“High School in Jakarta” by NIKI

“High School in Jakarta” is a very-personal song, as there are a bunch of names dropped which aren’t celebrities but rather, as they would seem, real-life people whom Niki was associated with during her high school years. 

Whereas the title may give the impression that this piece holistically centers on her secondary school experiences, it really isn’t so. More specifically what we’re dealing with here is a love song, and more precisely than that, it can be said a tale of romantic discontent. In other words, the addressee is obviously the dude she was dating back in those days who, interestingly, is one of only a couple major characters who isn’t actually named herein. 

Reading in between the lines, what’s being relayed is that whereas Niki was serious about dude, he was more or less your typical teenage male. Put simply, he was too immature, if you will, to prove an adequate lover.

That said, the vocalist does admit that she’s glad that the two of them “gave it a go” regardless. And truthfully there is a whole lot of detail being thrown around. This detail is the type you would more or less expect of an autobiographical work from an actual songwriter like Niki. 

In the end, the tale concludes along the lines of the vocalist noting that the addressee left her for another lady. But now, sometime later, she wonders if he regrets making that decision. So even though some of the details relayed in this song may be specific to Jakarta or the part of the world where Niki attended high school, all lyrics considered, it appears that schooling as a teenager in Indonesia is a lot like other places in the world, i.e. the experience, for a girl, being highlighted by budding romance.

Release of “High School in Jakarta”

88rising released this track as the third single from Niki’s album “Nicole”. It was released as such on 5 August 2022. Nicole also birthed the following singles:  

• “Before”
• “Oceans & Engines“

Credits

The cut was written and co-produced by Niki. The other credited co-producers are Jacob Ray and Reske.

The music video to this track, as assembled by director Isaac Ravishankara. It features cameos from a couple of other 88rising artists, that being Warren Hue and Rich Brian. Also involved is a professional actor by the name of Peter Adrian Sudarso.