Rossa debuted as a singer when she was 10 years old with her first album “Gadis Ingusan” in 1988. In 1990, She released her second album named “Untuk Sahabatku” under the supervision of Dian Records/Pro-Sound. Following this album, Rossa took time to complete her studies before continuing her journey with music.
Rossa’s success as a singer came when she released “Nada-Nada Cinta” in 1996 under the guidance of Younky Soewarno. This album sold more than 750.000 copies and the single “Nada-Nada Cinta” was ranked 2nd on MTV Ampuh Indonesia for 18 weeks consecutive under Indonesia’s all-time MTV Chart List section. This song was also ranked 1st in the category of Song of the Year MTV Ampuh Indonesia. Besides her activity as a singer, she was also an actress in the soap opera entitled “Dua Sisi Mata Uang”.
In 1999, Rossa released her new album “Tegar”, which with this album, Rossa become more fabulous, and was certified 4x Platinum Awards. She won an MTV Indonesia Award in 2000 as the Favorite Female Artist, The Potential Star award by Bintang Magazine, and The Magical Star by Cek & Ricek. The single Tegar was also used for the soap opera entitled “Suami, Istri & Dia” on RCTI. In the year 2000, the album Tegar was also released in Malaysia under BMG Music. The Malaysian version of this album sold more than 50.000 copies.
At the end of July 2000, Rossa released her new album entitled “Hati Yang Terpilih” exclusively for the soap opera in RCTI with the same title. Outside Indonesia, Rossa actively performed in events such as the Asian Music Festival and My Love in Hanoi, Vietnam on October 26th, 2000. She also won the Anugrah Musik Indonesia Awards (AMI Awards) in 2001. Her second single “Biarkan Cinta Itu Ada” from the album “Tegar” was also used as the soundtrack of the soap opera “Tersayang” in Brunei Darussalam in 2001.
Rossa finally graduated from the Faculty of Social and Political Science, University Indonesia (UI). In February 2002 she released an album entitled “Kini” which is dominated by ballads. She received the honor of “Best Female Solo Artist” at the Anugrah Musik Indonesia Awards (6th AMI Awards, 2002) for her album’s achievement of being sold more than 500.000 copies. Two years later, she played as an actress in the soap opera entitled “Perisai Kasih” with her song “Kepastian” as its original soundtrack.
The album “Kini” was relaunched by Rossa with the addition of a new song titled “Malam Pertama” composed by Melly Goeslaw exclusively for the soap opera with the same title. This album was certified Double Platinum in 2004. Her single “Malam Pertama” also was ranked 3rd on MTV Ampuh Indonesia for 8 weeks consecutive under Indonesia’s all-time MTV Chart List section.
In December 2004, Rossa released a new album entitled “Kembali”. One year later (2005), Rossa was chosen as an MTV Exclusive Artist (Malaysia, January 2005) & MTV Ampuh Artist of The Month (February 2005). The album “Kembali” was released by Rossa in Malaysia on the 12th of May, 2005 under the guidance of Suria Records with her mini-concert being held at Planet Hollywood, Malaysia on the 23rd of May, 2005 for promotion. She was also awarded “The Best Female Singer” by Anugerah Musik Indonesia Awards (AMI Awards, 9th, 2005). In Indonesia, this album sold more than 800.000 copies after 9 months of release.
In the same year (2005), Rossa contributed to the making of the compilation album entitled “From Us to U” to salute the legendary singer and artist, Titiek Puspa. In this album, Rossa was trusted to sing a legendary song “Cinta” that belonged to Titiek Puspa. Rossa also sang “Marilah Kemari” with various artists who were also involved in the making of this album.
Rossa was also nominated for an award by MTV Asia Awards on February 28, 2006, in Bangkok as one of the representatives of Indonesia. On the 26th of December 2006, Rossa launched her newest album entitled “Yang Terpilih” with three hits songs; “Terlalu Cinta”, “Atas Nama Cinta”, and “Tak Termiliki”. Atas Nama Cinta was chosen as the soundtrack of the soap opera “Cinta Fitri” by MD Entertainment. In Malaysia, the album “Yang Terpilih” was released on May 16th, 2007. She also won an award from Anugrah Industri Muzik (AIM 15th, 2008) as “The Best Malay Song Performed by a Foreign Artist”.
