Lyodra Margareta Ginting (born June 21, 2003) is an Indonesian singer and actress from Medan, North Sumatra. Lyodra is most notable for winning the tenth season of Indonesian Idol, beating singer Tiara Andini in the finale. She was also the winner of the A3 category (aged 13–15 years) at the 2017 Sanremo Junior Children’s International Solo Singing Competition. In both competitions, Lyodra practiced the use of whistle register, which is the highest range of the human voice—higher than falsetto. She was listed as the youngest Indonesian Idol champion, at the age of 16 years and 255 days.
Early life
Lyodra was born with the name Lyodra Margareta Ginting on June 21, 2003 in Medan City, North Sumatra. She was raised in a Catholic family and was given the baptismal name Margareta. The first name Lyodra itself is a modification or another form of the female name in Hebrew, Liora, which means “light”. Lyodra is the eldest of two children, from entrepreneur Simar Ginting and psychiatric nurse Natalia Johanna Tarigan. She is known to have a younger brother who is two years apart named Igyralo Ginting.
Lyodra’s singing talent began to show since she was 2 years old. When she was 4 years old, she already participated in local singing competitions in Medan City. According to her father, Lyodra was able to sing the song “Ibu Kita Kartini” with a better vibrato technique than her peers, even more than those who have taken vocal lessons before.
Lyodra’s ability to sing within the whistle range was discovered to be self-taught. When she was still in the seventh grade of junior high school, Lyodra was already singing by singing high notes. Then, she tried the same way by using the song “O Holy Night” which was popularized by Mariah Carey. In the song, there is a part that requires the singer to touch a high note which is actually difficult for ordinary people to do. However, Lyodra was able to sing the song well. Later, she learned that the range of her voice was called the whistle register. She admitted that she had suffered damage to her vocal cords in 2016, because she sang too much using a whistle.
Apart from singing, Lyodra is also studying acting. She was a member of the theater extracurricular while studying at St. Iganasius Junior High School, Medan. There, she also took piano extracurricular activities.
Career
2014: Early career and Indonesian Mencari Bakat
Lyodra started her career as a national child singer at the Kirana Semen Indonesia 2014 event, which was organized by the BUMN PT Semen Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. After winning the regional round which was held in Medan City, she also advanced to the final in Jakarta, along with 28 other finalists from 28 cities in Indonesia. In the final round at the national level which was held on March 31, 2014 at Djakarta Theater XXI, Central Jakarta, Lyodra took the top four positions and brought the first prize in the form of cash worth 25 million rupiah.
Furthermore, Lyodra appeared as a participant in the Indonesia Searching for Talent 4 event which was broadcast on the national television station Trans TV starting August 1, 2014. After going through various stages of competition and against 19 finalists, on October 19, 2014, Lyodra was eliminated in the big six round. After being left out, Lyodra was signed by the record label Gut Records, which was sheltered by musicians Erwin Gutawa and Gita Gutawa. Together with six other children who are considered to have special talents in music, she was chosen as one of the personnel of a musical group project called Above Rata-Rata 2 (DARR 2).
2015–2017: Di atas rata-rata generasi kedua
Lyodra’s joining with the management of DARR 2 got her involved in various large-scale musical performances. One of them is the Java Jazz Festival 2016 which was held on March 4-6 at JIExpo Kemayoran, Jakarta. In addition, on April 2, 2016, Lyodra along with six other DARR 2 personnel performed in a concert—which was also attended by the Governor of DKI Jakarta (at that time) Basuki Tjahaja Purnama — entitled “Above Average 2: Make a Concert”, taking place at Ciputra Artpreneur, South Jakarta. She and the six DARR 2 personnel also had the opportunity to appear before President Joko Widodo and a number of state guests at the commemoration of the 71st Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia, on 17 August 2016, at the Merdeka Palace.
Less than a year later, Lyodra, who was then 13 years old, took part in an international solo singing competition for children aged 6–15 years, entitled Sanremo Junior 2017, in the City of Sanremo, Italy. Under the direct direction of the DARR 2 vocal coach and choreographer team, she trained intensively every weekend in Jakarta. This made Lyodra have to go back and forth from Medan to Jakarta for almost two months. After completing the pre-competition process, she left for Italy accompanied by Gita Gutawa and sponsored by the Creative Economy Agency of the Republic of Indonesia.
