Afgan

Thanks to his naturally tuneful voice, Afgansyah Reza has graduated from a star of Indonesian music to an R&B crooner ripe for crossover success with western listeners. Born in Jakarta in 1989 and shortening his name to Afgan for the stage, he debuted with 2008’s Confession No.1, a mix of string-swept pop ballads and jazzy torch songs. After years of singing primarily in Indonesian, he made his full-length English-language debut with 2021’s Wallflower and turned his focus to the kind of smoldering R&B that could best show off his soft, radiant singing. Team-ups with Jackson Wang and Robin Thicke introduced Afgan to a wider audience, before his 2024 EP Sonder added some club-ready BPMs, and the singer cut an Apple Music Session the same year.