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atmos PINK: Celebrate Women’s Month with Cantika Abigail
Cantika Abigail is a 28-year-old Singer-songwriter born & raised in Jakarta Indonesia. Cantika made her singing debut at the age of 6, where she featured on artist AB Three’s song ‘Hari Hari Bersamaku’. In 2009, she went on to meet Gamaliel and Audrey, together the three formed a pop R&B group named GAC. The group went on to release their first self-titled album titled ‘Gamaliel Audrey Cantika’ in 2012 under Sony Music Entertainment Indonesia. In 2011, Cantika began her university education, taking Jazz & Pop Performance as her major. It was during this period where Cantika began to learn new aspects of music that helped broaden references for her own work. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Performance in 2015, the same year GAC released their 2nd album ‘Stronger’ which gained momentum through their single ‘Bahagia’. Cantika would continue to work on a variety of projects including Dua Empat’s single ‘For A Moment’ and Adrian Khalif’s 3rd single ‘Take Care’ in 2018. Songwriting proved to be therapeutic for the artist, providing her with a medium to express her emotions. The use of music as her medium for expression can be seen in her single ‘Serenity’, where following a spiritual experience in Sweden, Cantika recounts her gratitude towards life, narrating life’s journeys that should be experienced by everyone.
Questions & Answers:
Can you introduce yourself?
I am Cantika Abigail, I am a singer and song writer from Indonesia.
What were your dreams growing up? When did you deliver your passion/gift for music/rap?
When I was a little girl, I actually wanted to be a singer. I delivered and acknowledged my passion for music was when I was around 6-7 years old. I remember looking at videos of performances from RnB artists like Mariah Carrey, Bryan McKnight, Boys II Men. That’s when I suddenly fell in love with music.
How did you get into music/rap? What made you take that leap?
My mom actually used to be a Pop singer, back in ’87 until the early 90s. My grandfather was also in the music industry and my grandmother was in the movie industry. I feel like I’ve always been familiar with art, especially music. I was exposed to a lot of genres, but my mother specifically showed me a lot of Pop and RnB music. At the time, it was all new to me, so I felt it was interesting to learn how to use your voice. I feel like music is very magical, I also grew up in a family that loved music and art.
What are some of the challenges you had to overcome in the music/rap industry? How did you get around those?
I feel like nowadays people don’t really pay attention to your music because there are constantly new songs that are being released on digital streaming platforms. I feel that it’s one of the challenges for us as musicians to create something that can attract people to really listen to the music and pay attention to what we’re working on. Music is more than just a melody, it’s also ideas, time, energy, money. It’s just today, there’s new songs coming out every second so it’s difficult to get people’s attention, that’s the first challenge.
The second challenge is that music today does not only focus on sound, but also the visuals being shown. Because of this sometimes even when the sound isn’t that good, good visuals can still make people attracted to it.
What do you think is the main challenge that women face in the current society?
As women we really have to work on empowering one and another, especially on the psychological aspect. We all are very much exposed to social media, television and magazines to this perfect image. But it’s not reality, it’s not the truth, it’s artificial. We as women have to really embrace our flaws, if we have that self-confidence, we can do anything. Us as society, not just women but also men, have to be able to create an environment where women feel safe to express themselves.
What changes can be made so that women can feel more empowered? What changes are you looking to effect with your current position or experience?
For me, I think we can empower one another by not being afraid to not be vulnerable and just be human. Embrace our flaws, this is a message I really want to spread through my music. It can either be in the form of relationships or embracing your self-image. I feel that music is a universal language, so I hope all musicians can spread positive messages through their songs.
AIR JORDAN 1 RETRO HIGH OG “UNIVERSITY BLUE”
