AGNES MONICA

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AGNES MONICA

Real Name: Agnes Monica Muljoto

Birthplace : Jakarta

Date of Birth: July 1, 1986

Current residence : Jakart

Agnes Monica Muljoto or better known as Agnes Mo is known as a versatile artist. She is a singer, music producer, actress, dancer, model, entrepreneur and television personality. Born as the second child of Ricky Muljotu and Jenny Siswono, Agnes has an older brother named Steve Muljoto who later became her manager.

She took her primary school education at Tarakanita Catholic Elementary School DKI Jakarta, then continued her education at Pelita Harapan School Lippo Karawaci Junior and Senior High School. Agnes is an outstanding student as evidenced by her frequent scholarships at her school. Aside from being busy with her studies, Agnes’ hardworking spirit has been apparent since she was a child. Outside of school, she actively participates in piano lessons, vocal lessons, English, Mandarin, ice skating, and badminton.

Agnes is a solo singer who promotes R&B, pop, hip-hop, soul, blues and Christian praise and has a soprano voice with the highest whistle register. Her stage performance is characterized by combining singing with energetic choreography on stage. To date, Agnes is the only Indonesian artist to have a private dance group called Nezindahood. Along with her profession as a singer, Agnes also developed her skills in playing piano and songwriting. Agnes’ songwriting talent began to take shape during her work on the Sacredly Agnezious album, where she composed three songs including the single “Godai Aku Lagi”.

Agnes, better known as Agnez Mo, became the first and still the only Indonesian female singer to be invited to the world’s highest award ceremony for musicians, the Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, in 2014 and 2018. The following year, Agnez attended the American Music Awards as the only Indonesian musician invited to the prestigious event held at the Microsoft Theater in Berkeley, California.

In 2022, the official Billboard Music Awards for Female Singer/Musicians in America held in Las Vegas, Billboard Women in Music also invited Agnez Mo to attend the event. As one of the most dominant figures in the Indonesian entertainment industry, Agnes is not only the most awarded singer in Indonesia. Agnes is also trusted to star in advertisements or be ambassadors by various product brands.

Agnes Mo is the first and only Indonesian female singer to date to be nominated at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2011. And also became a nominee at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards USA 2012 category “Favorite Asian Act”. She has also conducted fundraising activities to help victims of the Situ Gintung disaster and the West Sumatra earthquake, in 2009. Helped raise more than Rp 400 million for Persis, the Surakarta soccer team, through a concert held at the Diamond Convention Center in Surakarta. Also organized the “Save A Teen Charity Concert”, a concert initiated by Sampoerna Foundation to help teenagers who have dropped out of school.

CAREER JOURNEY

Agnes Monica or Agnez Mo’s singing talent has been apparent since she was a member of the Church Choir, which indirectly honed her vocal skills. Her career as a singer began when Agnes was six years old. Her first children’s album was titled “Si Meow” in 1992, produced by MM Records. Unfortunately, the album was not very successful in the market. In 1995 she released her second album “Yess!” which was a duet album with Eza Yayang and catapulted her as a child singer. The album was also named “Best Children’s Album” in 1999. Furthermore, her third album in 1998 entitled “Bala-bala” succeeded in launching Agnes into the ranks of the most popular child singers in the 1990s.

Not stopping there, Agnes began to explore other fields, namely becoming a presenter of children’s programs, namely Video Anak Anteve (VAN) on Antv, Tralala-Trilili on RCTI, and Diva Romeo on Trans TV. Agnes won the Panasonic Awards for “Most Favorite Children’s Show Host” for two consecutive years, 1999 and 2000.

She also started acting when she was a teenager, and the soap operas Lupus Millenia and Mr. Hologram in 1999 were her first appearances. That year, Agnes managed to rank first in the poll of the best teenage actresses by artiscilik.com. In 2000, Agnes was cast as the lead in the soap opera Marriage Dini with actor Sahrul Gunawan. It was through this soap opera that Agnes managed to erase her image as a child artist and further catapulted her name. Her role won her the “Most Favorite Actress” award at the Panasonic Awards in 2001 and 2002, and the SCTV Awards as “Ngetop Actress” in 2002. Agnes also sang two theme songs for the soap opera.

On October 8, 2003, Agnes released her first adult album titled And the Story Goes. The album involved several wellknown Indonesian musicians, including Melly Goeslaw. The thorough preparation process for 1.5 years under the Aquarius Musikindo label finally resulted in success with sales of more than 300,000 pieces and a double platinum award.

Agnez Mo is known as a singer and actress who is very total and perfectionist. This can be seen in her album entitled “Whaddup A’…?!” on December 10, 2005. Besides collaborating with a number of Indonesian musicians such as Dewiq, Melly Goeslaw, and Andi Rianto, Agnes also invited American singer Keith Martin to collaborate. Like her previous album, this album was a success, selling more than 450,000 copies and winning many awards.

Her success as a singer did not make Agnes forget her acting talent. In 2005, Agnes was also involved in filming an Asian drama series called The Hospital in Taiwan starring Jerry Yan, one of the personnel of F4 (a singing group from Taiwan). She also starred in several soap opera titles in Indonesia.

