Lyodra

Biography

Lyodra Margareta Ginting (Indonesian pronunciation: [liˈjodra marɡaˈrɛta ˈɡintɪŋ] lee-yoh-drah; born 21 June 2003), known mononymously as Lyodra, is an Indonesian singer and actress. She was the winner of the A3 category at the 2017 Sanremo Junior children's international solo singing competition in Sanremo, Italy, and the winner of the tenth season of Indonesian Idol. In both competitions, Lyodra demonstrated the use of the whistle register. She was listed as the youngest Indonesian Idol champion at the age of 16 years and 256 days. Lyodra was awarded Best Children Female Solo Artist from the 20th Anugerah Musik Indonesia Awards, and Best New Asian Artist in Indonesia from the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Award. In addition, she was nominated for Best Southeast Asian Act at the 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards.
Along with her music career, she has started to explore acting, where she made her debut in the web series, 7 Hari Sebelum 17 Tahun (2021).

Early life and education

Lyodra was born Lyodra Margareta Ginting on 21 June 2003 in Medan, North Sumatra. She was raised in a Catholic family and was given the baptismal name Margareta. Her first name, Lyodra, itself is a modification or another form of the female name in Hebrew, Liora, which means "Light". Lyodra is the eldest of two children, from entrepreneur Simar Ginting and psychiatric nurse Natalia Johanna Tarigan. She has a younger brother named Igyralo Ginting, who is two years her junior.
Lyodra's singing talents had already begun to show as young as 2 years old. When she was 4 years old, she had already been participating in local singing competitions in Medan City. According to her father, Lyodra was able to sing with a better vibrato technique than her peers, who had been training longer.
In 2013, Lyodra studied under Derta Purba, the vocal teacher of classical singer Putri Ayu Silaen. She also studied playing the organ while serving as a psalmist at mass at the Catholic Church of St. Francis of Assisi, Medan.
Apart from singing, Lyodra is also studying acting. She was a member of the theatre club while studying at St. Ignasius Junior High School, Medan. She also took piano class. After graduating from junior high school she continued to Santo Thomas 2 Senior High School, Medan. In 2021, Lyodra attended the Pelita Harapan University and majored in communication studies but resigned at the end of second semester.

2014: Early career and Indonesian Mencari Bakat

Lyodra debuted as a child singer at Kirana Semen Indonesia 2014, hosted by enterprise SIG. After winning in the Medan-based regional round, which was held in she advanced to the finals in Jakarta, representing Medan. On 31 March 2014, at Djakarta Theater XXI, Central Jakarta, Lyodra took to the top four position in the finals, taking home the first prize.
On 1 August 2014, Lyodra appeared as a participant in the fourth season of Indonesia Mencari Bakat (2010), where she was eventually eliminated in the sixth round. After her elimination, Lyodra was signed to record label GUT Records, where she was chosen as one of the six members of a project group called Di Atas Rata-Rata 2 (DARR 2).

2015–2017: Di Atas Rata-Rata 2

Lyodra's DARR 2 activities included Java Jazz Festival 2016, which was held throughout 4–6 March at JIExpo Kemayoran; "Di Atas Rata-Rata 2: Bikin Konser" on 2 April 2016 at Ciputra Artpreneur; and the commemoration of on the 71st Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia at Merdeka Palace. The latter two concerts were performed for governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and former president Joko Widodo respectively.
Lydora would go onto participate in Sanremo Junior 2017, in Sanremo, Italy at the Ariston Cinema Building, where she participated in the A3 Category for children aged 6–15 years, sponsored by the Creative Economy Agency of the Republic of Indonesia. She became the winner of the A3 Category, beating nine participants from nine other countries and was selected as the only finalist to receive a special award from the committee, in the form of the "Prix of Sanremo Junior Committee" trophy. She performed Gita Gutawa's "Janji Untuk Mimpi" in English, as "Dear Dream", translated by Ria Leimena.

2019–2020: Indonesian Idol and debut single "Gemintang Hatiku"

In 2019, Lyodra participated in Indonesian Idol. During the audition she performed Lady Gaga's song "I'll Never Love Again", and with her usage of the whistle register impressing the judges resulted in her reception of a golden ticket. Her audition video trended as first in YouTube Indonesia within the few hours of its release.
On 2 March 2020, she became the winner of the tenth season of Indonesian Idol, with her being the youngest winner in the history of Indonesian Idol at the age of 16 years, 8 months, and 15 days. Lyodra received the song "Gemintang Hatiku" as her prize, which became her first single as an adult singer. There are two versions of the song, with Lyodra singing the pop ballad version. The single won Lydora the award in Outstanding Newcomer in the 2020 Dahsyatnya Awards. After the show, Lyodra signed a contract with the record label Universal Music Indonesia and was managed by Star Media Nusantara, an artist management company owned by MNC Group.

