The (Supposed) Return of ‘Centil Music in Bossy
my nostalgia makes me expect much ahhhh f it
I love Ramengvrl. I follow her social media. She is the reason why I heard Pyra’s yellow fever and she is a refreshing view when the female rappers are dominated by those who have minimal cover of big tits and ass. Nah, I don’t want to body-shaming; I like Megan and Nicki, but the image of sexy female rappers is now boring to me and even become stereotypical. The industry seems to make invisible rule that ‘you need to be hot and thirsty af if you want to be a hit female rapper’. Meanwhile, Ramengvrl comes with her iconic bob and futuristic, gender-neutral, hypebeast-style covering her. I do recommend to hear her songs, she is now rising in Asia and we should help her to reach more global appreciation (lol).
Anyway, this Friday she released her new song: Bossy. It’s a collaboration with Cinta Laura Kiehl, who was known for having thick American accent in her Indonesian speech so she sounded like a foreigner learns Indonesian (you Indonesian should know that ‘udah becek, gak ada ojek’). Well, she is going better now — that accent is gone — and she is running an inspirational podcast. But when it comes to music, she released some iconic songs like Cinta atau Uang, Oh Baby, and You Say Aq; my favorite is Cinta atau Uang, it was top most played in my middle-school playlist. So when Ramengvrl announced that CLK would be featuring in her next single, I feel that — okay, we need to prepare for this. It should be a bop.
One thing which makes Bossy more intriguing is that Ramengvrl and CLK repeatedly mention about ‘bring back the centil music’ which raise my anticipation of Bossy. To get you covered, the 2000s Indonesian pop trends were mostly consist of Britney Spears-style of breathy, cutesy, and sassy vocal meets Avril Lavigne’s pop-rock or EDM (usually house music or trance) arrangement. Because most of the songs were now-we-call-it girl crush-y, Ramengvrl call it ‘centil music’ (roughly translated as ‘sassy music’). As she mentioned, you can listened to artists like Agnez Mo (in her Tak Ada Logika era please, the new one sucks), Mulan Jameela, Pinkan Mambo, Ratu/Duomaia, Aura Kasih, and obviously CLK herself.
Meanwhile, the hype thing in Indonesian pop scene now are Andi Rianto-style of slow-to-middle tempo love-themed ballad songs. The winner and runner-ups of past Indonesian Idol like Tiara Andini, Lyodra, Mahalini, and Ziva Magnolya, with some sidestreams like Nadin Amizah and Keisya Levronka are currently on top. But you almost don’t hear girl crush songs from these artists, because their songs were mostly lyrical ballad which for some are whiny (menye-menye) and too-slow. I feel this very well, so I suppose Bossy should be a good refreshment. I miss the girl crush-y Indonesian artists, from lady-rocker Anggun to CLK; we already have girl crush-y artists long before Blackpink. But the billion-dollar question is: does Bossy good?
Well, my expectation went too high as usual. Even though Bossy supposedly want to bring back the 2000s pop music, it’s more presented in a more Gen Z-style of production. BECAUSE THE SONG IS TOO SHORT. The 2000s centil music (including CLK’s) are usually around 3–5 minute length. Meanwhile, Bossy is just 2 minutes more, less than 3 minutes. It’s lacking. Why it is too short? I need more. Is that the production cost is really costly so we can no longer produce longer centil music?
But in the lighter side, I love that both Ramengvrl and CLK is in balance in this song, nobody is dominating against each other. CLK definitely shines! I really miss her centil vocal, and once again, I wish for more. Although she is the main in here, Ramengvrl is in good chemistry with CLK since her rap is slightly sounds more sassy than usual. Putting a bridge before the last chorus can actually give more chance to shine for both Ramengvrl and CLK. Both of them is a cool combo, but they deserved for better (and longer, to be exact lol) song composition.
Meanwhile, the song giving me the late 2000-early 2010 vibes. The main melody synth is very familiar in Indonesian EDM remixes (it’s often found in TikTok and we call it JJ or jedag-jedug) and that ‘bop-bop’ synth give the song a tacky, but nice touch. It may be even funnier if the string-like synth from Cinta atau Uang used here lol. The visuals are more from current years, but the make-up — that nude lipstick — is so 2NE1. The dogs and the cat are so cute! The costume are awesome, I like CLK’s outifts and it’s interesting to see Ramengvrl in more experimental, slightly exposing outfits. This song definitely giving that mature but centil energy.
Overall, Bossy is a good step for a ‘centil music’. However, when the artists said ‘bring back’, I thought it would be in a vibe like CLK’s golden days, and turns out it isn’t. CLK’s past releases were more colorful, but Bossy is in neutral, futuristic theme. It seems like Bossy is more about bringing past trends to recent generations rather than remaking a nostalgia. Well, my expectations are missed. The current music trends — thanks to New Jeans’ Y2K-like concepts and Barbie movie — feels lighter, less depresing, and more pop than previous year. So for me, even though it is a success, it’s passable after 2–3 plays. It’s a good start, but for a final time, it’s too short.
