From his current base in Jakarta, KELJO is having a quite a moment. His newest single ‘Siapa Kamu?‘ (meaning who are you?) has recently hit airwaves, providing listeners with the perfect track to pop on in the car as the summer months roll in.
We get to know brain behind the artist who champions his own culture and vibes along to inspirations like Bruno Mars and Silk Sonic.
My full name is… Kelvin Joshua
My birthday is on… 7th June
How do you identify… A cheerful tiger.
Three words my friends would use to describe me are… Funny, on time and strategic
My favourite place in the world is… Bali. It feels like slow living. Every day we just go to the beach… I just love it.
One thing you must know about me is… I have 22 songs in my catalogue. People probably just know one or two, but people should try and listen to all of them.
One surprising thing about me is… I collect Pokémon cards. My favourite is Charizard and Mewtwo.
Something I can’t live without is… My laptop. I do everything on my laptop.
My favourite dish/meal is… Chicken satay. In Indonesia it’s so good, we use peanut sauce and it’s like ‘oh my god!’
My favourite thing from working on “Siapa Kamu?” is… When I made the lyric video. I was singing, playing drums, playing piano, all in one frame. I had to record it six times!
What I hope resonates the most with listeners from “Siapa Kamu?” is… The feeling of being curious about new people. Sometimes we meet people who are really our type, but we don’t have time to get to know them. This song really demonstrates that feeling.
One behind-the-scenes fun fact or story from “Siapa Kamu?” is… I do my own vocal edits!
A song I would recommend right now is… “Shape of My Heart” by The Backstreet Boys
A TV show/movie I would recommend right now is… The Boys
The last dream I had was… I forget! Sometimes they just fade away by the morning!
One piece of advice I would give my younger self is… Create more earlier. From the age of maybe… 10, 12? I think things would have been different. In a good way.
What I love most about my heritage is… I’m Javanese. Javanese people are really kind and we love peace.
You’re in a zombie apocalypse; what is your weapon of choice, and why? I wish I was like Magneto! I’d use my powers to ward the zombies off. I was a Marvel fan as a kid!
To me, diversity means… It is beautiful. If there are no colours, and no differences… we’d be like robots, right? Diversity makes us unique from everyone else. It makes us unique.
‘Siapa Kamu?” is out now. Keljo can be found on Instagram here. He can be found on all popular streaming platforms.
