Stephanie Poetri Shares Her First Time Meeting Got7's Jackson Wang & More

My first trip to L.A. was not what I thought

because I came and I'm like wait,

the Hollywood sign is on the mountains.

Like I can't go there.

I'm not like Miley Cyrus, I didn't hope off of the plane

on LAX with my dream and my cardigan,

like that was not me.

[upbeat instrumental music]

Hey, Teen Vogue.

It's Stephanie Poetri and today I'll be sharing with you

some of my first times.

The first time I was starstuck was when I met Jackson Wang

because usually my mom introduces me to a lot

of her famous friends and I'm always like,

[sighs] What's up?

But with Jackson, that was a whole other thing

because like I had his posters, like I was into him.

But he was really nice about it so I think I like

did well in terms of like not showing my excitement

but that was like the most I've ever been tested

in terms of keeping my cool.

So my first time meeting Jackson Wang was in a studio.

We're just taking pictures or whatever

but I came in and he was like really good looking.

I was like, Whoa.

But not just that, he was really nice, too,

and I was like, Whoa.

When you meet someone famous you kind of have this idea

in your head like are they gonna be like what they look like

on TV and stuff and he is even more nice and even more funny

than like what he is on TV.

[laughs] Really randomly, my first thought was like

this song I did a long time ago.

♪ Da da, da da, da da da da ♪

It's a little bit of that.

Just a random melody I made when I was like 14

and then it just came back to me to this morning.

The first app I check everyday is actually the alarm app

because I always put [alarm beeps]

more than one.

I have like at least 10,

every five minute intervals. [alarm beeps]

The first text I sent today

was to my lovely manager. [laughs]

It was just like, Yo.

And she was like, Good morning.

And I was like, Wassup? [bubble whooshes]

The first person I text when something exciting happens

is actually not one person.

I have this like group of me and my girls,

like my high school best friends.

You know, it's just like, What's up?

Check where I'm at.

And then they'll be like, Cool, we don't care but cool.

Oh my gosh, [laughs] the first book I remember reading,

this is so like cliche, but it's Looking for Alaska

by John Green. [laughs]

And I just remember being so sad and being like, Ah.

Mostly because also my life is kinda boring

in terms of relationship, at the time

so I was like--

You know, anything that will make me feel something.

The first song I ever wrote, I was probably like seven

and I remember it so vividly.

It was about like princess and her castle

and how her castle was blue but the other princess was pink

and she was like all pressed about it.

I don't really remember how it goes

but I remember being so proud of it.

I think I watched like a Barbie movie,

like Princess and the Pauper or something

and the pauper was like always in blue

and so I was like, I'm the pauper, whoa.

My first role model is me mother

because she's a singer and just as like a woman.

I was like, Oh, she cool.

I like her.

The biggest lesson she taught me was actually

to be like as genuine as possible.

She told me growing up in the industry,

she didn't really have like a lot to say

because she just always went with what everyone

wanted her to do.

And so it took her a while to kind of learn to be like

more independent and more confident in who you are,

and so she told me like from the start just be you

and confident and say what you think, you know.

My first Instagram post was, I think it's of my family,

like me and my family.

If it's not, I'm sorry.

I don't remember.

I was just a huge Instagrammer.

I just love posting pics.

I'm very narcissistic, I think. [laughs]

[Producer] I know you're a gamer.

[laughs] You like to game-- A gamer.

I don't think this is a video game

but I used to be so into like online games

and those random beauty ones

or like you just choose random outfits for a girl

and you screenshot it and like oh my God, it's a game.

But the first one I ever bought, like with my money,

was like Minecraft.

[arrow thuds]

Yeah, because my brother played it

and I was really jealous

and then he wouldn't let me use his account

so I had to use my own money.

I really like games where you kind of do it

with your friends.

So I like a lot of like PUBG,

kind of like Mobile Legends, I was really into that.

But lately I've been really into also like games for myself

because I've been kind of lonely lately

so I've been playing The Sims.

Yeah, my person is like a doctor now

so that's cool. [speaks in a foreign language]

She's successful, or whatever.

Oh my God, my first trip to New York

was actually in 2019. [gurgles]

It was so fun.

My favorite place to be.

I love New York because you can walk around

and like the people are just doing their thing, you know.

Like, I love that.

My first trip to L.A. was right after

my first trip to New York

and it's not what I thought

because when you watch the movies it's like

the Hollywood sign and blah, blah, blah, blah.

And I'm like I came and wait the Hollywood sign

is like on the mountains.

Like, I can't go there.

I'm not like Miley Cyrus.

I didn't hop off of the plane on LAX

with my dream and my cardigan, like that was not me.

I was just like, Girl.

My first apartment on my own

is still my current apartment. [laughs]

It's a studio and I love it. [laughs]

Being on my own for the first time is really weird

because I've always just been with my family

and kind of always had people with me

but I think it was necessary

because all my friends are in college

so I was like really FOMO, I was like,

Oh my God, I wanna be in college.

I wanna be doing these things.

I wanna be independent.

And I think this was kind of like my taste of independence

and even though it was hard, I definitely felt

a sense of accomplishment, like whoa, I am an adult, cool.

