ariel who was the frontman of Peterpan.

Since the beginning of his career, Difki admitted that his wild ideas in music were also supported through advice that Ariel had conveyed. Although the NOAH vocalist did not say much, Difki said that he was advised to be free to work.

"He never said much, but he had time to say 'later when you're already famous, you're confused about what to do', he said. So as long as it's not too visible, do what you want, do your best and never expect to become a famous person," said Difki.

"That's what I'm therapyd in. I'm placing myself as an artist, not as a celebrity. I'm here working, where I roll out my ideas. Famous is a gift," he continued.

Difki also shared how his career in music was still decorated with two assessments related to Ariel. He realized that many people judged him to only explore fame from the man who is often called Broril.

First, if I am private, I must be wise. By bringing the frills as Bang Boril's younger brother, I can't lean to the right or left, in the sense that I have to be in the middle all the time. I'm sure there are people who are skeptical who feel I can just because I'm his sister Boril. I just want to prove that my 5 singles are my own songs and I wrote it myself, "said Difki Khalif.

"The other thing, maybe they have high expectations, even though I still have to learn, I have to look for flying hours at that time. So I have to be smart in facing these two opinions. The point is I bring a decent responsibility," he continued.

After all, Difki admitted that he did not pass the smooth road, even though he was the younger brother of a great singer. Having wanted to become a musician since he was in junior high school, he had to wait a long time to be invited by Ariel to enter the music industry.

"So, from junior high school when I had a song, I was heard by Bang Boril slowly, I just might think about it because I was in junior high school, I was told to study first. From junior high school to college, I never stopped writing songs and recordings, at that time Bang Boril was still rejected. He just said a lot of songs made a lot of fun and a lot of playing games like playing at school, "said Difki.

"Well, I came home with the homework from my brother. It was 2015. After 3 to 4 years later, the song 'Love the Silent', my first single when I debuted in the featuring with Bang Boril, at that time my song was remembered. At that time he started to invite a faaturing, I started being invited to several teams and producers at Musica, so it took me a long time here," he continued.

Difki also shared that he had been rejected because he was considered a musical style and sang very similar to Ariel. However, at this time he began to find his own different color from NOAH and Ariel.

What I'm really trying to do now is when I composed the song, I tried to make a story before the tone was made. NOAH is more poetic and more love, I want to minimize it. Only because I realized that I had to make commercial music, like it or not, there was a little love, but there is another point of view, the term," he said.

Apart from Ariel NOAH, Difki Khalif's musicality was also influenced by the Coldplay band. He admitted that he had known Coldplay since he was a child. Through his father, he had listened to the original songs from the band from England.

"From a young age I listened to Coldplay. Coincidentally, my house went to school far away, so I often listen to my father's songs, like Scientist and Yellow," said Difki.

Often invited by his father to visit music stores every week, Difki said that he has a complete collection of Coldplay physical albums. Even though he is not a fanatical fan, Difki calls Coldplay one of the inspirations and he expresses his gratitude to Chris Martin Cs. through the works he has created.

However, Difki said that he did not plan to participate in watching Coldplay's live appearance in Jakarta on November 15. He admitted that he did not really like watching music concerts.

"But uniquely, I don't like watching concerts. Surprisingly, I'm not very aware of what kind of boom I'm in. I'm very at home, I really don't like those who are crowded like that," concluded Difki Khalif.