You used to have the Singer Without a Name, now we have the Singer Without Hits: Samantha Steenwijk. And she is teased a lot about that. “What’s your hit anyway? I’m looking, but…”
It must be quite confrontational for Samantha Steenwijk. If you ask what people associate her with, you will soon hear ‘angry at Yvonne’ and ‘diet pill’, but a song from her? Well, we don’t actually know any. Does that woman only sing André Hazes covers or are we overlooking something?
Hits from Samantha?
Samantha is teased about it when she is a guest on Wilfred Genee’s radio show The Friday Move. He points out her many TV appearances, while she is actually a singer. “That’s what made you famous, right? That people do know the order. Sometimes you forget that, of course,” he teases.
Then very meanly: “What is your biggest hit anyway? I was looking, but…”
Wow, that is of course quite a painful question. Samantha: “That’s terrible, isn’t it, Wilfred?”
Wilfred: “I was really looking.”
Folk music
According to Samantha, it has to do with sexism. “It’s almost impossible for women in folk music, that’s true. I’m not much of a proponent – I don’t want to do that at all – but you used to have Corry Konings… Luckily you still have him… You had Bonnie St. Claire, Willeke Alberti, the Singer Without a Name.”
She continues: “But now… I also hear it from so many singers around me that there is simply no way to get through.”
Shift work
Then why not sit on every TV panel again? No, that’s over, says Samantha. “It was of course corona time. I did a lot of television during that time. It’s also so strange that people say: ‘Ah, you couldn’t be bothered with that TV, almost to the point of boredom.’ That is also allowed.”
She continues: “Anyway, as an artist we obviously had nothing to do, so you have to shift your work a bit. That was fine and I really enjoy doing that.”
Currants from porridge
The big question is: has Samantha decided that she wants to be on television less or have the TV bosses simply listened to the massive criticism of her many TV appearances?
The first, she says herself. “I also love making television, but now I can sing again. Now I just do the things, the nuts and bolts.”