Why did Viona shift from social commentary to prophetic stories for Ramadan?

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Viona shifted from social commentary to prophetic stories for Ramadan to avoid bringing negativity during the fasting month

Viona, the solo project of Takahara Suiko, stopped its earlier social-commentary songs when Ramadan began and instead wrote one song for each of the 25 prophets. She said her personal concern was that, cliché as it is, she did not want to bring about negativity while observing Ramadan. The change also followed a creative direction shaped by earlier prophetic storytelling work, including the religious documentary Jejak Rasul and Lokallab’s “25 Rasul” project.
The earlier Viona work focused on frustration during lockdown
Before Ramadan, Viona became Takahara’s outlet for social commentary during a partial lockdown period. In videos, she sometimes appeared in a telekung prayer robe, and her lyrics were acerbic and unapologetic toward the country’s “bumbling ministers” and the frustrating way the country was being run. From March 20 to April 21, she wrote, produced, and released 15 songs in about a one-month span.
Ramadan brought a personal decision to avoid negativity
When Ramadan arrived, Takahara returned to her research but changed the focus of the music. In an email interview, she stated that her personal concern was not to bring negativity while observing Ramadan. This was the direct reason her output shifted away from governance-focused social commentary toward religious storytelling.
The project drew inspiration from Jejak Rasul and Lokallab’s “25 Rasul”
The Ramadan shift was framed by the audience’s memory of Jejak Rasul (The Footpath of Prophets), a religious documentary first aired in 1996 and broadcast before the breaking of fast, with its first two seasons retracing prophets’ steps across the Middle East and the birthplace of the religion. The documentary’s approach—using history, archaeology and anthropology to discuss figures whose stories were “mostly told as myths” before—matched the storytelling spirit behind Viona’s Ramadan concept. Takahara also previously worked with Lokalab on the 2015 “25 Rasul” show, where she was featured in the song Janji with rapper Altimet.
The theme evolved from Quran juz to the 25 prophets
Takahara said the original plan was to write a song about each juz of the Quran, but she changed it after finding there were too many stories to focus on. She then decided on the 25 prophets instead, explicitly linking the choice to the fact that the Quran’s verses are divided into 30 juz. Her “#25” series frames the goal as story-based songs about the 25 main prophets for the next 25 days during Ramadan.

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Why did Viona shift from social commentary to prophetic stories for Ramadan?

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