RAYI PUTRA RAHARDJO & NINDY AYUNDA

Musicians. Rayi in Saint Laurent jacket, shirt, pants, his own shoes; Nindy in Longchamp dress and belt, her own boots.

Rayi Putra Rahardjo—better known as Rayi and as a member of RAN, a trio he has been a part of since 2006—had already decided on his career path by early adolescence. “I had known that I wanted to be a musician since middle school,” he says. “I don’t know what else I would be doing if it wasn’t music.” In high school, with his schoolmate Asta and some friends, Rayi formed a group called F.R.D., which stood for Funk Rap Disco, and won several music competitions before they disbanded after graduation. Then in 2006, Rayi and Asta formed RAN with Nino, another schoolmate, to compete in the Indonesian Song Festival hosted by JAKTV. They won second place with their song “Pandangan Pertama” and signed a contract with Universal Music Indonesia. Their debut album RAN for Your Life was released in 2007. Rayi—who draws his influences from names like Pharell Williams and Kanye West—has also been working on side projects and been featured in songs by other famous young musicians such as Isyana Sarasvati, Billy Simpson and Marion Jola. (Still, he lists Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift among his guilty pleasures.) Despite having been successful with his own personal projects, Rayi still prefers working with his group. “I enjoy doing both actually,” he says, “but if I had to pick between working solo or working with my group, I’d still choose to be with my group because I know I would always be surrounded by my friends.” Asked whether he feels like he has accomplished everything that he hoped, Rayi answers: “Maybe I have, but ‘the game’ in this industry is not about how high you can go, but rather about how long can you stay here.” He shares his underlying principle of how he defines success: “Bringing joy to people through my music is what success means to me.”