Rio Febrian Releases Album 'Hidup & Mencinta', Presents Special Collaborations Including with His Son

"Actually, the songs on this album include some of my songs, my hit songs from the past. Then, there are my creations that didn't make it to previous albums, which I've created a long time ago, so these are stories from the past that I'm releasing now," said Rio Febrian in the Kemang area, South Jakarta, on Tuesday (29/4/2025).

According to Rio, there are no new songs specifically created for this album because all the material is his work from the past. He believes that each song has its own story that represents various phases of his life. "So there are no new songs that I created now. Those are old stories and the hit songs that exist. The stories are diverse. The stories are diverse because they come from my previous life. So these are just songs that I kept," he explained.

The album "Hidup & Mencinta" contains 10 songs, with six of them performed solo by Rio. Meanwhile, four others are performed by selected singers, including his son, Jamme, who sings a song titled "Wanita".

In response to the reason for collaborating with other singers on this album, Rio stated that the selection came from the GMI Records label. Some of his older songs were indeed requested to be re-sung by other singers, including his son. "Because there are indeed some of my hit songs, there are three hit songs that the label wanted to be sung by several singers. It’s not a collaboration, but they are the ones singing, so it’s like a change of singers. So three singers were chosen. One of them is my son, my only child," said Rio.

It turns out that the decision to involve Jamme did not come from him personally, but rather at the initiative of the label. Rio welcomed the idea and was interested in seeing the vocal development of his son, who is now growing up. "Actually, it wasn’t me who wanted it. The GMI side requested, ‘Collaborate with Jamer, please.’ So at that time, Jamer had sung in the ‘Anak Bintang’ album released by KFC as well, along with GMI," he said.

"At that time, he was still a kid. Eh, Jamee is already grown up, trying to sing. That's fine, I said, try singing a song. It turns out he can, so okay. It was actually the label that offered," he continued.

Seeing his child sing his song was an emotional experience for Rio. He chose not to directly accompany the recording process to give Jamme the freedom to explore.

"Yeah, that's weird too. I sang that song in 2006 on the third album. Now I'm in 2025. I never thought it would be him singing it. Well, when it was time to record, I didn't... I said, 'I'm not going to be in the studio, okay,' because I would end up getting too involved," he said. "Getting involved and too much intervention. So I didn't... I just stayed at home, I provided some hints. I directed, 'This is what the song is about.' Then in the studio, I let it go. With the vocal director and the arranger, Catur. So he really did it, I waited outside," added Rio.

This album becomes a work full of meaning because it marks Rio's return to the recording world after a long hiatus from releasing full albums. His last album was released in 2016, and since then Rio has mostly released singles independently. "As for the album, because the last time I made an album was in 2016. But after leaving my label, which was Sony at that time, I just exited. But I made several singles until finally now there's the album," he said.