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Wizzy unchained: How an ex-pop star found authenticity in alt rock
One of the millennial generation’s most notable pop stars decided to wipe clean her history for a brand new persona: a liberated alt-rock heroine.
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Rebirth: Wizzy's standalone single "The Light" was inspired by her bidding farewell to her former label as she switched gears to become an independent artist. (Wizzy management/Courtesy of Wizzy)
A good number of Gen Z Indonesians grew up with Williana Saraswati, who goes by Wizzy.
From late 2000 to the mid-2010s, the singer, actress and television personality made a mark thanks to her appearances in hit TV shows such as iSkul Musikal (2012) and Stereo (2015-2016), as well as feature film Negeri Van Oranje (2015). She also made a name for herself as a promising young pop star, as proved by two AMI Awards nominations in 2016 for Best New Artist and Best Soul/R&B/Urban Collaboration.
That being the case, it might come as a surprise that after more than a decade of being synonymous with her “girl next door” pop persona, Wizzy decided to kick off the 2020s with a major reinvention, both musically and visually. At the beginning of this year, she wiped clean her Instagram account and self-released two standalone singles, “The Light” and “Poor Little Kitty”, both of which mark a departure from her position in the Top 40s pop landscape and into the alt rock universe.
Gigging Jakarta
When the Surabaya-born songstress spoke to The Jakarta Post on July 2, she offered a walk down memory lane as a backstory to her massive reinvention.
“I started singing when I was in third grade,” she reminisced. “My dad introduced me to music because he was a musician and my mom was very passionate about entertainment. Dad had me listen to The Beatles and all the divas, like Mariah [Carey], Celine Dion and Whitney Houston.”
Now 27, Wizzy said that although she had no interest in becoming an artist, she harbored a slightly bigger ambition: “Back then, I wanted to be president!” she laughed.
