Fridae

I first heard about Anggun a few years back when I was shopping for groceries at the local supermarket in California. Snow On The Sahara piped through the tinny speakers as I was trying to figure out which brand of fabric detergent so effortlessly cleaned my soiled sheets the last time.

I hadn't realized that the song was by an Indonesian artist until the deejay mentioned it. What surprised me more was the fact that this tiny supermarket in Stockton (a town unknown to even people living in California) decided to play it. "She must have made it big," I thought to myself.

Although she was still relatively unknown to the world, 27-year-old Anggun Cipta Sasmi had long been one of Indonesia's best-selling rock singers. At the age of seven, she had already released an album for children. When she was 17, she won Indonesia's "Most Popular Artist Award 1990-91" with her third album.

Snow On The Sahara did not do very well in the American market though, but at least the English debut succeeded in getting Anggun's name out. This second English release, Chrysalis, should give her a second chance, if it is ever released in the US. By the way, she resides in Paris, France, with a mission to "introduce Indonesia to the world".

The gem of the album is definitely Still Reminds Me, a haunting illustration of trying to get over someone who never seemed to have left: "I try to spend my time with somebody new / But everyone still reminds me of you".

Radio-friendly tracks like the title track, A Prayer and the Indonesian version of Look Into Yourself, titled Yang Aku Tunggu are more reasons to never push the eject button on your player once you're done listening to Chrysalis.