Singapore-based independent artist Rangga Jones is perhaps best known for Infatuated, which unexpectedly became a runaway hit in Thailand. To date, it's garnered more than 14 million Spotify streams – a record overshadowed by his 2022 single Call Me's 34.7 million streams.

His entire discography is, a distinct blend of Pop and R&B, is incredibly pleasing to the ear. If I were in a café and one of his songs came on, I'd be pulling out my phone for Shazam – and probably staying longer to enjoy it.

My favourite song of his has admittedly changed since this interview was conducted; it's now One and Only, off his latest 2025 album Everything I've Wanted To Say, which is embedded above for your listening.

IAAS Music had the pleasure of sitting down with him on the second day of LASALLE's Rock and Indie Festival after his headlining performance – an intimate and understated, but no less impactful, set featuring just Jones and his guitar. In this interview, we dig into life after his unexpected virality, his music's 'why', and of course, his process.

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IAAS Music: Hi, Rangga! Thanks so much for taking time to sit with us after your set – especially with how hot it is, even at night.

I saw that you're also from Jakarta, which is pretty different from Singapore. How do you think growing up between these two places has shaped your sound as an artist?

Rangga: Oh, you're also Indonesian?

Yeah, I'm also from Indonesia.

Oh, apa kabar?

Baik! (Good!)

[To answer your question,] honestly, I didn't really do music in Jakarta. I moved here when I was 7 or 8 years old. I didn't know any English, so I went to an international school to learn English. Music only came about when I was like 20.

So even though I'm from Jakarta, I feel like I'm Singaporean [too] because I've done NS, I've done all this stuff. I just take inspiration from the local scene here instead of Jakarta, but I still try to keep up with what's happening in Indonesia. Because I know the Indonesian market is huge too.

But yeah, I still think I'm more leaning towards the Singapore side of Jakarta.

Interesting! In that case, how do you think the local scene here in Singapore shaped your sound?

I think it shaped my sound and person-wise as an artist a lot, because I was quite lost going into this independently. I didn't know what to do; I didn't have my manager, I didn't have music friends... so I was quite lost until I found slowly found my music circle. [We] talked about like, "How do you guys go about music?"

So all these friends really helped me shape who I am, as well. I'm just always inspired by the Singapore scene as always, because we're all so small – like everyone knows everyone!

You're our last interview of the festival – we've definitely picked that vibe up from our last two interviewees, Marian Carmel and IMAN.

Yeah, yeah. Always. Like [local artist Benjamin Kheng], we all know each other – which is very nice. I feel like the Singapore scene is thankfully really, really nice and very welcoming.

In this circle, would you say it's more of a purely-artistic mentorship, or more of how to do art for a living?

I guess a bit of both! I just kind of see how they do it themselves, how they go about it, and learn from them. Especially my manager – he was my mentor first, and then became my manager. I've learned a lot from him – and, yeah, that's how Singapore shaped me.

It's great to hear such kind words about our local scene. I confess I was doing some background research coming into this interview – interestingly, despite having roots in both Singapore and Indonesia, you blew up in Thailand instead?

Yeah, it was super funny.

How does it feel? You've stated before that you didn't expect it at all – but what was your first reaciton when you found out?

We were all very excited, I was very excited – we have this other artist, his name is Josh. He was doing super well and went viral first. So I saw that, thought, "Oh, when is it my turn?", and low-key felt a bit down. But I listened to my manager, and he said, "Just keep on posting, your time will come."

With Infatuated [released in 2025], I just kept on posting even before release. Then we performed it live at Music Matters before it was released. I think [RIF Head of Festival Stella Ong] (whose exclusive article you can read here) was the one who took that clip – we edited it with lyrics and all, and that one blew up with no reason. Until today I don't know why.

But I guess the feeling was, obviously, super excited. And I was like, finally, we're getting somewhere. We tried to capitalise on that too – we actually went over to Bangkok to perform the song. It was our first time ever with our friend, Patrick Ananda – he's a Thai artist.

And it was like a different world. [Between the] Singapore crowd and the Thai crowd, I performed in front of 700 people. And they were screaming – I was so overwhelmed, but also very, very happy. That [moment of] virality was quite life-changing, I would say.

Social media is such a huge part of being a musician now – do you have any idea how many times you posted Infatuated? I remember Alex Warren saying he posted Ordinary 134 times before it blew up.

I think it's somewhere there, but... maybe not that much. I think it's either 50, or just below 100, if I'm not mistaken.

So it's really just keeping at it, day in and day out.

Yeah, and you also have to tell yourself if it doesn't work then it's fine. Just keep trying, you know?

Was this at the start of your career? Or did this breaking-out happen a little later?

I'd actually already released a couple of songs. 20+ songs, already. So sometimes it takes time, you know. I already had a following on my streams, but [people] didn't know who I was.

Like my song Call Me – that one Spotify's algorithm pushed, and thankfully people liked the song enough to keep downloading it.

Okay, this wasn't in today's scripted questions. But now I'm curious – you have a huge number of monthly listeners currently just below 500 thousand. What are your tips for other independent artists looking to convert these passive listeners into a core following that come to shows and buy merch?

Oh, man, it's still a problem that I'm facing. Like I said, I think it's just consistency – you cannot, cannot, give up. Especially if you're really into it, you've got to give it your all.