2021: Acting debut and solo album Lyodra

On 14 February 2021, a seven-episode teen drama web series, 7 Hari Sebelum 17 Tahun, aired on the media service provider application for the digital channel Stro, in which Lyodra made her acting debut in as an antagonist named Gina, a temperamental high school student. The series was named one of the best television shows in Asia by NME Asia Magazine.
On 16 July 2021, Lyodra released her first studio album, eponymously named, Lyodra, which contained eight singles, four of which being new. In this album, she collaborated with musicians Dipha Barus, Ade Nurulianto, Anji, Yovie Widianto, Mario Gerardus Klau, Tohpati, and Laleilmanino; whom helped composed and produced the album. This marked her debut as an adult singer under Universal Music Indonesia. The album was declared as one of the most recommended Asian albums by The Victor Magazine.
In October 2021, Lyodra was nominated as "Best Southeast Asian Act" from the 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards held on 14 November 2021, at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena, beating out JJ Lin in votes.
In November 2021, Lyodra represented Indonesia at Expo 2020 in Al Wasl Plaza, Dubai.
Lyodra was also highlighted by Spotify as Artist of the Month and was also featured in Times Square's digital billboard in New York City for the November 2021 for the Equal campaign program.
In December 2021, Lyodra's debut album won the Album of the Year award from 2021 Indonesian Music Awards which was held at Studio RCTI+. On 11 December 2021, Lyodra won the award for Best New Asian Artist at the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

2022: Collaboration with Calum Scott and "Sang Dewi"

In 2022, Lyodra was awarded the Musician of the Year award by TikTok. Lyodra was also listed in the "Outstanding Young People" from Forbes 30 Under 30 Indonesia magazine for 2022.
On 3 June 2022, Lyodra announced that she would be collaborating with British musician, Calum Scott. The collaboration is Calum Scott's project to promote one of his songs, "Heaven" for his album, Bridges.
On 7 June 2022, through the official Instagram page of Idola Cilik, Lyodra was chosen to be one of the guest judges in the talent search event with Judika and Aurel Hermansyah. The program aired commercially through RCTI TV channel on 13 June 2022.
On 12 August 2022, Lyodra released a single with Andi Rianto entitled "Sang Dewi×Sang Dewi12 August 2022 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Sang Dewi4:07", a remake of Titi DJ's version from 2001, marking Lyodra's first collaboration with an Indonesian musician.
On 7 November 2022, Lyodra was confirmed to be performing at the Asia Artist Awards (AAA) 2022 by the event's Twitter account. The event was held on 13–14 December 2022 in Japan, where Lyodra won the Asia Celebrity Awards category. The award is Lyodra's third international award after Sanremo Junior 2017 and 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

2023: "Ego" and "Menyesal"

On February 10, 2023, Lyodra released a single, titled "Ego". Later that year, on March 3, she collaborated with Tiara Andini and Ziva Magnolya to release a song titled "Menyesal", produced and accompanied by Yovie Widianto for his album project,Yovie & His Friend. "Menyesal" is a remake of the original song with same title from Ressa Herlambang, whose released the original version in 2012.

2024–present: Melangkah

On September 26, 2024, Lyodra announced her second studio album, Melangkah×Melangkah11 October 2024 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks1Tak Selalu Memiliki4:202Tak Dianggap2:593Malu-Malu tapi Nyaman3:394Sana-sini Mau3:355Ego4:346Sang Dewi4:077Sampaikan Rindu4:278Jangan Pernah Kembali3:33, which was released digitally on October 11, 2024. It is her first full-length studio album release since Lyodra.

Influence

On several occasions, Lyodra has cited Beyoncé, Jessie J, Bruno Mars and Ariana Grande as her musical inspirations. In particular, she cites Beyoncé's "Listen" as a song that she often sings, because it has had a "positive influence" on her. She has said to have been a fan of Mariah Carey, Céline Dion, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera since she was in junior high school. She also once said that Agnez Mo was an inspirational figure for her. In addition, other singers such as Raisa, Rossa, Judika, Once Mekel, Dua Lipa, and Billie Eilish also indirectly influenced her musical style.

Musical style and voice

Lyodra is a soprano. She is best known as a pop singer; the first three singles in her career as an adult singer were primarily pop ballads—"Gemintang Hatiku", "Mengapa Kita Terlanjur Mencinta" and "Tentang Kamu". In addition to pop ballads, she has also explored R&B and EDM in "Sabda Rindu" and "Oee.. Oee... Oee". In "Sabda Rindu", the single utilizes riffs and runs found in R&B; in "Oee.. Oee... Oee", the EDM song explores the usage of the Karo traditional instruments.
Critics have described Lyodra as a powerhouse in terms of vocals, with Salman Achmad of Hai writing that Lyodra "has the power of a voice to reach high notes" and "her vocal character is very strong". Diana Rafikasari from Sindonews described Lyodra as a singer who is "very capable of processing slow tempo songs". Lyodra's ability to sing with the whistle register was found to be self-taught as far back as junior high, where she had imitated Mariah Carey's use of the whistle register in the song "O Holy Night". She has admitted experiencing damage to her vocal cords in 2016 due to excessive singing using the whistle register. Stylistically, she was noted to have adopted Beyoncé's hoarse voice in her single "Mengapa Kita Terlanjur Mencinta".

Special awards

Lyodra received the award for one of Indonesia's Beautiful Women 2021 by HighEnd Magazine.
Lyodra received "Best Dresser" with Krisdayanti at "Embracing Womanhood" IBW 2021 by HighEnd Magazine.
Lyodra received Spotify Wrapped ID 2021 Awards.