a thread on why I love @nikizefanya and how much she means to me. @88rising xx
I'm a child of first generation immigrant indonesian parents and was fortunate enough to be born in the states. as the youngest child, I was the only one of my siblings to be born in the us.
my entire childhood growing up was a good mix of indonesian and american culture - I would have bubor ayam and sate at home with my family and tantes/oms but also go to school with predominantly white kids who had parents who spoke perfect english
growing up, my parents always put me into creative hobbies instead of sports like every other kid. I learned how to play several instruments, I was always singing, I took dance and painting lessons, the list goes on.
all of the artists that I looked up to growing up were all predominantly western entertainers who were a part of the industry which at the time didn't have much asian representation, that time in america honestly didn't have much asian representation in general.
I never had that person that I could look up to and be like "wow they're just like me, they look like me, I could be like them one day" I never truly connected to any of the role models that were available at the time. I couldnt even get an american girl doll that looked like me
In middle school I joined the orchestra and befriended my classmates who were predominantly asian because it was a stereotype. my friends introduced me into kpop and i started to feel comfortable in my asian skin.
when I got to high school, I made new friends who werent asian, this continued to college and now im in my last year. I went back to being insecure about my asian identity and I tried to fit into yet another predominantly white institution.
a couple months ago, I stumbled upon @nikizefanya on spotify when "I like u" popped up on shuffle. I thought the song was a bop and insanely relatable to what I was going through at the time, but I never looked into who niki was (I wish I did looking back)
a couple months passed and I found lowkey and recognized niki. I decided to look her up since now I have 2 songs I really like from her. the first thing I saw when I searched her name on google was "indonesian singer" and I had to take a double take because I was in disbelief
I thought "theres no fucking way shes indonesian, her english is perfect, her lyrics are relatable as fuck, its impossible" and that thought in my head honestly sparked this whole journey
I watched so many interviews, watched so many performances, read so many lyrics of hers since then. the more that I learned about niki, the more that I realized that she's literally the person that ive always looked for in the industry, MY role model I could relate to
although I wish I had her to look up to growing up, i'm so thankful I found her in college at a time in my life where so much is going on in my life and so many emotions are being expressed. im so thankful I have someone like her to turn to when everything in my life is shit
@nikizefanya you empower me, you make me feel proud to be not only asian but more importantly indonesian, you make me feel like im not alone, and because of all of this I am eternally grateful for you. I love you xx
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