One month before 2008 began, Rossa again showed her talents as an Indonesian Music Diva with the release of a new single entitled “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” which was exclusively made for the film “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” which aired on the 28th of February 2008. This single has won a lot of award such as “The Best Female Singer” by Anugerah Musik Indonesia Awards (AMI Awards 11th, 2008), The Most Popular Singer by SCTV Awards 2008, The Best Favorite Singer by SWA Magazine, and The Best Malay Song Performed by a Foreign Artist by Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM 16th, 2009).
Rossa also performed “Takdir Cinta” and “Tercipta Untukku (feat. Ungu)” for “OST. Ayat-Ayat Cinta”. In Malaysia, the single “Ayat-Ayat Cinta” broke the record by being the most downloaded song with more than 700.000 downloads by the international singer. Rossa also had the chance to perform at the Asian Night Olympic Games in Beijing, China (2008) as the representative of Indonesia.
Rossa’s single concert on the 26th of November, 2008, with the assistance of Jay Subiyakto and Erwin Gutawa, was finally realized with the title “Persembahan Cinta” in the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) accompanied by UNGU and Melly Goeslaw as her special guests. The tickets sold out three weeks before the concert with attendees numbering around 6000.
Rossa released a new album entitled “Rossa (Self-Titled)” on January 14th, 2009. The single of this album was entitled “Terlanjur Cinta”, a duet with Pasha (UNGU), and the second hit is “Hati Yang Kau Sakiti”. The same year, Rossa was awarded “The Best Inspiring Woman by Kartini Awards (2009)” and “The Best Video Clip by Inbox Awards (2009)“. Rossa was also awarded in Malaysia as “The Best Malay Song Performed Foreign Artist by Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM 16th, 2009)“. On the 23rd of May 2010, Rossa held a mega concert entitled “Melodi Cinta” in Stadium Putra Bukit Jalil (Axiata Area), Malaysia with more than 12,000 attendees. This concert also introduced special guests; Ungu, ST12, Aizat, Permata Seni Choir, Permata Seni Muzik Tunas, Yovie Widianto heading the Orchestra, and Jay Subiyakto as the Art Director. This mega concert was supported by Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor (the Malaysian Prime Minister’s Wife), Mrs. Linda Gumelar, and Mr. Agum Gumelar.
Having experienced such success with the mega-concert, Rossa actively released a new album entitled “Harmoni Jalinan Nada & Cerita” with 3 popular songs; “Memeluk Bulan, Jagad Khayalku and Ku Menunggu”. Rossa was awarded by Halo Selebriti as The Most Popular Female Artist, The Best Female Singer by SCTV Music Awards 2010 (for “Rossa” album), The Best Malay Song Performed Foreign Artist by Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM 18th, 2011) for single “Ku Menunggu” and The Best Female Singer by Anugerah Planet Muzik (APM 10th, 2011) for the album “Harmoni Jalinan Nada & Cerita”.
October 11th, 2011. Rossa held her own concert outside of Indonesia, in Esplanade, Singapore. The concert was entitled “Harmoni Cinta”. At this concert, Rossa launched her new single, “Aku Bersahaja” which was sung together with “Taufik Batisah”. This concert was attended by 1,800 fans. At the end of 2011, Rossa released an album entitled “The Best of Rossa” in Indonesia, with 3 popular songs; “Jangan Ada Dusta Diantara Kita (feat. Broery Marantika), Tak Sanggup Lagi, and One Night Lover (feat. Joe Flizzow). 2 more songs were added to this album for the international market “Ku Pinang Kau Dengan Bismillah (feat. UNGU)” and “Aku Bersahaja (feat. Taufik Batisah)”. In Indonesia, this album sold 1,5 Million Copies and it was ranked 10th on the list of Indonesian all-time best-selling albums. Along with this album, Rossa won awards of the region and national acknowledgment. In addition, the duet with Joe Flizzow’s “One Night Lover” delivered Rossa as a singer in New York Fashion Week (2012), and her name was listed in Global Grind, a well-known entertainment website in the USA.
Apart from her activity as a singer, Rossa also expanded her activities into the family karaoke business and established Diva Family Karaoke. Currently, Diva Family Karaoke is one of the biggest family karaoke establishments in Indonesia. She was also appointed by Fremantle Media as one of the judges for X-Factor Indonesia (Season 1) and with her coaching, her contestant won.
