While providing backing vocals for Katon Bagaskara's promotional tour, she met Anto Hoed and Andi Ayunir.

Although Melly sold well, she became more popular as a solo artist after providing the soundtrack for the 2002 hit film Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?

Melly Goeslaw's onstage persona has been compared to Björk, with "eccentric" costumes, heavy make-up, and "wild" hair colours.

Her early songs have been described by The Jakarta Post as being "deliberately antagonistic", with controversial themes including materialism, sadomasochism, and violence against women.

[2][1] After her parents' divorce, Melly Goeslaw was raised by her mother;[3] with her sister Yuli, who now serves as her manager, was born from a second marriage.

[3] She later switched to songwriting while in high school, writing lyrics on her napkins and schoolbooks and recording her humming on a Walkman because she could not play any instruments.

[3] Her family eventually moved to Jakarta to further her singing career, and she was requested to be a backing vocalist for three different pop singers.

[4] After replacing a backing vocalist for Katon Bagaskara's promotional tour for the album Dinda, Melly Goeslaw met Anto Hoed and Arie Ayunir.

[4] The band's first album was released in 1995,[4] with the song "Terbujuk" ("Seduced"), dealing with "the ultimate material girl", becoming instantly popular.

Some were written conservatively as they were ordered by singers such as Krisdayanti and Ruth Sahanaya, other songs, generally the more "biting" ones, were used for Potret's albums.

[3] One of the songs on Potret's third album, "Diam" ("Silent"), which dealt with the abuse of women, caused some controversy due to the perceived amount of violence in the music video.

), in which most songs were sung by her and written by her and her husband, led to her being more popular as a solo artist than with Potret; she was also given the nickname the Queen of Soundtrack.

[2] She considered the writing of songs for Ketika Cinta Bertasbih to be more difficult than her previous work in teen romantics, as it was a religious film.

[4] In 2011 she invited aspiring singers to post videos of themselves singing her songs to YouTube or her Facebook profile, later noting that she had already discovered several new talents in that manner.

Aside from its concert, she also collaborated with Rita Effendy to release Dian Pramana Poetra and Deddy Dhukun's hit "Kusadari".

Her songs written while with Potret include themes of materialism, sexual deviation, "misbehaving women",[3] flatulence, and sadomasochism,[4] she has said that she tries to avoid writing about "issues of ethnicity, religion, race and intergroup relations, especially political matters".

[4] Melly Goeslaw is known for wearing "eccentric" costumes when performing, leading to her being compared to Icelandic singer Björk,[2] whom she admires.

[4] She also dyed her hair in "wild colors" and applied heavy stage make up in the late 1990s, when contemporary Indonesian singers were focusing on "conventional" beauty.

[5] The Jakarta Post calls her Indonesia's most sought after movie songwriter,[6] and notes that her songs have been successfully covered by other singers.

Rolling Stone Indonesia noted a decrease in the quality of Melly Goeslaw's songs since Ada Apa Dengan Cinta?.