I guess my advice is to stay consistent, and just try things that you normally wouldn't post. Of course, go around, mingle around – when I first started, I went around to shows to talk to artists and whatnot. You confirm can one [Singlish, meaning "You definitely can do it"], sometimes it just takes time.

Outside the Singapore music scene, who's your dream collaboration?

My 'dream-dream' is Justin Bieber. I always give the same answer. Without him, I wouldn't be doing music; he's the sole inspiration for me. I watched his documentary Never Say Never 10+ times to manifest and inspire myself, like "oh my god it's possible"... Actually, I wanted to cover him today but the organisers requested all original music. So that's my 'dream-dream', but you know, anything's possible.

How about an artist within Asia?

I'm trying to think of an Asian regional artist... Oh, you know what, since I'm friends with him – a Filipino artist, his name is Maki.

I'm a huge fan! I love Dilaw.

Yeah, so me and him, we went to a songwriting camp in Bali and we became very close. I think a Maki collab would be sick; some of our listeners are also top three in the Philippines. So it makes sense, you know.

I'll be waiting eagerly for that!

The next thing I wanted to ask about is your album, Everything I've Wanted To Say. It came out last year, but the deluxe version just dropped in January – what's the story behind that?

The story of the album is just... my journey through heartbreak, being alone, and then finding love again. Pun intended, because the lead single is called Love Again.

I wanted listeners and friends to know what I went through, and I've never done an album where it's like Track 1 to Track 10, it all connects. It's a very well-thought out concept, I feel.

Were all the songs written at once in the process with the concept in mind, or was it more of picking them out from what you already have?

Infatuated was honestly done for quite a while. I showed it to my manager, and it was already done in the song bank. Then some are like Strangers, the one I performed [at RIF] – that one really came out because I found out what happened [seeing his ex move on with someone new after their breakup]. It always gets me emotional.

I hear that you self-produce almost all of your music. From conceiving an idea to pushing a track for release, what's your favourite part of the process?

Yeah, [I self-produce], like, 90% of it.

My favourite part has to be making the song. Making the idea, and then working on it and see it come to life – that's my favourite part.

All the marketing is a bit... eh. But, it's a must. In this day and age, everyone's on their phone, we need to keep up.

In making the song, does the beat come to you first? Are you a 'producer-first' or 'songwriter-first' kind of artist?

I'm not the king where I can write lyrics, then put that into a chord progression. I need a beat first – some guitars, or piano, just something.

The melodies will be gibberish at first. And then sometimes my gibberish sounds like words, and I'll play on that. That's my whole process.

Sometimes [there will be] cases where the song legit just wrote itself – Confidence, Call Me, what else... Even Infatuated I was very inspired by [indie-pop band] HYBS. I guess that's why it went far, I did reference them in marketing.

Interesting! Was R&B always the genre you wanted to go for, or was it more of landing here after a while?

R&B, like pure R&B, was actually the one I wanted to do. Like the Daniel Caesar type – then I fell in love more with pop music. So I always try to be in between – but who knows, maybe in the future we'll have some alt-R&B Rangga Jones album!

But R&B was my thing. That's what I wanted to do – but then I loved Lainey, Lauv, all these people... They're very pop, you know? So I went in that kind of direction.

I noticed some Daniel Caesar influence earlier during your set – specifically, his Best Part chord progression to your Stranger. Of course, in a different key – great set, by the way.

Thank you.

For our last question – can you recommend a local Singaporean or South-East Asian song you've been playing a lot to our readers at IAAS Music?

Honestly – and this isn't biased just because I'm close to him – my favourite YAØ song is For No Reason. And that song – wow, at one point I was playing it every day.

And the song he did with me too – it's called Too Late, that's a great one.

South-East Asian-wise... again, I listen to a lot of Maki.

Me too, I love Maki – I'm jealous of his guitar arrangements, to be honest!

His band, all – wow. He did, what, four nights in the Indoor Stadium – yeah, he's crazy.

The HYBS guys as well... James Allen, I'm quite close to him now. It's crazy how life works, you know – I used his face for content, and now we talk like friends. I'm just trying to say that it's possible, yeah. Legit, just manifest guys, it works.

Okay, one real last question – do you have any tips for any new artists in South-East Asia and around the world? Anything you wished that someone had told you when you were starting out, maybe.

Yeah, I think first, don't expect yourself to blow up instantly. Trust in the process, and then always be consistent with what you do. You can't be MIA [missing in action] for too long because the momentum will be gone. You have to be consistent. Either with content, I think – or both content and releasing.

Some people do a lot of content, and they become an influencer... But if you truly want to become an artist, you need to release music. You have to. Because my way was just to freaking saturate the market with releases. And I still had my full-time job.

I legit put out a song every month until Spotify picked up. You see, you have to be consistent. Spotify picked up one of my songs and it got into Hot Hits Singapore. And I'd been manifesting that since the full-time job – I kept telling my colleagues, "See ya, watch out, ah. Soon I'll be on it."

So advice is: always, just consistency. And also if you're feeling like you've got writer's block or a bit down, just take a break. Taking a break is also okay, but don't lose the momentum.

Awesome! Thank you so much for your time, Rangga – this was a great interview with lots of insights.

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You can find Rangga Jones on Spotify, Instagram and TikTok.

His latest song, No One Can, just dropped last month on all streaming platforms.