Rossa was endowed with a title of nobility from the Surakarta Kingdom as “Kanjeng Mas Ayu Tumenggung Sri Rossa Swarakaloka”, as well as the title of nobility from the Pahang Kingdom, Malaysia, as “Dato (Darjah Indera Mahkota)”. Rossa is the only singer from Indonesia to be given this prestigious title.
At the end of the year 2013, Rossa released the single “Salahkah” along with Malaysian Singer, Hafiz Suip, which was exclusively made for the Malaysian soap opera “Bukan Kerana Aku Tak Cinta”. This song received 5 nominations in World Music Award under the following categories; World’s Best Female Artist, World’s Best World’s Live Act, World’s Best Song, World’s Best Entertainer of the Year, and World’s Best Video. This song was also included in her latest album entitled “Love, Life & Music”.
At the launching of her latest album “Love, Life and Music” in May 2014. Rossa successfully broke the Indonesian World Records Museum (MURI) with the Oriflame Version of her album selling 100.000 copies, and the original version of this album was certified Triple Platinum Award. Rossa plotted “Hijrah Cinta” for the Indonesian market and it was used as the soundtrack of the Indonesian film “Hijrah Cinta”. For the international market, Rossa plotted “Salahkah (feat. Hafiz)” as the hit single. Afterward, Fremantle Media appointed Rossa as one of the judges of the X-Factor Indonesia Season 2 and again she won with her contestant. This album was certified by the Multi-Platinum Awards on January 30th, 2015 which sold over 1 Million Copies in Indonesia only.
The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of Republic Indonesia appointed Rossa to sing the jingles “Pesona Indonesia” and “Wonderful Indonesia” as Indonesia tourism branding to go international. This campaign was promoted in the international media such as; Astro TV, National Geographic Australia, FX-Australia, Channel News Asia, FOX Channels, CCTV, China, CNBC International, Channel 5, Channel 8, Channel U Singapore, MBN, MBC, TV3, TBS, TV Asahi Ch. 1, Channel 7, Channel 9, Aljazeera, Diva (Asia TV Channel), Discovery Channel, Travel Living Channel/AFC, CNN International, BBC World, Sports Channels, Time Square New York and many more.
Rossa held a concert in 2015 at Istana Budaya (Malaysia) entitled “Malam Keajaiban Cinta Dato Rossa” that gained an audience of 2000 fans per night. Rossa created history as the first Indonesian artist to hold two days of concerts at the Istana Budaya (Malaysia), which also broke the record as the most expensive tickets sold for a concert, the price itself being RM 1,500. In addition, Rossa also held a concert in Persada Johor, International Convention Center entitled “Pesona Cinta Dato Rossa” with 1800 attendees.
In early January 2016. Rossa held a concert again at Istana Budaya (Malaysia) entitled “Raja & Rakyat Berpisah Tiada” along with 7 Malaysian singers to commemorate Sultan Pahang’s birthday. This concert successfully broke the record of the most expensive ticket prices in history at RM 5000.
Rossa created a new single “Jangan Hilangkan Dia” from Rian D’Masiv, arranged by an International musician, Tushar Apte. The song was first released in 4 countries and was ranked number 1 in “iTunes Soundtrack” for 6 months. Afterward, Rossa went to LA in July to record her latest album, with Mitch Allan as her vocal producer. Rossa also performed at the event “21 Asian Television Awards” on the 2nd of December 2016 as a representative from Indonesia.
On April 5, 2017, Rossa produced a new album entitled “A New Chapter” which incorporated new genres such as EDM, Electronic Pop, and Urban with the support from International Musicians from Hollywood who had previously worked with international singers Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, One Direction, Rihanna and many more. This album has 4 English songs and the remaining 5 are in Indonesian.
Rossa herself is the First Asian Artist Who Collaborated with a World Class Musician, namely Mitch Allan, Tushar Apte, Fiona Bevan, Stuart Christon, Gatlin Green, Hugo Lira, Thomas Gustafsson, Negin Djafari, Steve Shebby, Joleen Belle, Michelle Buzz, & Nikki Leonti when producing this album.
