Danilla Riyadi captures the monotony of lockdown in music video for new solo single ‘MPV’

Indonesian singer-songwriter Danilla Riyadi has released a music video for ‘MPV’, a new single from her upcoming solo album, ‘Pop Seblay’.

• READ MORE: Danilla Riyadi on ‘Peluh, Gairah & Kelana’, her carefree disco record with The Glamors: “I just want to boogie!”

The singer released the track on January 2 alongside its accompanying music video, which is a study of life in lockdown. Riyadi listlessly goes through the motions of day to day life at home before performing with her band in her backyard.

With a fixed, dead-eyed look on her face, Riyadi lounges on her bed, cooks, uses the toilet and stares into space. Even the appearance of her band in various goofy costumes does nothing to lift her mood, as she laments: “Bilang saja suka / Yang mudah dicerna / Bilang saja enggan untuk terbang / Bilang saja suka / Tinggalkan yang lama / Bilang saja enggan untuk kembang”.

Those lines translate to “Just say you like / What is easy to understand / Just say you’re reluctant to fly / Just say you like it / Leave the old behind / Just say you’re reluctant to grow” – which she says references listeners who can’t seem to move on from her previous works.

“There are people who feel they still have to talk about my old albums,” Riyadi said of ‘MPV’ in a press statement. “So I think, this is a person who just discovered me or is it just a person who can’t move on? Were my last few albums that big? Is new material bad or not in people’s tastes?”

“I’ve already changed from the Danilla on those albums. Every time I make an album, I want to present a new face. I want to be heard.”

Watch the music video for ‘MPV’ below.

‘Pop Seblay’, which has yet to receive a release date, was indeed created in far different circumstances than those that birthed her 2014 debut album ‘Telisik’. The upcoming record will give a far more personal look into Riyadi’s life and her relationships with those who are important to her. The pandemic, she said, opened her eyes to a new kind of deeper emotional pain brought on by the inability to spend time with her bandmates: “The inspiration for the album was how much I missed them.”

2021 was a busy year for Riyadi, who released a full-length disco album in May as the band Danilla and The Glamors, ‘Peluh, Gairah & Kelana’, which featured 80s-inspired recreations of eight tracks from her back catalogue.

She soon followed that up with the collaborative single with fellow Indonesian artists Ramengvrl and Marion Jola, ‘Don’t Touch Me’, which was released in June.

In September, she appeared on veteran Indonesian singer-songwriter Iwan Fals’ 42nd studio album, ‘Pun Aku’.

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