In 2006, Agnes starred in a comedy soap opera called “Kawin Muda” for a private television station. To prepare for her plan to go international, she decided to take a leave of absence from her studies in Law, Pelita Harapan University.

The momentum of Agnes Mo’s music career continues. In the middle of 2007, on May 13 to be precise, Agnes performed as the opening artist for a concert by American R&B group Boyz II Men at Istora Senayan, Jakarta. As a singer, Agnes also successfully held a solo concert. Her first solo concert was held at Satdium Negara, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on June 27, 2007. Furthermore, on December 16, 2007, Agnes performed as a special guest star on the final stage of Asian Idol by performing her song “Get Up”.

Agnes Mo’s third studio album was released in early 2008 with the single “Matahariku”. The single “Matahariku” managed to score 5 million ring-back tone purchases calculated across several Mobile Providers in Indonesia within 5 months. This makes Agnez Mo the Female Singer with the Highest Royalty Receiver in the history of Song Sales through Ring Backtone. It also earned her an award at the MTV Indonesia Awards as “Most Favorite Female” and the 2009 Anugerah Musik Indonesia as “Best Female Solo Pop Artist”.

In 2008 Agnes was chosen to represent Indonesia at the Asia Song Festival organized by the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange in Seoul, South Korea, October 4, 2008. The event was attended by 24 artists from 12 Asian countries including Super Junior, Girls’ Generation, 2NE1, Rain, SHINee, and Ruslana. The event was watched by 35,000 spectators at Seoul World Cup Stadium and broadcast on television stations in 30 countries including the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Australia and Japan. Incorporating Balinese dance elements, Agnes performed two of her songs, “Seduce Me Again” and “Shake It Off”. The performance earned her “The Best Asian Artist” and “The Best Performance” awards from the organizers.

Agnes’ achievements did not stop there, at the same event the following year Agnes was again well received and received “The Best Asian Artist Award” for the second time. For 2009, there were 14 artists from nine Asian countries and around 40,000 spectators. Agnes herself sang three songs, “Shake It Off”, “Temperature”, and pop singer Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World”.

Not only singing and playing soap operas, with her experience and achievements Agnes was honored to be a judge in the talent search event Indonesian Idol 2010. She was also chosen to host the red carpet of the annual American Music Awards held at the Nokia Theatre, Los Angeles, United States November 21, 2010. Agnes Mo became the first Indonesian and Southeast Asian celebrity to be chosen by the influential music awards institution in the United States and Canada.

Before finally dueting with senior American singer Michael Bolton on the song “Said I Loved You…But I Lied” which was recorded as an additional song on Bolton’s album titled Gems: The Duets Album exclusively for the Asian edition in September 2011. Agnes launched a bestof compilation album titled Agnes Is My Name on February 2, 2011. The album was sold only at KFC outlets across Indonesia and won the “Million Award” plaque for selling more than one million copies within four months.

Agnes Mo is also listed as a guest singer, duetting with Andy /rif on the song “Berkelana ke Ujung Dunia” in the fourth album of the 6th Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono entitled Harmoni. The song “Berkelana ke Ujung Dunia” was written by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), the sixth President of Indonesia and released in 2013. He also released a single titled “Rindu”, a song created by Eros Djarot that was originally popularized by Fryda in 1995.

In October 2016 a song entitled “Sebuah Rasa” was released and Trending on YouTube Music 4 Countries: Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and then became the OST of the soap opera Orang ketiga on SCTV (the name of a private television station in Indonesia). In addition to her recognition as a singer, Agnez Mo is still the only Indonesian artist to be featured in Vogue USA magazine in 2017 in both print and online editions.

Through her own label Entertainment Inc, Agnez launched a single titled “Patience” on February 11, 2022. The single made it to 2 US Billboard Charts R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay and Adult R&B Airplay and entered the iTunes number 1 spot on the popular song sales list in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan and United Arab Emirates.

In the same year, precisely on April 9, 2022 Agnez Mo again proved her steps to pursue a career going international. Collaborating with DJ Steve Aoki, they appeared as one of the performers at the Sound Money Fest. This event is part of the World First Bitcoin Music Festival event held in Miami Beach, Florida, United States. In her own country, precisely at Gambir Expo Kemayoran Jakarta, Agnes also enlivened the Synchronize Fest 2022 event by performing some of her mainstay hits.

Still in 2022 and located in California, Agnes Mo was present as a participant in the Billboard Women in Music Awards 2022. Billboard Women in Music is an annual event organized by Billboard. The main award, titled Woman of the Year, is presented to recognize female singers who make real contributions. To inspire other singers. Agnez Mo appeared wearing a unique all-black outfit and made it trending on social media.

In 2023 Agnez released another single titled “Get Loose”. This time she collaborated with Ciara, a singer from the United States. In addition, she also appeared as the opening musician as well as the first Indonesian musician to successfully perform at the iHeartRadio Music Festival held in Las Vegas, USA on September 22, 2023.

