Portrait of Fitri Carlina Tells Her Career Journey, Initially Singing Pop - Initially Burdened by the Big Name of Her Brother

Fitri Carlina had a different stage name than what KLovers know today. Initially, she had the stage name La Fitri. How did that happen? 

"The one who gave (the name) is Pak Rahayu. Maybe at that time it was the El Nino season for guys, so it's La Fitri. A woman who is fitri. That's probably the idea," said Fitri Carlina.

At the same time, it was revealed that at the beginning of Fitri's career with a national label, she sang songs with a pop nuance, not dangdut like her current genre.

"At first, I sang pop because at that time there was a vacancy at Nagaswara for a pop singer. At that time, I had two singles, Jangan Buru Buru and Easy Going, which I sang as pop," she continued.

Fitri felt that she lacked passion in the pop genre. She immediately switched to dangdut songs but still with a pop nuance.

"Finally in 2012 I couldn't take it anymore, it's not really my soul, it lacks excitement. Finally I said to Mr. Rahayu, let's make a dangdut song with a pop nuance. There's a song called ABG Tua. Alhamdulillah, finally it became a hit," she said.

As known, Fitri Carlina's career as a dangdut singer skyrocketed through the song ABG Tua released in 2014. At the same time, Fitri actually felt uncomfortable using her older sister's stage name.

Yes, Fitri Carlina's older sister is a former popular dangdut singer in the 90s, Nini Carlina. Her older sister is currently withdrawing from the entertainment world after marrying an internal medicine specialist.

"Because if I use the name Carlina, it's already associated with my sister. When I was singing in Banyuwangi, there was an MC who said to use the name Fitri Carlina, saying 'you're following your sister, right? It's already there,'" continued the owner of the real name Fitri Dian Puspita.

Fitri mentioned that she felt burdened by the name 'Carlina' used by her sister. Nini Carlina herself has the original name Ninik Herlina.

"At one point, I thought, back when I was in the village, it seemed like using the name Carlina was a burden. It felt like people's expectations were too high. So I decided to use my own name, Fitri Dian, but it wasn't commercial enough, so I ended up using the name Carlina until now," she said while laughing.

"Carlina is Nini's history, so when Nini came to Jakarta, she was looking for a famous name, right? Nini's real name is Herlina, Ninik Herlina," she said.

Finally, Fitri Carlina told KapanLagi.com the history of the name Carlina which brings luck to her and her sister.

"Then when my father took the bus from Banyuwangi to Jakarta, he bought wet tissue. The brand of the wet tissue was Charly and it smelled really good. So, in order to keep the name smelling good, it became Carlina. That's it," she continued.

"Charly is spelled with CH, right? So, to make it easier, it became Carlina. So, Charly and Herlina, it was in the 90s I think, Mbak Nini's first stage in Jakarta," she concluded.