Agnes Monica - A Woman Who's Driven by Dream

Agnes Monica - A Woman Who's Driven by Dream

Spreading her wings to international stage has been her dream since she was 17. The duet with Michael Bolton might be one of ways to grasp her goal.

 

Sitting on the wheelchair and propping her neck with a buffer early this month, Agnes Monica left the hospital after five days of medical treatment due to her suffering from back injury and gastritis.

"Still painful but it gets better. The first day of hospitalized, I couldn't even sit and stand up," said the multi-talented artist. Agnes Monica is a hard-worker and energetic young woman. Before she felt ill she'd got a truckload of activities, from exercising and musical course, to preparing a theme song for South-east Asian Games (SEA Games) that will be held this upcoming November.  Agnes Monica will be performing the song in the opening ceremony with other South-east Asian singers such as Malaysia's Jacklyn Victor and Philippines Lea Salonga. She'll be singing in the closing ceremony as well. In addition to that, she wrote new songs and went on tours in some cities. She only had four to five hours of sleep a day. Then one day she couldn't move her hands and suffered from back-pain.  Miraculously enough, several days after discharging the hospital Agnes back to her regular business right away, and performed in Manado. Her family is the one who shaped Agnes Monica's character up to be a hard-working and discipline person she is today. Born to an athlete family -her mom was a national table tennis athlete and her dad was a national basketball player-, Agnes has been taught by her parents like an athlete has.  Dreamer Everything comes from a dream. Sporting a white shirt with a tagline "Dream, Believe, Make It Happen", Agnes Monica stood up in front of hundreds of people in one event held by the Embassy of America (@America), and campaigned about how to reach a dream. "Don't be afraid to seize your dreams," preached the woman who will be 25 a month shy. The power of dream has brought Agnes Monica to meet Michael Bolton, one of America's living legend. Bolton invited Agnes to sing his greatest hit, "Said I Love You But I Lied" for his Deluxe Album "Gem", that will be thrown to market around September this year. The invitation from Bolton came up when Agnes was busy preparing her project in Los Angeles USA for two months, early this year. The pretty woman who's just performed for Red Carpet Show at the American Music Awards (AMAs) 2010 took the opportunity and met with Bolton. "Michael told me there were 3 songs from my album that he liked. In album Sacredly Agnezious and album And The Story Goes," said Agnes to Tempo. Bolton found out Agnes Monica's portfolio from Sony/ATV Music Publishing, the company wherein Agnes signed a contract with, several months after she performed at the AMAs Red Carpet Show.  They didn't need long time for the recording. But the date for Bolton's album that was supposed to release on Jun was pushed back. Bolton explains on his official site; "I just finished mastering an awesome mix of 'Said I Loved You But I Lied' with killer vocals from Agnes Monica. Unfortunately, the song wasn't finished in time to make the June release of 'Gems - The Duets Collection', but it's such a great track (one of my favorites!) that there is no way I'm not going to share it with you. "So, I'm putting together a deluxe version of Gems, that will also include additional collaborations with other great artists, to be released internationally this Fall.  I know that will mean asking you to wait a little bit longer to hear it, but I can assure you it's worth the wait," states Michael Bolton. Agnes Monica has loyal fans who grew up with her ever since her first child album became hit by the tender age of six. That goes to show why she's got strong fanatics base who's willing to fight for her. Take the Japan J-Pop Awards case, Agnes came out as the winner for 7 categories of awards which was based on readers' vote. "Thanks God, I have amazing fans who are very supportive of me all the way," Agnes gratefully said. So far, Agnes Monica's twitter has scored more than 860,000 followers. Agnes might be the first Indonesian actress who has worked with two Asian megastars, Jerry Yan (The Hospital) and Peter Ho (Romance in The White House), and the first Indonesian singer who represented the country two years in a row at the Asia Song Festival in South Korea for the Best Asian Artist Award. "My mom taught me that award is not the main goal. Win or lose, the main focus is your achievements and attainments," Agnes cited her mother's advise. In order to focus on her goal, Agnes decided to quit studying law at UPH Jakarta, and took distance learning in Politics subject at the Oregon State University, USA. Agnes realizes many people mocking her go-international dream. Therefore she decided to focus on her dream instead of listening to their negative words. "I didn't pick just any words (to hear). (Because) if I listen to what all people say, I might have gone crazy," she said. Music critic Bens Leo said the AMAs is a milestone for Agnes. Thanks to the show she got a chance to perform a duet with famous Latin singer Christian Chavez in single "En Donde Estas". Another factor that supports Agnes popularity is the benefit from high-tech such as internet and social networks that she efficiently takes. She's got a complete bio, achievements and attainments she's been doing so far that people outside Indonesia can gather through internet easily. "She doesn't need to send her files. They could just look for her name on the internet," Bens said. Having observed her career for more than three years, Bens perceived Agnes as not a merely singer and song writer. "She's special, because not many singers her age can be a singer as well as a concept-maker. She makes the concept for all her songs, album, dance, and video clips. She totally explores," said Bens. Bens suggests that Agnes should go for duet with foreign musicians with similar musical taste while they're coming to perform in Indonesia. He also states that it is time for Agnes to have a special international management. (Let me correct you a little, sir. AFAIK Agnes Monica already has international management in USA). Steve Muljoto, is Agnes Monica's manager and also her big brother who's been guarding Agnes Monica Management from her early career. Agnes and her family are inseparable. Of course, they're the only ones who know her best inside-out. Agnes Monica in their eyes is a workaholic and perfectionist in everything she does. She can stays in front of computer up for hours in her bedroom. Luckily, her mom drops by her room once in a while to see what she's up to. Her mom always reminds Agnes not to work that extreme. Once she even forced her daughter to get out of her room for a rest and refreshing. "I teased her, like, 'I'm like this because of you too'. Other moms yell at their kids to study, but mom forbids me to do so," she chuckles. Well, mom is always right. Turned out, she got sick and spent several days in hospital. Better listen to your mom. - AM -