A nocturnal pop record is relatively rare in the Indonesian music scene, but that is what pop artist and singer-songwriter Hanin Dhiya has manifested in her latest full-length studio album Reinkarnasi (Reincarnation), released on March 3. Not only is the album most discernible when being listened to after the twilight hours, but the nine tracks that make up the record were born from critical contemplations she had with herself at her, figuratively and literally, darkest hour.

No wonder Hanin summarized Reinkarnasi as "a conversation I had with myself".

As she elaborated to The Jakarta Post on Mar. 12, "The truth is, all the stories on this album are what I experienced when I was feeling down in my bedroom, all by myself. At the time, the only person I had was myself. The only person who could say, 'come on, tomorrow we will be better than who we are today!'"

'Start again from zero'

The past seven years in the music industry have taught the Bogor native a lot about herself, especially who she is as a musician. Of all the important lessons she has learned, however, Hanin considered the most important (and the most hard-earned) was how to find a balance between idealism and pragmatism.

"I have to remain idealistic, but I have to be realistic as well," she explained. "Back in the day, because I followed my label's [lead] so much, I ended up sacrificing my idealism. Truth be told, I have not been totally into performing a few of my old songs. However, because I didn't have the courage and the capability of being, like, 'What I want is this! What I want is that!', I panned this out by forgoing my idealistic side. I just went with the flow."

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