They’re back: Pop rock band Cokelat returns with a new vocalist and a new album, #Like!. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

The stakes are high with #Like!. The album will be the ultimate test as to whether the public will love new vocalist Jackline Rossy and the band’s new indie spirit.

In the past six years, Cokelat vocalist Namara "Kikan" Surtikanti and two other band members walked away from the band leaving only two members, Edwin on guitar and Ronny on bass. Cokelat then recruited Jackline.

While breathing an indie spirit into the album, Cokelat’s music is largely conservative in its musical approach. #Like! is all about 1990s pop rock alternative with musical exploration at a controlled level.

“Our friends once said that every band worked hard to find its distinct character,” Edwin said at the album launch at Beer Brother in Kemang, South Jakarta.

“Cokelat has found its musical character. Therefore, we stick to pop rock alternative with explorations of punk, hip hop and electronic dance music,” he added.

Edwin invited his band mates from his alternative band Konspirasi – Marcel Siahaan, and Che of Cupumanik, to collaborate on the album.

(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)

The first single, “#Like!”, is an upbeat pop rock song that rides on happy-go-lucky lyrics. Cokelat’s signature bass riffs and melodic guitar come through strongly in the song.

A maudlin ballad, “Sesal” (Regret), highlights Jackline’s wide vocal range, which feels smooth compared to the bold, lady rocker-style voice of Kikan.

“I am aware that there will be pros and cons over my place [in the band]. I am never bothered by that,” claimed Jackline. “It is true that the previous vocalist had a vocal character, but my voice too has its own distinct character.”

Jackline has also brought a different color to Cokelat’s stage presence. A feminine color, to be exact. When singing Cokelat’s new singles at the album launch, Jackline appeared busy frequently fixing her hair and her Sabrina dress.

Prior to taking part in the Cokelat audition in 2011, Jackline covered top-40 songs with her previous band. Among 70 candidates, she was chosen by Ronny and Edwin for her vocals, personality, star quality and most importantly songwriting skills.

“We needed a vocalist that could write songs so that she could deliver the emotions of the songs well,” Edwin said.

Jackline officially joined the band in 2012, training herself to perform the old Cokelat hits in live shows, as well as working on the album alongside her two band-mates.

“During one of our live performances, we wrote a song in just 20 minutes during a break backstage,” Ronny recalled.

Ronny explained that the band decided to make #Like! a first do-it-yourself album after observing the state of the Indonesian music industry in recent years.

"We have years of experience working with mainstream labels. We observed that both indie and major labels suffered from people’s lack of interest in buying physical albums,” Ronny said.

“So, we’re thinking, ‘why don’t we try indie now?’”

Being an indie outfit means they can freely plan the marketing strategy of the album. At the album launch all the fans had to buy the album’s CD as the price of admission. Cokelat plans to apply the same strategy during their promotional tour of Java, running from April 8 to 28.

Cokelat included a hashtag on the album name, hoping that it would give a boost to its social media campaign. That is not the only gimmick. In its press release, Cokelat proudly mentioned the surging popularity of #vocaliscokelatcantik (#prettycokelatvocalist) on its social media accounts.

Despite all the marketing efforts the members of the band have made all by themselves, there is a suspicion that #Like! will be a half-hearted indie album.

As Ronny noted, the band still held open the door for possible cooperation with mainstream labels to market their songs as ring tones and on online platforms such as iTunes.

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