Celinedee Matahari on music, multicultural roots and her big debut at Comic Con Hyderabad
Some names are stories in themselves — and Celinedee Matahari’s begins with a chance encounter between her parents and the legendary Celine Dion. Born in Dubai to an Indonesian mother and a French father, she was destined to have music written into her name. Today, that fateful naming moment has come full circle — from Celine Dion reposting her cover of Les Malamour to Celinedee finding her own voice as a multilingual singer and composer. Singing in 19 languages and weaving global influences into her sound, she now brings her unique blend of cultures and melodies to Comic Con Hyderabad. We catch up with the bright artiste to know more about her music and her journey.
How Celinedee Matahari turned a fateful name into a global musical identity
Excerpts from our conversation:
Your name has a unique origin story, born in Dubai to an Indonesian mother and French father and named after a chance meeting with Celine Dion. How does the almost fateful naming moment influence how you see yourself as an artiste?
When my parents decided to name me after Celine Dion, they obviously had no idea that I’d be involved with music. Case in point, my mother also decided to name my brother Enrique when she was pregnant, after an Enrique Iglesias concert! And my brother plays piano, but that’s not going to be his career. But yes, of course, it’s kind of a big responsibility as a musician to have, and it’s an honour to be named after her. But obviously, there’s only one Celine Dion.
An even more fateful moment was when Celine Dion reposted my cover of Les Malamour, the song that she performed at the Olympics. So it was kind of coming full circle. My parents were in utter disbelief when it happened. So that created even more of a connection. But obviously, I’m a different artiste and I have my own style. But it’s an incredible honour to have been named after Celine Dion, and also an amazingly high standard, which hopefully will guide me in my career.
You started music at a very early age. How do you think your sound has grown with you?
The reason I picked the ukulele was because I watched Grace VanderWaal on America’s Got Talent. Later on, obviously, I was more influenced by the likes of Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo — they inspired me to write original songs like ballads, pop and mellow songs. And the fact that Dubai is a very multicultural place, I’d say that it has definitely shaped my path as someone who sings currently in 19 languages.
You describe yourself as a singer and composer. How would you define the difference between singing for someone else’s story versus composing your own?
I would say the difference is that when I compose my own songs, the narrative is mine. So it gives me more freedom and control on the narrative and on the way that I want to interpret the song.
Growing up between cultures, what were your earliest musical memories like the sounds, languages, places that shaped you?
My earliest musical memory for the sounds and languages is when I sang Malayalam and Hindi songs for my neighbour’s wedding anniversary, which really shaped me as an artiste. That’s when I started exploring Indian music and then I realised that I really enjoyed it.
As I grew older, I sang more and more songs in Indian and other languages. As for places, I sang an Italian song in Matera, Italy called Santa Lucia, which was amazing.
I also wrote a French song when I was in Paris, as I always get inspiration from every place that I go to on vacation with my family. For example, my original song called Ici à Paris is inspired by Paris, describing the scenery of the place.
With several of your videos going viral, how do you view social media, streaming platforms, and digital presence in relation to your music?
Social media nowadays is absolutely essential for any musician and artiste. It’s an amazing tool because TV and radio are not as powerful as they used to be. The beauty of social media is that you can not only directly reach to your audience but to the most powerful people too. That’s what happened when Celine Dion reposted my song. Years ago, that would be completely impossible. I would have had to mail her my demo or something like that. But with social media, it’s instant. I could reach her immediately and she reposted it. So yes, it’s an unbelievable tool. Also, developing as a singer or musician in the past, you had to be at talent competitions like American Idol or America's Got Talent.
I didn’t have to go to an audition. I could reach the public and that is what is the beauty of social media. You get instant feedback. In today’s age, it’s absolutely essential.
As for streaming platforms, they are a bit of a controversial topic because of the way that they pay the artistes. I wish that new platforms come on board that pay artistes in a fair way. Having said that, for digital presence, it’s essential to try to post if not daily then regularly on social media either your songs or activities.
Looking ahead five years, how do you hope for your sound performance and presence to evolve?
As far as my sound is concerned, until now, I have mostly written songs in French and in English but I would love to do a collaboration with Indian singers and do maybe an Indian language song to cross boundaries.
As for my performance and presence, of course I would love to tour the world. I’m so thankful that I have received invitations to perform in Nepal to open for Palak Muchhal which unfortunately couldn’t happen due to the situation in Nepal, but now I’m so thankful that I have the opportunity to finally meet my fans in India.
I have been so blessed to perform a duet with AR Rahman sir in Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi which was a dream come true! If I still wish to manifest something, my ultimate dream would to be one day to perform Vande Mataram with him because this is the song that started it all and it’s really close to my heart.
When you look back at this time in your career, what do you hope you’ll be proud of having done?
I hope that I would have been able to touch as many hearts as possible through my music and make people happy which would be the ultimate goal for any musician.
