BLENDING GENRES
Indonesian sensation Rendy Pandugo reaches for new heights with new EP
AS Indonesia’s indie music frontman, singer-songwriter Rendy Pandugo has come a long way from his early days as a café singer. Now with over 100 million streams under his belt, the Medan native has taken his musicality to many different places and intends to continue his exciting journey with his latest EP, See You Someday.
Described as a blend of ‘pop, folk and modern music’ the EP serves both as a present to his fans and an avenue to explore his musicality.
“There’s a new vibe here that I’ve never had before in terms of musicality,” he shared, “I always say ‘See you someday’ at the end of my shows, and that’s always in my head. So I think it’s time to have something for them and gift them a little present, I want to make something that everyone can enjoy,”
The EP consists of six songs, all of which are based on his or his friends’ true to life stories, who also
served as producers for songs such as ‘Far’, ‘B.Y.L’, and ‘Secret.’ The EP is also a collaborative effort, with names such as Ollipop from The Kennel Sweden and Greg Calby from Sterling Sound lending their talent in mixing and mastering respectively. The result is an EP that’s the musical embodiment of a hug and the promise that yes, he will, “see you someday.”
“It’s 50-50,” Rendy said about the overarching theme of his EP, “there’s sad stories and there’s life experiences that aren’t as sad or happy. So ‘B.Y.L” and ‘Far’ are kind of sad, but ‘Secret’ is begging. So those three songs give sad vibes, and the other three- ‘Home’ is about missing home, ‘Mr. Sun’ is about people who stop complaining, and ‘See You Someday’ has the message that I kind of want to show to my fans that ‘I will see you someday.’ So yeah, I think there’s three sad songs and three happy songs,”
Rendy also expressed that the EP is about reconnection and new beginnings, expressing that his previous work didn’t feel like himself and he hoped to reconnect with his fans through the EP and at the same time reach out to new people.
“My previous song back in July, I don’t know, it felt like it wasn’t me. I want to make something that everyone can enjoy, and there’s no pressure when I make songs, I just release it after an enjoyable process. So that’s why I made this EP for my fans and try to reconnect to them and hope it reconnected,” he shared.
Rendy first began his musical journey as a guitarist when he was forming his band back in 2014. However, his band soon found themselves in a predicament.
“We were trying to find a vocalist for our band, but it turns out, we couldn’t find anyone who was right for it, so I ended up becoming the vocalist by accident” he shared.
Despite singing being an “accident,” Rendy found himself being almost a natural right from the start, his voice having a smoothness that just flows and fits naturally into the pop and rock genres he so often covered. When asked about his vocal style, he admits that he mostly learned by “soaking up” the artists he covered and incorporating it into himself.
“I just sing,” he explained, “I don’t know how I developed my vocal style. I did learn how to breathe when singing and how to open my mouth, but it’s just natural. I just keep practicing. I did a lot of covers when I sang in cafes, and a lot of my musicality comes from the artists and idols that I cover and I try to fit them into my new identity,”
See You Someday is now available on all major streaming platforms worldwide.