#27: A Rising Star in Music
Joel reveals his journey from being forced to attend music school to going viral on TikTok and his dream to go international
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Remember the “Gwenchana” (are you okay) song that went viral on TikTok last year?
Titled “Melody of Memories”, the instrumental piece was featured in a meme video where Malaysian content creator Imran Bard repeated “gwenchana” over and over again before slowly breaking down in tears. It generated millions of views, with Korean actor Lee Yi-kyung even putting his spin on the meme.
But who was behind the sensational melody?
A search led me to a profile called “Joelmusicbox”, which eventually led me to a name: Joel Christian.
Joel is a music composer from Jakarta, Indonesia. The 26-year-old has been playing music since the age of 11 and is better known as “Duta Arranger Korea” on TikTok.
Otherwise, there was hardly any information about him online. When I finally met Joel, he shared that this was the first time that he was being interviewed by any media outlet.
I was expecting to hear about how he grew from loving music at a young age to becoming a rising music producer today.
What I wasn’t expecting to hear was his love-hate relationship with music during his growing-up years, his struggles, and his goal to become famous in Southeast Asia and the world.
A love-hate passion for music
When Joel was young, he was fascinated by his father who played music using a musical keyboard, and he became interested in the piano.
Joel’s mother quickly capitalized on his interest and forced him to attend a music school, so he could play the piano with his church band.
His interest in music grew as he was first exposed to pop songs, which are highly popular amongst youths in Indonesia.
For context, a survey of 1,162 youths in 10 Indonesian cities found that at least half of them prefer pop songs over other music genres.
Joel was then exposed to music theory and classical music, a rite of passage for anyone who attends a music school. But it didn’t sit well with him.
“I hated it,” he says, “It’s not nice playing classical music because you cannot express yourself, since you’re playing music scores that were written by others.”
After a year in music school, he continued struggling to play the piano with his church band because it was hard to catch up.
“I just decided to turn my piano’s volume down,” he quipped.
Joel then turned his initial interest in playing pop music into a hobby. That manifested into something bigger during his university years, which began in 2018.
He was known amongst his schoolmates for spending time after classes to produce music, which he would do for four to six hours each day. But it also meant that he hardly had time to make friends and hang out with them.
I wondered why, as I felt that it’s possible to have a small circle of friends from school, even if you have to spend time working on your passion project.
Joel then revealed that he is an introvert who was extremely uncomfortable with speaking to anyone. He believed that it was caused by his hyperkinetic condition and speech delay at a younger age.
Staying quiet also meant that it was hard for anyone to discover his talent, and it was harder for Joel to reach out since he knew no one in the music industry.
“I think I had no hope in music,” he recounted.
Joel was on the brink of giving up after failing to gain attention for his work. He began to give his music equipment – such as his microphone and sound card – away to his friends for free.
Little did he know that a detour from music was exactly what he needed.
A detour to clarity
In 2021, Joel graduated from university and decided to find a way out in life. He began by investing in cryptocurrency.
The crypto market was rising and it attracted many people including rookie investors, who wanted a chance at earning money quickly.
“I bought a shitcoin, and boom, my money was gone,” he said. ‘Shitcoin’ refers to a cryptocurrency with little to no value.
Joel believed that losing money to crypto played a role in convincing him to start his music career full-time.
But his parents were not supportive of his decision at that time, as they believed in the age-old myth that people can’t make money from producing music.
Joel’s mother then sent his resume to a Japanese company based in Jakarta, hoping that he could land a “stable” office job. His parents felt that people who worked in offices could fetch high salaries, especially for youths like Joel who graduated from university.
He was rejected.
Around the same time, a university senior who knew about his musical talent encouraged him to start a TikTok account to share his work.
Joel knew that it would be a gamble for his career, as pursuing music full-time wouldn’t be smooth sailing. But he decided to go ahead since he had already lost money to crypto and failed to secure a job.
But the initial struggles were real.
“In the first six months, I managed to grow my followers to 30k or 40k, but I had no income,” he shared.
Despite that, posting on social media opened doors to new opportunities for Joel. A manager of a popular Indonesian singer chanced upon his account and invited him to record himself doing a remix of a song by infusing Korean instrumental elements.
The video reached more than one million views, which attracted more followers and a mentor. To Joel, it became clear that he had found his true calling in pursuing music.
When I asked how he felt at that moment, he said, “It was pure luck, bro”.
He believed that it was impossible for anyone who didn’t come from an affluent background to gain traction in the music industry, let alone for someone who had no connections to anyone at all. He felt that the success rate was 1%.
But if Joel knew that this was going to be a difficult path, why did he choose to do music full-time? What was the goal?
A rising global star
“I want to go international,” Joel declared.
When I asked why, he showed signs of uncertainty, before talking about how he wanted a career beyond the shores of Indonesia. He listed countries like Singapore and Malaysia, and even far-flung places like Europe and America.
He then shared a quote from Indonesia’s founding father, Soekarno –
“Hang your aspirations as high as the sky! Dream as high as the sky. If you fall, you will fall among the stars”.
This quote encourages Indonesians to dare to dream and pursue their goals, even if they’re ambitious.
While inspired by the quote, Joel felt that his goal might not be a realistic one.
He paused for a while before saying, “Maybe top in Asia is okay too”.
Meanwhile, he shares in his Spotify bio that he wants to touch the hearts of listeners through his music. I wondered what he meant by that.
He explained that he wanted to help introverts, or those who felt lonely, to release their stress and emotions.
With his piece “Melody of Memories” going viral last year, I thought he might already be a step closer to touching people’s hearts across borders.
Instead, when I asked how he felt about it, he said, “Happy, but so-so.”
“Low key, low key, low key,” he later added.
He was glad that it went viral, but kept a low profile when people asked him about it. The piece later brought him new opportunities for collaboration with other music artists, which keeps him up at night these days.
Back then, he had written the piece in a dark corner of an office located on the 33rd floor. The inspiration had come from a song featured in a Korean drama about love between doctors, and he wanted to recreate the feeling of the song.
Having had his first taste of success, Joel is now setting his sights further.
In fact, he predicted that I was going to ask him where he sees himself in five to ten years, and came prepared with an answer.
He’s not losing sight of going international. He still wants to be a top composer in Indonesia, Asia, and the world.
He wants his songs to make it on the global chart, have a successful career in music, be able to support his parents financially as they retire from work, and bring the Indonesian music industry to another level by teaching music.
“I want to bless, and be blessed,” he said.
Sometimes, it’s really just as simple as that.
PS: Check out “3 Questions with Trailblazers”, where Joel answered three random questions from us on our Instagram-exclusive video series. Follow us on Instagram @seamplified.news now!
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