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‘A woman’s world’: Raisa gets personal with motherhood and a new album
After 10 years of commercial success and critical adoration, Raisa decided not to play it safe and instead, experimenting with different sounds and emotional layer with her latest EP It’s Personal.
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Time travel: The EP's finale "Jangan Cepat Berlalu" was inspired by Raisa's bond with her 2-year-old daughter whom she describes as "the embodiment of time itself". Photo credit: Agra Suseno (Juni Records/Courtesy of Agra Suseno)
F
ive years after releasing her third album Handmade—which brought home seven AMI Awards, including the coveted Best of the Best Album—it might seem that great expectations were placed on Raisa’s shoulders as she headed in her next direction. After several standalone singles and racking up more AMI Awards along the way, she was finally ready to unveil her new musical era this year. The era kicked off with an EP titled It’s Personal, which was first released digitally on June 6. The new era (and EP) also marked her 10th year in the music industry since the release of her self-titled debut studio album.
The 31-year-old singer-songwriter said in her chat with The Jakarta Post on July 2 that her decade-long career in the music industry felt like “maybe five years. I mean, I feel like some time has passed, but not, like, 10 years. But I do feel like I have been doing this for a while.” It didn’t escape her attention either that crossing the 10-year mark in the music industry is still a relatively a rare accomplishment. “Especially for female artists,” she added. “Which is scarier because of marriage and having kids and the impossible standards of beauty and youth.”
On top of the gender-related sentiment, Raisa acknowledged the initial pressure post-Handmade. “Because I release my records under my own label [Juni Records], I have to be aware of the numbers and stuff,” she explained. “That being said, I also have to let those things go because […] why would I make another Handmade? What for? That’s not what creating music is about. Besides, Handmade was released during the transition from the analog era to the digital era. The music industry has changed a lot since then, so it’s impossible to compare Handmade with my next record apple-to-apple.”
Tagging along on her latest journey is Marco Steffiano, a songwriter-producer who contributed to the recording of both Handmade and It’s Personal. From his point of view, the reason behind Handmade’s success is Raisa and her collaborators’ commitment to “staying pure”. Marco explained, “I feel like when we worked on that album, what we brought out was really pure and from our hearts. We didn’t [initially] set out to make a commercial hit. I feel like when we create music that is natural and free of gimmicks, people will relate to it more.”
Sure enough, Raisa’s ability in crafting a “pure and relatable” body of work can be acknowledged as her signature power move—a quality that she decided to bring back once again for her new EP. While it has always been her commitment to create “honest” music since she broke into the industry back in 2011, this time around, she decided to get even more personal. Raisa credited her marriage and motherhood for enabling her to “open up”.
“I have settled down and started my own family. I have matured as a person as well, so I feel like I’ve grown more comfortable at opening up my life. For instance, when people asked me about the inspiration behind my previous songs, I wasn’t keen to reveal more details. When I first had my daughter, I didn’t dare to talk much about it either. Now I feel comfortable talking about stuff. Also, to be more vulnerable and simply being human.”