And most recently in 2024, Agnez Mo’s latest single titled Party in Bali, which was launched digitally on the YouTube channel, successfully penetrated the number 1 trending on iTunes Indonesia in just 30 minutes. Meanwhile, the pop dance genre song is at #178 on iTunes World.

WORKS

Starting her career as a child artist in 1992, Agnes Mo not only transformed into a singer who went international. She is also an actress, dancer, songwriter, advertising star, producer, director and entrepreneur.

Through her works, Agnez Mo became one of the Indonesian female musicians known on the world stage with very proud achievements. The quality of the songs she performs is evidenced by the numerous awards Agnez has received throughout her career in music.

She is also known for experimenting with fashion, especially fashion that combines two different looks into an effortless style.

INFLUENCE

Agnes is an artist who always brings new trends among young people, especially in terms of appearance, be it clothes, accessories, or hairstyles. Through her performances on stage, music videos, and soap operas, Agnes has popularized various styles, ranging from punk rock to harajuku. However, Agnes is often accused of being unoriginal and westernized. In response, Agnes says that nothing in this world is “original” without influence from other things. She feels fortunate to have been born and raised in Indonesia (more precisely in Jakarta) at this time, where Indonesia is very open to the process of globalization. Eastern culture and Western culture influence each other. In essence, the influence between cultures should not be considered as “clashing cultures”, but as “complementary” cultures. Take the good from these cultures and leave the negative. “So, yes, I am a product of Indonesia and a product of globalization,” she said.

Agnes’ interest in fashion led her to pursue a clothing line business, which was well received. According to a survey conducted by Cosmopolitan magazine in 2010, Agnes is the sexiest female singer in Indonesia. She also won the Kartini Award from Indonesian Women Without Tobacco (WITT) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to WITT Chairperson Nita Yudi, “Because Agnes is an accomplished young artist who is energetic, and certainly does not smoke. Hopefully it can be a good example for the younger generation. So Agnez Mo was given the title of Indonesian Contemporary Art Icon by Rolling Stone magazine. In early 2007, Agnes Mo was appointed by the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) and IDEC Far East Region as the Asia-wide anti-drug ambassador at the US Embassy in Jakarta. In addition, Agnes was also appointed as MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) ambassador in the mission to eradicate human trafficking, 2010.

In 2020 Forbes magazine included Agnez in its List of 100 Influential Entertainment Figures in Asia Pacific and Oceania and put her alongside BTS, Akshay Kumar, Naomi Watanabe, and Troye Sivan on the cover or front page. According to Agnez, as a form of defending the country, that is by being yourself rather than having to imitate others. She said that this was the path she took so that she could have a positive influence on many people. Interestingly, Agnez Mo stated that many people outside the country recognize her as an Indonesian because her works are always thick with the nuances of the country. Defending the country is a lot of work, not a lot of style.

AWARDS

Agnez Monica or better known as Agnez Mo is one of the Indonesian female musicians who has a myriad of achievements and awards. The trophies/awards that she has won during her career in the world of intertaiment come from within and awards from abroad.

On March 23, 2011, coinciding with the National Music Day Celebration, Agnes received the Nugraha Bhakti Musik Indonesia (NBMI) award from the Minister of Culture and Tourism and the Association of Indonesian Singers, Songwriters, and Recording Artists (PAPPRI) for her dedication and contribution, both in the form of thoughts and deeds, to the progress and development and preservation of Indonesian music.

At the annual Anugerah Musik Indonesia (AMI AWARDS), Agnes can be said to always bring home the award. Agnez Mo is also the first and only Indonesian female singer to date to be nominated in the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. And also a nominee at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards USA 2012 category “Favorite Asian Act”.

Then in 2013 Agnez was chosen to represent Indonesia at the ASEAN-Japan Music Festival to celebrate 40 Years of Diplomatic and Trade Relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan held at NHK Hall Tokyo. Agnez Mo also had the honor of being a special guest of the United States Soccer League (MLS) club Los Angeles FC. Agnez came to the LAFC home match on May 2, 2022 local time.Agnez got a special opportunity at the LAFC match against Minnesota United which took place at the Banc of California Venue Stadium. LAFC named Agnez as honorary captain and did a coin toss before the match.

Madame Tussauds Singapore introduced Agnez Mo as the first Indonesian celebrity wax figure to join the walk of fame on October 5, 2022. The multitalented songwriter, music producer, actress, dancer and model who is also known as a fashion icon and entrepreneur attended the launch event to unveil her figure. Agnez is described as a strong woman who knows what they want and how to get it.

In addition to being Asia’s most awarded artist with hundreds of awards, she is also Asia’s anti-drug and anti-human trafficking ambassador. “I feel very honored to be invited to have my own figure, as Madame Tussauds is such an iconic place to visit. It gives me the opportunity to let people around the world know about my work, and my story – about a girl who had a dream, and had the persistence to make it happen. That my art and my purpose in life is not about fame, but about creating a legacy,” says Mo.

Source:                       

Lady in Melody, Museum Musik Indonesia, 2024

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