Her new English single entitled “Body Speak” enabled Rossa to be the “First Indonesia Artist” who made an appearance on MTV Asia Spotlight Artist for 1 whole month. According to Peter Coquillard, the Executive Producer for the 4 English songs on the new album, namely “A New Chapter”, these songs were initially planned for Celine Dion’s new album in the future but Rossa was proud to be given the honor to sing these songs.
To commemorate the 21 years of her career in the music industry, Rossa deployed a concert entitled “The Journey of 21 Dazzling Years” at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) with the help of Jay Subiyakto as Art Director and Tohpati as the head of the Orchestra. This concert was attended by a crowd of 6000. Her latest album, “A New Chapter” was certified 4x Platinum Award on the 4th of October, 2017. Rossa is believed to be singing a title for the soundtrack of the film “Ayat-Ayat Cinta 2” entitled “Bulan Dikekang Malam” that was released on 20th October 2017. She’s also held another sold-out concert at Esplanade, Singapore in 2017 based on The Journey of 21 Dazzling Years.
In early 2018, Rossa released some new single likes “Pernah Memiliki (feat. D’Masiv), Bukan Maksudku (taken from the album “A New Chapter”) and The Good Is Back (feat. Anggun)“. She’s also received the prestigious Planet Muzik Special Award (category: Legend Award) from Anugerah Planet Muzik Singapore (Regional Grammy Awards), received the prestigious title of nobility “DATO’ SRI” from the Pahang Kingdom (Malaysia), received the prestigious award “Intellectual Property Award 2018” by the Indonesia Directorate General of Intellectual Property Rights for her contribution for Indonesia’s music industry and awarded by SCTV Music Awards 2018 as “The Best Female Singer” for her song “Bulan Dikekang Malam” original soundtrack film Ayat-Ayat Cinta 2.
In 2019, Rossa signed a record deal with SM Entertainment. International label from South Korea which manages Korean superstars such as Super Junior, EXO, NCT Dream, Red Velvet, BoA, Taeyeon, Baekhyun Super-M, Aespa, and many others. She also appeared as a special guest star in the Super Junior concert “Super Show 7S World Tour” held at ICE BSD City, Tangerang on 15 June 2019. At the concert, Rossa performed her song Tegar in duet with Yesung and Ryeowook, both Super Junior members. She also performed her song Pudar in front of over 20.000 people.
Near the end of 2019, Rossa held a concert tour titled Tegar 2.0 in four major cities in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, and Surabaya. It was held to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the release of the album Tegar in 1999. Together with this concert, Rossa released a single titled Tegar 2.0 which was specially arranged by 2018 Asian Games music composer Ronald Steven and Gamaliel (GAC) as the vocal director. This concert also succeeded in gaining an audience of more than 15.000 people.
On 4 March 2020, Rossa released a new single entitled Masih by Yovie Widianto and Nino Kayam under the Inspire Music label (Rossa’s independent label). It was first played at her concert celebrating 21 years in the music industry. In promoting this single, Rossa created a mini-series titled Masih Cinta Terbaik, which was produced by herself and assisted by MAV Production Asia, a production house that had developed a variety of short film and series content in Indonesia. It was widely shown on VIU and Wahana Creator Nusantara as a team of scriptwriters who have received many awards in writing and developing film stories such as Dua Garis Biru, Possesif, Keluarga Cemara, Habibie & Ainun, Rudy Habibie, Bumi Manusia, Laskar Pelangi, and Bukaan 8.
The second single of the same year was Sangcheo Badeun Maemum / The Heart You Hurt / Hati Yang Kau Sakiti (Korean Version). It was officially released on 14 August 2020 by holding a press conference via the VLIVE application with Southeast Asian and South Korean media. At the end of 2020 Rossa successfully breaking new history again, she’s the first Indonesian artist in history with multi No.1 chart on the biggest all digital music platforms in the same year (2020)
NOTE :
Since the album “Tegar (1999)” Rossa’s albums have not only been released in Indonesia but also in Malaysia. In addition, her album entitled “Kembali” (2004) was a big hit as it was also released in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. In October 2014, she released her album “Love, Life & Music”, making it the 5th album to have been released in Japan. All her digital singles and albums have been made available for worldwide download since 2011.
