trenddjakarta.com – Over four years since Hindia released Menari dengan Bayangan (Dancing with Shadows), the Jakarta-based musician and songwriter’s debut album keeps unlocking new achievements. Its latest milestone is reaching 1 billion streams on Spotify as of April 8, 2024. Which also makes Menari dengan Bayangan the first album by an Indonesian male solo artist to reach that landmark.
“Earlier this year I was informed that based on how the numbers were panning out, it was estimated that Menari dengan Bayangan would hit 1 billion streams by mid-May. Turns out it got there sooner, and I found out this morning when I woke up and checked the stream numbers, which is what I do once a week via Spotify’s back end,” says Baskara Putra a.k.a. Hindia. “I’m pleased, obviously. This was a small album that wasn’t expected to get so big. It ended up being very well-received, and it’s changed my life very drastically.”
With three songs from the album – “Evaluasi” (“Evaluation”), “Rumah ke Rumah” (“Home to Home”) and “Secukupnya” (“Sufficiently”) – each exceeding 200 million streams, it’s clear that there is something to Menari dengan Bayangan that continues to draw in new listeners while keeping old listeners invested, and has also enabled Hindia to perform live in various countries across Asia and in Australia. According to Hindia, “Maybe it’s because there are numerous ‘flaws’ to this album in a technical sense. The production isn’t too flashy, the vocal melodies aren’t lilting and beautiful. In the end it’s a ‘grounded’ album, which probably makes it more accessible to a lot of people. Particularly since its lyrics deal with issues faced by many young adults in their daily lives.”
Besides being an achievement for Hindia, Menari dengan Bayangan surpassing 1 billion streams on Spotify is also a feather in the cap for KithLabo, as the Sun Eater label-released album was the first project handled by the artist services division developed by Believe Indonesia. According to Ririe Cholid, KithLabo’s head of marketing and project manager. “Since its release four years ago, Menari dengan Bayangan hasn’t stopped setting new landmarks. One billion streams on Spotify isn’t easy to reach. This is the result of consistency and solid teamwork between KithLabo, Hindia and Sun Eater. This achievement is also thanks to our partnership with Spotify, who have ceaselessly supported each step of Hindia’s musical career path, and include him in various key marketing campaign. Such as launch of Musik Indonesia hub, Spotify IDentitasku 2022, and Spotify Wrapped Live 2023.”
Hindia adds, “The KithLabo team have been immensely helpful in finding this album’s potential. And opening doors to numerous opportunities that I didn’t think were possible. They were very astute in assessing the qualities of Menari dengan Bayangan that I couldn’t see for myself.”
Although in mid-2023 Hindia released his second album Lagipula Hidup akan Berakhir (Life Will End Anyway), another partnership with KithLabo with songs that have reached over 10 million streams on Spotify, it looks like Menari dengan Bayangan will continue to provide surprises – which Hindia will celebrate when the time is right. “One day I’d like to release a commemorative edition of the album, age, health and momentum willing,” he says. “Who knows when.”
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