If you were old enough to remember when computers were simply a place you go to (cybercafes! libraries! that corner in your house where you can only use the family computer for a limited time!), and not a technology you’re holding in your hands right now, you might recall that oddly optimistic feeling about the future. The computer felt like a promise of something brighter, with the hopeful anticipation for the technology to grow more advanced with time. And it did, even not always in the ways we hoped for.

Somewhere along the way, the computer has transformed into a bleak, inescapable weight on our existence. No longer a place you go to for a break from reality, even a glimpse of it now can plunge you into the horrors of the present and whatever future you’d rather not confront. 

But revisiting Francissca Peter’s “Komputer Muzik” reminds us just how hopeful things once felt, back when we weren’t yet aware of how destructive computers in our hands can be.

In this 1984 underappreciated gem, “Komputer Muzik” gleefully marvels at the idea of a computer composing music. She sings how expensive and difficult music making was for someone like her who came from a working class family — “Dulu ku ingin beli gitar / Tapi ku miskin susah payah.” Later in the present, she skipped, not only she can afford a guitar but something better: a music-making computer. “Beli komputer, campak gitar,” she quips.

The track also comes with a futuristic music video that paints the prophecy even clearer. She demonstrates how easy it is to make music with computers — “Aku tekan butang ini / Komputer muzik” — and magic poofs. A robot wearing golden brown sequin dress dances awkwardly, helping viewers to imagine in the future we’d have robot assistants helping us. 

Known for her power ballads, Francissca Peter released her debut solo album at just 23 years old. But unlike her timeless hits such as the 1986 classic “Sekadar Di Pinggiran”, this album instead sits rather quietly in her discography. 

“For 1984, the album was too advanced for its time,” she shared in an interview with BERITA Mediacorp Singapore.

The computer referred to in the song perhaps is the iconic Oberheim DX drum machine used in half of the tracks in the album, softening genres such as city pop, new wave, jazz pop into one cohesive, dare I say, skipless record. If “Komputer Muzik” received all the flowers it deserved, would the trajectory of her career, alongside Malaysia’s ‘80s pop music look much different than what we know of today?

And what about her optimism in “Komputer Muzik”? Does such sincere belief in technology still ring true? If not, when did everything change?