Kota Nyaman yang Tak Meminta Kepulangan: Analisis Sosiologi Sastra dan New Narratology atas ‘Stasiun Balapan’ Didi Kempot

The lyrics of “Stasiun Balapan” by Didi Kempot are often read as a narrative of personal heartbreak; however, the portrayal of separation in the song in fact contains deeper social tensions. This article examines the song as a literary text through a combination of the Sociology of Literature and new narratology, particularly the concept of the indexical narrative situation, which understands fictional elements as pointers to real social conditions. Within the context of city branding, Solo is frequently framed as “the most livable city,” an official discourse that constructs an image of stability and harmony. Yet, the female figure who leaves and never returns in the song functions as a narrative index that exposes another side of the city: a transit space that opens possibilities of mobility, detachment, and the erosion of communal attachment. This analysis demonstrates that the emotional experience conveyed in the song is not merely a melancholic fiction, but a representation of social structures encountered by urban Javanese residents, particularly lower–middle-class groups who are intimately familiar with stations, platforms, and journeys without certainty. By employing the concepts of storyworlds and experientiality, this article finds that urban comfort is not universal; rather, it is a discourse that conceals experiences of loss, alienation, and the fracturing of human relationships. Ultimately, “Stasiun Balapan” reveals how popular narratives can function as an affective archive of society, a space where imagination, urban space, and social reality converge within a single emotional event.