The first concert I ever attended was

I think a Linkin Park concert.

My whole family had a phase where we all liked rock

and like punk.

But the one I remember buying for was Twice, actually,

so, you know.

I saw my bae Jihyo live. [laughs]

The first movie I remember watching was King Kong

and it was because my dad really wanted to watch it

and my mom was like, Bring the kids.

And then my dad was like, Why?

The kids are gonna be scared.

And then my mom was like, No, they're not.

Fast forward,

I was really scared [gorilla roars]

and so I started crying, my dad had to take me out.

Ultimately, he didn't really watch the movie so, sorry, Dad.

Hope you could have watched it another time.

The first YouTube video I ever posted,

it was titled Hello, YouTube and it was just me

like answering some questions, being weird

but it got a lot of views really quickly

which was really confusing.

But I'm glad that that was the first video a lot of people

saw of me because it was very like genuine and fun.

My first red carpet was this like gala called

The Unforgettable Gala and it was amazing.

It was kind of just like a bunch of Asian-Americans

like doing their thing and it was really fun,

and I was really nervous but I met a lot of people

who were really nice.

Shout out Shawn Wasabi who was really nice to me.

The first album I ever purchased with my own money

is actually a Got7 album.

But yeah, so I got a bunch of photo cards

and posters from it.

It was the Eyes On You album.

I think people's first impression of me

depends if I come and I really talk it's like,

Whoa, she really talks a lot, chill.

But if it's like I come and I'm like quiet

they'll be like, Who is she?

Mysterious.

I think the first makeup item I've ever inherited

from my mom, because she has a bunch of makeup

that she doesn't use, is her eyeliner.

And I think it's because I saw my sisters use eyeliner.

I was like, Oh my God, you look so pretty.

So I kept trying to do them.

Also, my first time using eyeliner,

I got rid of them using hand soap

which caused me to lose my vision for two hours

so do not do that.

My first cell phone was like a black Nokia

and I remember because in the back,

my dad wrote my name using whiteout

which caused it kind of flake off

so every time I took it out of my pocket

there's just like a bunch of white flakes on my pocket.

My first pet was this adorable cat.

His name was Grayby, like Gray Baby

'cause he was like a gray cat.

Sad thing, though is that in two weeks I realized

that I was allergic to cats and so we had to give him

to a friend but I still came by and kind of--

I always had to use a mask and like gloves to pet him

but I was glad that I had a bond with him. [laughs]

If I were to get an animal in the future,

I think I would really like to get

like something that can be in a tank, like a fish tank.

A crab, is that a thing?

Can you get a crab?

I want a crab?

My first best friend, her name is Bia, she was my neighbor

and then she moved to another city when I was probably 10

so we haven't really talked since

because at that age we didn't really have like phones

so we didn't connect.

But yeah, she's awesome.

We still kind of like talk maybe like once a year to say hi

but that's it.

[laughs] My first major award nomination, really random,

was from MAMA in Korea

and I won the best new artist Indonesia,

which is really cool to think that like the first ever

award I got wasn't even from Indonesia,

it was from Korea.

The first time I ever performed at a festival

was for the Head In The Clouds festival in L.A.

in front of 20,000 people, which is a lot.

That was interesting.

So when I woke up I wasn't nervous, at all.

I wasn't nervous the whole day

until I went in front of the crowd

and then my whole body was shaking.

I was like, Ah.

'Cause I came expecting that no one knew my song

but it was really nice to see that a couple of them

knew my song and especially there was like

a group of Indonesian in the back that was like, Yo.

And I was like, Yo.

So that was really fun and, anyways, it's just such an honor

to come and perform for a lot of people

even if they didn't know me.

I'm just glad to be out there entertaining.

So the first label I signed with [laughs] is 88Rising.

I don't think of it as just a label,

I think they're like this amazing group

that kind of showcases Asian talent

to an international audience.

And I think the great thing about 88Rising is

they give spotlight to those who might not have it

and kind of allows us to just represent our culture

and who we are to audiences that might not have known us.

I don't really remember the first time

I've heard my song on the radio

but I do hear them in public quite often,

especially in restaurants.

Especially when I come in a restaurant

and then I see like the workers look at me like

and then they play my song.

And I'm like, Ah, ah. [laughs]

My first live performance was actually with my mom

and she was a judge in Indonesian Idol

and they just had this random like surprise

where all the kids performed and I remembered so well

because it was actually--

We sang the song called Stephanie.

My mom wrote a song like about me when I was young

and it was like the first time I'm performing

and it was a song about me so that was pretty fun.

My first big purchase was actually [laughs] a computer

because I was really into producing and writing my own songs

but my laptop kept turning off

because it was just like heating up

so I was like, okay, I need to get a computer

that can handle all of this.

It was a lot of money but I saved up for it

and I'm glad that I can now write songs

without being scared that it's gonna turn off.

All right, so those were my firsts.

Thank you so much, Teen Vogue.

And don't forget to check out my singles

Do You Love Me? and Touch.

Comment down below which one is your favorite.

So I've been Stephanie Poetri.

Don't forget to like and subscribe.