I saw the end of an episode of Akademi Fantasia 7 last night and was pleasantly surprised that Anggun performed a song live. At 34, her tone was as excellent as ever, and she looked beautiful too.
That got me looking back at, in my opinion, her best ever song, which is A Rose In The Wind, and its Indonesian version, Kembali, released 1998.
It was written by Erick Benzi (a French producer/songwriter who had previously worked with the likes of Celine Dion) and Nikki Matheson.
What a refrain, and what a voice!
The Indonesian version [which I liked better]:
The song is part of her album Snow On The Sahara (1997). The title track reached number 1 in Italy, Spain and several Asian countries. It is her biggest ever hit single.
Next, A Rose In The Wind was released, which to me is a better song than Snow On The Sahara. Obviously many disagreed, as the best it showed for was a no.17 in Italy. A different story though, for its Indonesian version, Kembali. It was a big hit in Southeast Asia.
The album has sold a total of over a million copies worldwide, and is apparently the highest selling album by an Asian artist outside Asia, ever. No, not even Rain did better.
Then, in 1998 she trained her scope on the notoriously difficult market to break, the US market.
The album was released there in May 1998.
To promote it, she went on an extensive tour for almost a year, including supporting performances for Bruce Hornsby and Natalie Merchant.
She also participated in Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair, and performed on The Rosie O’Donnell Show.
She was given large media coverage on Rolling Stones, Billboard and CNN.
As a result, three of her singles, Snow On The Sahara, A Rose In The Wind and Life On Mars entered the hallowed US charts, the Billboard Hot 100. Apparently, Anggun is the first Asian artist ever to make it there.
The album sold 200,000 copies in the US. By Malaysian standards, that is a lot!
Apparently, it is still the highest selling album by Asian artist in the US.
In 1998, she was the first Asian artist to be nominated in Victoires de la musique, the French Grammy Awards.
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