Stephanie Poetri, Indonesian pop star, on her breakout year – a viral song on YouTube and Spotify, a duet with Jackson Wang – and what’s to come
- At the age of 20, Indonesian singer Stephanie Poetri, daughter of pop diva Titi DJ, has a viral hit to her name and big plans for the future, as she explains
- Signed to Asian label 88rising which launched Joji, Niki and Rich Brian, she’s recorded a remix of her hit song I Love You 3000 with K-pop star Jackson Wang
Twenty-year-old Indonesian singer Stephanie Poetri has had quite a year.
In the past 12 months, her original track I Love You 3000 went viral, she clinched an award at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, signed with powerhouse Asian label 88rising, performed at the Heads in the Clouds music festival in Los Angeles, and collaborated with a K-pop star.
I Love You 3000, a love song about a movie-like romance, became an instant hit when it was released in June 2019 and got close to 70 million views on YouTube. On Spotify, the song has hit 91 million plays.
Its title taken from a quote from Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame film, Poetri gained inspiration for the track from fan responses on social media.
“Never did I think a night where I was really bored would be the start of something incredible,” the 20-year-old told the Post.
Poetri posted an Instagram story asking followers what she should name her next song and they didn’t let her down.
Instagram influencer, singer and model – and computer generated
As the Marvel movie was the talk of the town at the time, a fan suggested she use the saying Iron Man made famous.
Asked if she would get songwriting advice via social media again, Poetri says she is “definitely down to do so”. But at the moment, she wants to focus on recording songs that she wrote as a child.
It is no wonder Poetri was musically inclined at a young age – her mother is Indonesian pop diva Titi DJ. Poetri performed for the first time live with her mother when she was seven, and singing went from being a hobby to a viable career path about the time she graduated from high school at 18.
A year later she won her Mama award for best new Asian artist (Indonesia) and went on to make waves across the world.
Poetri’s record label, 88rising, is recognised for having carved out a space for Asian talent in the US music scene.
“I feel like I’m trying to enter a market from the outside, rather than starting from the inside, but I also feel very motivated to be an inspiration to other young Asians and to help diversify the music industry,” Poetri says.
Her mixed ethnicity and appearance have created obstacles for the star, with some questioning her Asian heritage. Poetri is half-Indonesian and half-American. Her father, Andrew Dougharty, is a music teacher from Texas.
“I’ve read some comments saying that I’m not Asian because I don’t look Asian. It hurts to read that because being Indonesian is one thing that I carry with so much pride,” she says.
Poetri started out writing lyrics in Bahasa Indonesia before delving into writing English lyrics. Last year, she released two versions of her single Appreciate, one in each language.
At the moment Poetri is based in Jakarta, where she produced her latest single, Straight To You. The serendipitous track showcases her belief that everything happens for a reason.
“When I wrote the song, I was thinking about how a lot of the good things that happened to me all came from something negative happening first,” Poetri says.
“I wanted to put that into the context of a love story, and that is how Straight To You came to be.”
The track is accompanied by a home-made music video filmed entirely using a green screen in the singer’s room.
Poetri conceptualised, filmed, and edited the video by herself because Covid-19 restrictions meant a video shoot was off the table. The love song depicts the chance meeting of a “cute new neighbour”, represented in the video by a photo of British former One Direction singer Harry Styles.
“I got very into it [creating the video] and made a whole music video all by myself in my room and edited it intensely over 48 hours,” she says.
Poetri says she has been writing music non-stop during the past few months and is keen to share her upcoming tracks with the world. She hopes they will resonate with her growing fan base.
