Kendis

Growing up in Jakarta, Kendis was drawn to Barbie, movie musicals, coming-of-age films, and the emotional songwriting she grew up listening to. Reading, particularly fantasy novels, helped build her English vocabulary and eventually led her to songwriting. Now, the Indonesian singer-songwriter writes about complicated relationships, overthinking, insecurity, and the gap between the life she imagined and the one she’s living. Her songs are candid, romantic, occasionally irrational, and often self-aware, reflecting the contradictions of being a hopeful pessimist: always expecting the worst but still believing in happy endings.