David Byrne: A lot of westerners, the press and music listeners, they expect an artist from Indonesia to be traditional. Sometimes when an artist is from Indonesia, Africa, Algeria, they want to keep them in their own...

Anggun: In their own cocoon.

David Byrne: Have you dealt with that? Because you're music mixes a lot of western influences and you grew up listening to western pop.

Anggun: Yeah, exactly. I grew up in Indonesia; I was born there and lived there for 20 years. And since then, for four years, I've lived in Europe. But I built my career in Indonesia for 12 years as a rock singer. We're very influenced by the western world. The American music is very, very deep. I used to listen to Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi when I was 12. But, Indonesia's traditional music is still there. Now that I have the opportunity to make this album, I don't want to be more Indonesian than I am. Back in my country I wasn't doing the traditional music so when we were making this album and trying to figure out the destination I just wanted to have something that represented my world and the world that I'm discovering. So that's why there are so many different influences coming from all over the world and also from Indonesia and all that blended with the western touch.

David Byrne: You do a version of a song called "Life On Mars." Not so long ago there were some discoveries made with the spacecraft...

Anggun: Rocky?

David Byrne: Yes. Where they picked up some little soil samples and analyzed them and thought maybe there could be life on mars.

Anggun: See. We're not alone.

David Byrne: Did you know of this song before you were making the record or was this an idea you had to interpret this song?

Anggun: I was born in 1974. I missed a lot of things. I love David Bowie. He's one of the biggest inspirations of many musicians I know. But I don't know that particular song. When we completed the album I thought, why not do a cover? I have so much respect for you and the other masters in music. So we were looking through songs and I stopped because the title touched me. And then I said, "Let me see the lyrics and let me hear the song and why not do this one." It's the kind of song that you can travel decades and ages without getting a wrinkle. I don't know when I first read the lyrics. I didn't know the story. I just can't imagine the state of mind of David Bowie while he was writing the song. So I was trying to interpret it my way. Maybe since there's so much injustice in this world and so many things happening, maybe if there is life on mars, maybe Martians are better than we are.

David Byrne: Maybe they're very small though.