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"This is the calm before the storm.”
That was how the 26-year-old Jordan Susanto described his state of mind during a sit-down on Aug. 19.
His debut studio album, Jordan, had just been launched five days earlier, and one of the album's tracks, "Senopati in the Rain", was already gaining traction on streaming services. For a soul record made by a young Indonesian artist, this momentum was not to be taken lightly.
Flirtatious in its lyricism and steadfast in its music production, Jordan can be described as a soul-pop album that chronicles a tale of a romantic player learning about love for the first time. It is an album that, sonically, bridges the legacy of the past and the sensibilities of the modern era. It is also proof that a musician does not have to take life too seriously to make an emotionally resonant record.
Modern soul
Interestingly, becoming a professional musician was not what Jordan had in mind growing up. It was the world of filmmaking that first intrigued him, until he noticed a gradual change within his younger self.
"As time passed by, I realized that I had started paying more attention to a film's soundtrack than to the film itself," he recalled, chuckling.
But he acknowledged that this change was not at all radical, considering how music had always been "a huge part of my day, like having lunch and brushing my teeth," he said.
Just like most kids in the Noughties era, Jordan was hooked by the pop boybands who dominated FM radio at the time. "I liked boybands a lot, such as Westlife and Backstreet Boys," he laughed. Little did the young Jordan know that this era would later inform his songwriting.
"I like writing memorable, singable songs," he said of his songwriting ethos. "The pop music of the 2000s had such massive choruses—something that didn't really exist in, say, the '60s. Having said that, I want to deliver such memorable tunes in an organic, human way, with minimal processing."
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That is where Jordan's love for soul music comes into the picture, especially the works by African-American artists in the '60s and '70s. After seeing how the genre helped inform the birth of rock and roll as well as contemporary R&B in later decades, he regards soul music as the "epicenter" of everything.
"At the time when technology started taking flight, black music started going mainstream, and those artists began complementing the soul genre with elements from gospel as well as pop, incorporating the latter's indelible melodies. [Soul] was no longer a traditional music at that point. It became accessible to the world. It was such a golden era in music," he gushed.
Jordan's eponymous debut album, as a result, is an amalgamation of two very different music styles (and eras) that equally informed and inspired his current musicianship. Marrying the two influences together was not a small task, especially for a newbie such as himself. The key, he divulged, was to stay aware that his record, regardless of its sonic direction, would be born in the modern era.
"Now we are questioning what it means to be a man," Jordan said, comparing today's world to the past. "Now [artists] are being more vulnerable with their lyrics. Now we are finding more beauty in the mundane. Now we're no longer totally romanticizing life."
The 'game' of love
To ensure his album offers style and substance in equal measures, Jordan and his music producers, Taufan Wirzon and Heston Prasetyo, conducted a deep dive into soul music as well as related genres like blues and funk. The challenge, Jordan said, was to "narrow down" all the influences and references obtained from their research into something that is both original and shapeable.
On top of that, Jordan's vocals had to do his soulful vision justice.
“I love Marvin Gaye, but I'm not Marvin Gaye,” Jordan remarked. “Every decision, thus, must follow our intuitions. What sounds good to us? What feels good to us? Yes, production is important. However, what's most important is how the production could serve the song.”
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The album's closing number, "Will I Ever Love Again?," is a shining example of Jordan's vision. Characterized by a bareboned pipe organ and Jordan's soaring baritone, the ballad checks all the boxes of how a soul tune is supposed to sound. However, it is Jordan's suave narrative that turns the ballad into a sophisticated spin on the genre as he mourns the painful lesson that love "is not some kind of game you win."
It was not an easy song to crack, but producing the ballad taught Jordan an invaluable lesson: “If the song is losing my attention, that means I must add something to it. If the song is no longer emotionally engaging to me, that means it could use more work.”
"Senopati in the Rain," the album's fifth number, demonstrates Jordan's uncanny ability to captivate his audience's soul. Jordan, coyly, decided to leave it up to his listeners' imagination whether the mid-tempo number is about a player simply trying to get lucky or a man genuinely wishing to build an intimate connection with his love interest.
After all, in the eyes of the gods of soul, all human desires are complicated.
"As a boy, you are driven by your primal desires, perhaps," Jordan chuckled. "But, as you grow into a man, what determines your growth is whether you are able to have control over these desires. I don't think sensuality, in and of itself, is the enemy. I think the enemy is when you let these desires take control instead of the other way around."
Besides, even a wayward soul could use a little sugar, right?
"I think a man can be flirtatious without being unfaithful," Jordan remarked.
Jordan Susanto’s debut album, Jordan, is available to stream now.
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This article is part of The Weekender, a biweekly tabloid that appears in the Saturday edition of The Jakarta Post. Offering a variety of feature articles on lifestyle and culture, it aims to enriching your reading experience. Subscribe here to access The Jakarta Post’s Saturday edition and all Premium content.