In the peak night of the competition which was held on May 3, 2017 at the Ariston Cinema Building, Sanremo, Lyodra performed the song “Dear Dream” by Gita Gutawa, which was translated by Ria Leimena from the original Indonesian song entitled “Janji Untuk Mimpi”. She also managed to become a winner in the competition category she participated in, namely Category A3 (aged 13–15 years), beating nine participants from nine countries. In addition, of the 24 finalists from 18 countries—divided into three categories based on age groups—she was also selected as the only finalist who received a special award from the committee, in the form of the “Prix of Sanremo Junior Committee” trophy.
2019–2020: Indonesian Idol and debut single “Gemintang Hatiku”
In 2019, Lyodra again participated in a talent search event, this time Indonesian Idol. At the audition she performed Lady Gaga’s song “I’ll Never Love Again” and got a golden ticket from the judges. Not only that, her audition video even attracted the attention of the Indonesian people because of her ability to sing using the whistle register technique very well, so that he managed to occupy the 1st position of trending YouTube Indonesia at that time. After passing the audition stage and going through a competition quarantine process for 5 months, on March 2, 2020, she was crowned the winner, defeating Tiara Andini in the grand final round. As the winner of the tenth season of Indonesian Idol, Lyodra received the main prize in the form of cash worth 150 million rupiah, as well as one unit of the All New Nissan Livina. She also had the opportunity to sign an exclusive contract with the record label Universal Music Indonesia. As a former finalist, she is automatically handled by the artist management company owned by MNC Group, Star Media Nusantara. Lyodra was recorded as the youngest winner in Indonesian Idol history, at the age of 16 years 8 months 15 days.
From Indonesian Idol, Lyodra got a winning song entitled “Gemintang Hatiku” which became her first single as an adult singer. There are two versions of the song, Lyodra sings a pop ballad version of this song. This song managed to bring Lyodra to win the award as the Pendatang Baru Terdahsyat from the Dahsyatnya Awards 2020.
2021–present: acting debut and solo album Lyodra
Lyodra made her acting debut in a teen drama web series directed by Rangga Nattra entitled “7 Hari Sebelum 17 Tahun”. In a seven-episode series that aired on February 14, 2021 on the digital channel media service provider application Stro, Lyodra plays an antagonist character named Gina, a temperamental high school student. The series was named one of the best television shows in Asia by NME Asia Magazine.
More than a year after winning Indonesian Idol, on July 16, 2021, Lyodra released her first studio album, which is titled homonymously with her stage name. Her solo album, Lyodra, contains eight singles that she popularized himself, four of which are new singles, namely “Kalau Bosan”, “Dibanding Dia”, “Oe..Oe..Oe..”, and “Pesan Terakhir”. In this famous album, she is assisted by a number of musicians who act as composers and producers, namely Dipha Barus, Ade Nurulianto, Anji, Yovie Widianto, Mario Gerardus Klau, Tohpati, and Laleilmanino. Lyodra’s album became his debut solo album as an adult singer under the Universal Music Indonesia label, after more than three years of a career as a child singer in the Di Atas Rata-Rata 2 which was managed by Gut Records. This album became one of the most recommended Asian albums by The Victor Magazine.
On November 4, 2021, Lyodra was the performer of Indonesia’s National Day in the series of Expo 2020 at Al Wasl Plaza, Dubai, which was also attended by President Joko Widodo and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Thanks to her first solo album, Lyodra was trusted by Spotify as Artist of the Month for the November 2021 period from Indonesia in the context of the Equal campaign program. During the campaign, a photo of Lyodra was selected to be placed on a Times Square digital billboard in New York, United States.
On December 6, 2021, Lyodra’s debut album won the Album of the Year award at the Indonesian Music Awards 2021 which was held at Studio RCTI+, Jakarta, after taking first place in the online voting—beating the albums Solipsism 0.2 by Pamungkas, Raya by Maliq & D. Essentials, The Meaning of Love by Arsy Widianto and Tiara Andini, and Even Me by Iwan Fals. In addition, thanks to her song “Pesan Terakhir”, Lyodra won an award from the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards as Best New Asian Artist Indonesia.
