After being catapulted to global fame by her bedroom pop hit ‘I Love You 3000,’ Indonesian-American singer Stephanie Poetri wasted no time in carving a name for herself in the music industry. 

Riding on the waves of her debut EP AM:PM which was conceived while she was still based in Jakarta, Poetri, who has now moved to Los Angeles, has recently released her brand new single ‘Picture Myself.’  

Produced by M-Phazes who has previously worked with the likes of Demi Lovato, Kehlani, and pop icon Madonna, the acoustically-driven track laments the tribulations of being in a long-distance relationship—while this may be a common struggle faced by most couples, it certainly is an intimate topic that some artists might be hesitant about discussing openly. 

Since the 88rising star has an ability to fearlessly channel her own personal experiences into her lyrics, her relatability has garnered her something of a cult following on the internet. 

Bandwagon caught up with Stephanie recently to discuss her new song and what we can expect from her in the coming months. 

Hey, Stephanie! How’ve you been doing in L.A? 

It’s been really nice. The weather has been really good. We’re all still trying to be as safe as possible but as a lot of people in the industry here have been vaccinated, we’re allowed to do a lot more in-person sessions now. 

Tell me more about your brand new single ‘Picture Myself.’

So ‘Picture Myself’ is my new single for the next project I’m doing this year and it’s basically a song about long distance relationships. The song itself is a very soft acoustic type of music and yeah, I think it’s really pretty and very relatable. 

Since the song is about the uncertainty of long-distance relationships—do you reckon there’s a sort of vulnerability that comes with penning lyrics about such an intimate subject matter? 

For sure, it does sometimes get awkward when you think about people listening to it but I think the songs that are the most specific are the ones that are the most beautiful because it’s like you’re storytelling and that’s kind of my favourite type of lyricism. It’s almost like you’re writing a diary that other people will read. 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Stephanie Poetri (@stephaniepoetri)

What was it like collaborating with producer M-Phazes on this? 

Mark was incredibly kind. He likes to record vocals himself so when we recorded the song while I was still in Indonesia, what happened was, he had to stay up quite late because of the time difference. That really showcases how talented he is because not only is he such a great producer but the fact that he also vocal produced and contributed a lot of ideas… you could tell that he’s very passionate about every song he makes. 

The music video for the single was directed by Eileen Yoon. Would you like to share more about the production process behind the visual? 

Yeah, so we recorded in New York and the team was so awesome. They were so organised and so quick. When you record in a public place such as the streets of New York, there’s always a lot of things that could go wrong but they were just so organised and really made sure that we stayed safe as well. It was really fun working with everybody and I would definitely like to work with them again. 

Do you get to pick the theme of the music video or is that something the team comes up with?

So I would usually give them an idea of what my ideal situation would be like in a music video and they'd try their best to make that happen. I would normally make a little PowerPoint or a brainstorm file and they'll assign a director that can kind of make it their own as well because I like collaborating with people in the creative industry. That’s kind of how it works. 

Speaking of visuals, you also drew the artwork for this single yourself! What inspired the drawing and do you plan to do the same for future releases? 

I was inspired by old movies with drawings on them that are shots taken from the movie. That’s kind of what my plan was. I wanted to take scenes from the music video and put them on the cover. I also wanted them to resemble the doodles that I used to do on my homework or in a diary because the song itself was supposed to be something I’d write in a diary and so, I kind of wanted that to match. 

On your socials, you mentioned ‘Picture Myself’ will be the first of many songs you’re releasing this year—would you be able to share more about those?

I will be having a project this year and ‘Picture Myself’ will be the first of many songs to come. They’re all going to be in the same realm of things in terms of the vibe and I’m just super excited to have the songs out and if people like ‘Picture Myself’ and ‘I Love You 3000’ then I’m sure they will like this project too. 

What can fans expect moving forward? Is there a new album in the works?

It will definitely be more of an EP. A lot of people keep asking but I don’t feel like I’m ready for an album just yet. I also tend to prefer working in smaller batches because I can really focus on each song. 

Is it going to have a similar sound to your debut EP AM:PM?

It’s actually going to be completely different. With AM:PM, I wrote a lot of the songs during the pandemic and they were all about feeling stuck at the time. Production-wise, I was also still trying to figure out what kind of vibe I was going for and now, I think I finally found it. 

Do you feel like your music has evolved from ‘I Love You 3000’ to ‘Picture Myself’? If so, why? 

It’s interesting because I almost feel like it went in a loop. With ‘I Love You 3000’ I really liked the vibe it had but then I felt I couldn’t go back to that same vibe because I didn’t want people to think that that’s all that I could do. But now that I’ve done a bunch of other things, I feel comfortable enough to go back to that whole acoustic, very lyric focused, storytelling based songwriting. I felt like it was interesting because I definitely grew and am now able to go back to that same vibe, only with a lot more knowledge. 

You performed at Heads In The Clouds recently! Tell me more about that experience. What was that like?

That was really exciting and my favourite part was just being able to meet and watch everyone. I still get really nervous performing, especially since it was my first time performing ‘Picture Myself’ before it was out. I wanted to gauge how people would react to it and it seemed like they really liked it so that was nice. 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Stephanie Poetri (@stephaniepoetri)

Do you have any upcoming gigs in the pipeline that we can look forward to? 

I think we’re planning to do some performances this year but I don’t have the information for that yet so stay tuned. You can follow me on social media and I will let you know there. 

Is there anything you’d like to say to fans who might be reading this article?

First and foremost, I want to say thank you so much because a lot of you who have supported me have been so kind and patient. I understand that I tend to just be all over the place in terms of content. You know, I could be streaming for ten days straight and then I could just disappear for months. So I just wanted to say thank you for all the support and I can’t wait to create more music and see you guys as well. Hopefully in the next couple of months or weeks.