"That has always been the question that I ask myself lately, 'Am I still a teenager, though?' Well, no!" said Keisya with a self-deprecating chuckle. "I can no longer call myself a teenager, but I feel like I'm still too juvenile to be considered a young adult. So, like, okay, here we go! I'm 20 now, which means I have to be more serious in everything I do."

Keisya's first mark of being a "serious" adult: Her debut album Levronka, which is set to drop on May 12. The pop record, released under the music label Universal Music Indonesia, encompasses eight tracks in which she worked with some of the industry's most notable songwriters and producers, namely Andi Rianto, Laleilmanino, Mario G. Klau, Bemby Noor and Stockholm-based The Kennel Music. Two days before the album's official release, the artist sat down with The Jakarta Post to discuss her career and the album.

'The risks and what might happen'

In hindsight, remarking Keisya's career trajectory during the past four years as a rollercoaster might be an understatement; the artist also acknowledged how her career had been shaped unusually.

After signing with her current music label, Keisya instantaneously dropped three standalone singles throughout 2020: The Bemby Noor-penned, bubblegum pop-leaning “Jadi Kekasihku Saja" (Just Be My Lover), Laleilmanino-produced guitar bop "Tergesa" (Rush), and the folkier "Lagu Untuk Hari Ini" (Song For Today). All three songs achieved modest popularity until it was clear that the COVID-19 pandemic would make it nearly impossible for her to continue making more music.

The singer immediately pivoted to acting, establishing herself as one of the rising actors to watch thanks to her turn in major projects such as the two seasons of the teen drama web series Jingga dan Senja and the 2022 comedy film Lara Ati. She discovered her flair for acting, though nothing can substitute her love for music.

"I was around 17 or 18 years old then, and I felt like so many doors had opened. I was down for trying everything, so when an offer for casting came by, I was like, 'Okay, let's try it out. If it doesn't click with me, then I will move on. Back to singing’."

Entering mid-2022, Keisya was ready to drop a new song again; this time, an orchestral pop ballad written by singer-songwriter Mario G. Klau called "Tak Ingin Usai" (Refuse to End). To the artist's surprise, the tune became a mammoth success. Not only did "Tak Ingin Usai" become the third most played Indonesian song on Spotify by the end of 2022 (behind Tulus' "Hati-Hati di Jalan" [Safe Travels] and Feby Putri and Fiersa Besari's team-up "Runtuh" [Crumble]), its accompanying music video became the most watched Indonesian video on YouTube in the same year.

Unfortunately, Keisya's mammoth success came with a painful downside. Her recurring stumbles to perform the vocally challenging "Tak Ingin Usai" throughout 2022 were documented by netizens. They grew viral on social media, resulting in "bullying" and the artist becoming a public mockery by various parties.

Nonetheless, after some time, Keisya found herself undeterred by the public backlash and "surprisingly" willing to take more risks.

"I felt that I had found where I belonged [sonically]. But, at the same time, I still wanted to try other things," she reminisced, "until I could feel like I clicked in a certain place 100 percent."

And thankfully, her inner circles, such as her family and her label, were undeterred as well.

"They would be, 'It's alright if that's what you choose. But, have you thought of the risks and what might happen next?' " added Keisya.

Keisya's first mark of being a so-called serious adult: Her debut album Levronka, which was dropped on May 12, 2023. (Universal Music Indonesia/-)

'Sink' or 'swim'

Keisya's debut album Levronka, as a result, finds the artist taking more risks creatively and professionally. She included her re-interpretation of Ari Lasso's signature song "Mengejar Matahari" (Chasing the Sun) in the album, assisted by the song's original co-writer and producer, Andi Rianto. To make her album more diverse sonically, she balanced the perkier "Jadi Kekasihku Saja" and "Lagu Untuk Hari Ini" with a more adult-contemporary offering such as the newer ballad "Tak Pantas Terluka" (Not Deserving of Hurt).

In addition, Keisya has started dipping her toes in the wider music market. In April, she released "Darkest Hour (Keisya Levronka Version)," a bilingual duet with Norwegian singer-songwriter Astrid S. Her debut album also included her first-ever English solo track, the R&B-influenced "Better On My Own."

The artist wistfully acknowledged that she would lie if she said she was not nervous about another possible setback or, worse, a failure. "It feels so painful every time I drop a new song. I am so afraid that what happened with “Tak Ingin Usai” will happen again," she said.

Still, she is confident that Levronka has perfectly encapsulated who she is as a musician and as a human being. It was her deliberate decision to opt for aquatic blue as the dominant color for the album's cover artwork.

"I was drowning [after the public backlash]," Keisya divulged. "But I decided to continue going with the flow, slowly, fighting my way back and refusing to give up. If I gave up, that would mean I would sink for good. Instead, I managed to swim afloat and started reaching its surface. However, it was just the beginning for me. My lower body is still underwater, but the upper one? It has seen the light."

Regardless of her new wisdom and battle scars, Keisya is still unsure of what the future holds for her, especially now that she is officially a twenty-something. She concurred that there is always a possibility of the future being even more chaotic or, worse, painful than before.

Keisya has a simple mantra for the unpredictable future: "Well, ready or not, I must get on with it. It might be painful, but what can I do? Be angry? It won't change anything. To step back? Well, you're already hurt, so why bother? Why not just keep moving forward?"

One thing is for sure, though: Keisya decided to regret nothing.

"Because if I hadn't [stumbled] and been bullied [because of it], I would not be who I am now," she concluded sagely. "I would not have been able to know myself and would not have made the choices I made. As I said before, water represents my career journey. What kind of person would I have become if things ran smoothly?"

Keisya Levronka's debut album Levronka is available for streaming.