TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
The comeback girl: how Ziva Magnolya restored her pop dominance
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
T
hanks to the immediate success of her latest single "Peri Cintaku", the pop-R&B singer sets the stage for a comeback saga to root for this year.
Success is not a direct, straight line -- a life lesson that Ziva Magnolya learned the hard way from her two years of hustling through the Indonesian music industry. Once a pop rookie whose potential was acknowledged by her peers and the music audience alike -- proven by her nomination for Best of the Best Newcomer at the 2020 Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI) Awards -- the Jakarta native wove a wobbly trajectory since then, decorated with a crowd-pleasing hit, inferior duds and a team-up that marked a return to form.
"I felt like I lost the faith I once had in myself during the past couple of years," the 21-year-old told The Jakarta Post on April 13. "Until finally, like, I could open up and will myself to contribute and give more effort than before. That, and also, will myself to simply believe and rely on God. That's what I have always remembered. That's what I feel right now."
Ziva's career evolvement might not be as easy as falling off a log, but thanks to her latest single "Peri Cintaku" (“My Fairy of Love”), she may well have reclaimed her place in the pantheon of contemporary pop music. A day after its digital release on April 8, the track rapidly soared to the Spotify Indonesia Top 50 chart, with its music video securing the top spot on the YouTube Indonesia's Music Trending chart. A triumph that tastes both sweet and reassuring, the singer now believes that, regardless of all the ups and downs in the past, she has been on the right path all along.
"I think success means having found yourself in all kinds of spots. Don't you think so?" she cheekily remarked.
Finding her light
Ziva still remembered the first time she decided to "study a song in-depth": she was in the sixth grade at the time and the song that caught her interest was Beyoncé's 2006 R&B ballad "Listen". Looking back, she concluded that while the ballad was "very thorny" to master, "it was such a joy to try”.
Emulating the queen of R&B was merely the first of many daunting tasks the young Ziva would have to throw herself into going forward. As a teen, Ziva tried her luck on a few talent shows before coming to prominence as the third place in the 2019-2020 season of the televised talent competition program Indonesian Idol. Showcasing her musical gift in such a public forum proved to be a sobering experience for the aspiring artist, most notably after she grasped the reality that comparison was inescapable.
"I had experienced placing number one or number three or number five or none at all. I had been in all of those places before and I couldn't help but second-guess myself. Like, how did I end up being in the fifth place? Because I lacked preparation. And when I placed first, I could tell that my effort was assuredly on point."
Another lesson that Ziva learned was that talent would be meaningless without trust. "Once I have my parents' trust or anyone's trust, it makes me feel like I can do this. Like I truly have what it takes," she said.
After Idol wrapped up, Ziva signed with Universal Music Indonesia and released her major-label debut single "Tak Sanggup Melupa #terlanjurmencinta" (“Can Hardly Forget #AlreadyInLove”) in June 2020. Written by Yovie Widianto, the pop ballad was an instant success: "Tak Sanggup Melupa #terlanjurmencinta" counted more than 29 million plays on Spotify with its music video having been viewed more than 23 million times. Unfortunately, Ziva's successive singles "Mata-Mata Harimu" (“A Spy on Your Days”) and "Sampai Kapan" (“Until When”) did not reproduce the same success as her debut single -- both songs have barely amassed 4 million plays and 3 million plays on Spotify, respectively.
Responding to the songs' underperformance, she took notes on "the lack of totality from my part," she opined. She had come to realize that, to make it in the music industry, pulling her punches is not necessarily the wisest course of action.
"I was too frenzied. I didn't have the courage to express my opinions," she added.
Faith, love and redemption
No artist wishes to be a one-hit wonder, and Ziva Magnolya is no exception. Her recent clinkers put her confidence through the wringer.
"I did have such fear -- from the bottom of my heart. But at the same time, I knew that if I continued mulling over it, I would never be able to free myself from that kind of thinking. So I always fenced it off and, like, figured out what else I could do for a breakthrough."
Ziva only released one song in 2021: a collaboration with R&B singer Rizky Febian titled "Terlukis Indah" (“Beautifully Painted”). The duet not only signaled a return to her R&B roots, but the singer also described the upbeat number as a defining moment in which she felt the "flick" to shake things up. She started reexamining her identity and her productivity as a musician.
"Observing the healthy competition among musicians -- obviously they have a lavish body of work -- I still consider myself a docile kind when it comes to creating a work of my own," she assessed herself.
And when Yovie Widianto approached her for the second time, this time offering her a chance to recycle Marcell Siahaan's 2010 hit "Peri Cintaku", Ziva knew that it was time to get rid of her restlessness for good.
"Mas Yovie constantly reminded me that I could pull this off, that I have a 'color' that is my own. And when I recorded "Peri Cintaku", I felt like I had found myself," she said.
"Peri Cintaku" lyrically touches on a doomed romance due to differences in religious faith -- a subject matter to which Ziva could personally relate. During the recording of the song, she and Yovie agreed on suffusing R&B elements into what was initially a pop number, resulting in the former's fuller showcase of her signature riffs-and-runs vocal styling. The music video features Chicco Kurniawan: a recipient of last year's Citra Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the critically acclaimed Penyalin Cahaya (Photocopier).
Ironically, recording "Peri Cintaku" proved to be a spiritual journey for Ziva as well.
"I still haven't figured out which specific formula the industry favors. What makes someone 'booming'? Take Kaleb J, for example. His song ["It's Only Me"] went 'booming' eight months after it was released. Like, I have no clue how God works. So what I believe is, God will always see the effort."
As the songwriter and co-producer of "Peri Cintaku", Yovie Widianto compared Ziva's interpretation of the song with Marcell's and believed that both managed to execute the song "very much impeccably and exquisitely," he commended.
He explained: "As a producer and a composer, [my] first job would be to probe and observe what makes a singer authentic and unique. Marcell's strength lies in his vocal timbre and the depth he has when he sings a song. Ziva's lies in her styling and her authentic and impressive vocal expressiveness. Both of them are up to the mark and very distinct. That's why music and vocal arrangement is highly essential in the production -- so that both leave different impressions without losing the original soul of the song."
On top of refueling her spirit in music, Ziva got up the nerve to test out her talent in acting. She recently made her film debut in a family drama, Pulang (Home), starring veteran actors Imelda Therrine and Citra Award nominee Ringgo Agus Rahman. The film premiered on the streaming platform KlikFilm on April 2. "I think acting is more difficult because it requires repeated efforts to [channel] a single emotion in a stable form," she reflected.
Another hit under her belt and now a film debut, to boot. Can we expect 2022 to be the 'comeback' year of Ziva Magnolya?
"Amen!" she exclaimed, more fired up than when she first debuted.
Ziva Magnolya's "Peri Cintaku" is available to stream.
