Shakira Jasmine and Nuca share the same concern: Despite their consistent popularity over the past two years, they feel that some people still don’t take them seriously as musicians.

"I want to be a professional musician but it turns out, there are many people out there who might not be able to see me that way. That's why I feel like I want to prove myself, though in a good way. I see [people's skepticism] as the spear I use to keep working on my craft," said Shakira.

Nuca concurs.

Although he nabbed his first Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI) Awards nomination this year, Nuca said he couldn't help but feel that he still had to prove his chops, especially considering how the public took a greater interest in his personal life.

"I want to show them that I'm a musician, not someone whose day-to-day life is for sale," he added.

Their latest single "Meant 2 Be", released in late November, might make the case for the skills of the two 19-year-old musicians, in that the song marks a departure from their typical genre and lyrics. Moreover, the duet also marks Nuca's debut as a songwriter.

"In the future, I would like to show off more. I'm a musician, I'm a musician, I'm a musician," he intoned with confidence.

Accidentally on purpose

Shakira and Nuca became friends after they appeared in the first season of The Voice Kids Indonesia back in 2016, which the latter placed as runner-up. Jump four years later to November 2020 and Shakira was spending time at Nuca's house making song covers together when, on the spur of the moment, she asked Nuca to "play some chords".

"At first, we were just fooling around. We got together only to make song covers and suddenly, and without planning it, we ended up writing this song," said Nuca, revealing how "Meant 2 Be" came to be.

Music struggles: The music video for Meant 2 Be was directed by Senry Alvin with the story dubbed as 'Dream of the Broken'. (Courtesy of Musica Studios) (Management archive/Courtesy of Musica Studios)

Buoyed by their personal rapport, Shakira and Nuca discovered that it took little difficulty for them to establish their work dynamic as songwriters.

"After going back and forth, we put our thoughts together where Shakira added her musical influence and I added my lyrical influence," Nuca elaborated.

Another discovery was how their instinctual collaboration empowered them to deviate from teen pop, the genre that both Shakira and Nuca are known for.

When Shakira came up with the lyrics, she says she felt compelled "subconsciously" to take cues from her favorite band. "I didn't realize it back then, but I had been listening to a lot of Coldplay, particularly Parachutes and Ghost Stories," she said, referring to the albums released in 2000 and 2014, respectively.

Feeling invigorated by their unprompted creative juice, Shakira and Nuca decided to cut a rough demo of their original duet that would eventually become "Meant 2 Be". They did so without the knowledge of their respective labels, and without any help from a producer or sound engineer.

"We cut the demo to the best of our abilities. Nuca played the guitar and then he sent me his vocals so that I could put everything together. I'm still learning about mixing and mastering and stuff," Shakira said, shyly.

Not a love story

Shakira's label Musica Studios approved the demo and sent the two singer-songwriters to the studio to record the final cut. It was produced by Irwan Simanjuntak, who was coproducer on what turned out to be Glenn Fredly's final studio album, 2019’s Romansa Ke Masa Depan (romance for the future).

At a length of 4 minutes and 37 seconds, "Meant 2 Be" is a power ballad sung in English with elements of soft rock, chamber folk and choral music. Instead of exploring romance and heartbreak in the vein of their previous releases, the song discusses the pair’s shared struggle of realizing their dreams as well as the virtues of solidarity. The phrase "meant to be" in the song refers to being kindred spirits to each other as they face a "cruel world", separately and together.

Shakira commented that the lyrical style she had applied to the finished duet was "pretty audacious" compared to her previous songs. Instead of writing lyrics in Indonesian that were more straightforward and easy to understand, Shakira noted that she "deliberately" decided to write lyrics that were "not to the point" and in English.

Nuca, in turn, welcomed the risk his partner had taken.

Solidarity: Shakira Jasmine (left) and Nuca's latest duet was inspired by Coldplay, Sleeping At Last, and Steve Benjamins (Photo Courtesy of Felix Martua) (JP/Felix Martua)

"By implication, I can get a new experience out of this while challenging myself at the same time,” he said.

“Here in Indonesia, lots of people still say that English-language songs [by Indonesian musicians] don’t sell well. In a way, I wanted to erase that stigma because no matter how a song sounds, as long as it was driven from the heart, it will be certain to leave a powerful impression,"

In determining the sonic direction of "Meant 2 Be", the duo agreed to come up with something "experimental". "We actually made a playlist as a reference for our sound," said Shakira.

The playlist consisted of indie rock and soft rock acts like Sleeping At Last, Steve Benjamins and Callum Pitt. The choral element in the song's final verse was inspired by Billie Eilish's acoustic piano ballad, "When the Party's Over".

Nuca said they were determined to make the song sound "far from the mainstream". "When we worked on the recording, I was thinking about how we could make this song very much unlike the mainstream songs out there, particularly in terms of instrumentalization and ambience."

Shakira added, "We weren’t trying to be different, we were trying to be authentic."

For the vocal arrangement, Shakira and Nuca emphasized harmonization, as their vocals would rise together to a crescendo in the final verse. Again, they credited their personal rapport and "natural chemistry” for making their different vocals sound cohesive.

"We never had any discussion, we just went for it," quipped Shakira, who also credited producer Irwan for facilitating their vision of the song.

"He's really open. He understood that the song was not just for him, but also us. He's also very chill and he's like a big brother as well. He was very into this project and very keen to make this project as impressive as possible. His support was limitless," she said.

The "Meant 2 Be" single and official music video were both released on Nov. 26. Directed by Senry Alvin, the 8-minute, 42-second music video tells the story of two struggling musicians who have a falling out over how they approach music in their lives. It is a professional dilemma to which both Shakira and Nuca can relate.

Shakira said that for her, "the hardest part" of being a musician was how to believe in “the process", even though it could be arduous and sluggish at times.

"I’ve just submitted 20 [original] songs to my label and hopefully, they will accept some of them,” she said. “From the start and until now, I have always believed in the process. Perhaps things have to be taken one step at a time. As a musician, I have lots of dreams in my head that I want to realize and I know I cannot make all of them happen [at once]."

Mature sound

Looking at the public’s response so far, it seems that Shakira and Nuca's "experiment" has paid off. Two weeks since its release, "Meant 2 Be" has been played more than 500,000 thousand on Spotify, while the music video has hit nearly 1 million views on YouTube.

When all’s said and done, Shakira believes that the duet proves that just like "veteran" musicians, young musicians like her do have what it takes to create a "mature" song with a powerful message.

"Age is not the only thing that determines someone's maturity. Instead, it's the character of our minds and hearts," she said.

Once she’s done proving herself, what is her next goal? Her answer, as expected, was as ambitious as “Meant 2 Be”.

"I want to make a legacy. To have people from every generation know who Shakira Jasmine is."

"Meant 2 Be" by Shakira Jasmine and Nuca is available to stream on Spotify and YouTube Music.