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Dere, now in full bloom
In her second studio album, Berbunga, singer-songwriter Dere paints love like a bouquet of flowers: magnificent, yet transient.
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Red as roses: Lyrically, Dere's second studio album, Berbunga, probes the subject of young love. Sonically, Dere experiments with different genre elements such as soul, R&B and hip-hop. (Tiga Dua Satu/-)
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nyone who has followed Dere's musical journey so far, especially since her breakthrough debut single "Kota" back in 2020, would agree that when it comes to the singer-songwriter and her music, nothing is ever coincidental. Observe the title of her new album, Berbunga, for instance. For an artist whose previous album title was as peculiar as it could get (Rubik, released in 2022), Berbunga might come across as cryptically direct.
Fortunately, during her conversation with The Jakarta Post, Dere was generous enough to reveal the seed that grew into her new album's floral rhapsodies. The AMI Award winner explained her reasoning for why she utilized the verb form of the word for flower (berbunga) for her sophomore record instead of its noun form (bunga). As a symbol of love, flowers are magnificent. However, to blossom and become that magnificent symbol, the process can be mysterious and not as easy on the eyes.
"Flowers are usually for celebration, for the beautiful things," she explained. "But to have them and to keep them close to our lives, means entering a cycle. Becoming beautiful flowers necessitates time. On top of that, their beauty is transient. There are moments when, even when we do nothing, flowers remain gorgeous. But, once the universe steps in, they revert to their withered form."
Let it grow
Like a bud reaching for the sunlight, after her Rubik era, Dere was keen on cultivating her musicianship to new heights. As a result, Rubik and Berbunga reflect not only two distinctive concepts, but also two different states of mind. She described working on Rubik as "assembling what I had". Berbunga, on the other hand, was about "digging up what I wanted".
"In terms of my vision for the music, I felt as though there was something that was 'sedimented' for a long time, and it didn't emerge when I was working on Rubik," she elaborated. "That's why, as I started working on Berbunga, my mindset was to challenge myself and conduct an exploration."
During the brainstorming process, Dere briefed her music producers that she was eyeing a "new sound", hoping that, as a team, they could "take the time to sit down and find a new lyrical perspective" as well. She could feel that transformative force within her artistry as well as her spark. Nonetheless, she discovered that what transformed the most within her, as a musician, was her creative hunger.
