In the coming days, Froukje will perform twice in a long sold-out Oosterpoort in Groningen. What unites her fans? Is she a role model? The app group, set up by Marit from Echtenerbrug, is glowing.
There are fans who have dedicated a tattoo to Froukje. Line Tilma, from Stedum, is not allowed yet, she is just 14. “I’m not dreaming about it yet.” But Marit Veenstra from Echtenerbrug, 17, has every intention of doing so. And the title Brash . In Froukje’s own handwriting.
Brash , it is a text that grabs her, every time. It is a song from Froukje’s first EP, with the meaningful title Light and dark . from 2021. It was a difficult time for Marit. Her grandfather died at that time, her grandmother shortly afterwards.
“All I know, we’re not going back to that time,” and “I don’t remember who I was before it all started,” lines like that. And: ‘Once you’re hit, you’re hit’. They came to her. “Because of my situation I gave my own meaning to that song.”
That’s why, a tattoo with that title. Marit doesn’t actually know whether Froukje realizes that that title, in her own handwriting, should lead to an inscription on Marit’s body. “I did say so.”
She met her idol a few times, she was very nervous of course, at least at first. “But Froukje is whole down to earth , you can really have a good conversation with her. It’s becoming less and less exciting.”
A warm feeling, like a hug
Line Tilma also has a special Froukje song, a song that touches her even more. That is May 23 , the beautiful, sober song in which Froukje sings about her brother. Died when he was 4 and she was two months. But it’s not just about his death, it’s also about his place in the family.
That’s how it is with Line. She has an older sister, Mette, who was born still. “That is quite sensitive,” she says, “for me and my mother. But the way Froukje sings it, it is very recognizable. That just gives you a warm feeling. Like a hug, so to speak.”
Line’s mother, Andrea Lagro (53), can confirm this. When she listens to that song with her daughter, a few tears always fall, “I cry more easily than Line.”
As it goes with Froukje and her brother and their family, so it goes with them. Celebrating Mette’s birthday every year. Sometimes a weekend away, sometimes just to Wildlands in Emmen. Usually with her ex, his current wife and their two children. Standing hand in hand, and then tears fall. But: “There is always cake.”
That’s how you keep her alive, Andrea wants to say. In the past, she remembers from her grandmother, such children were not even given a name, they were ‘hidden away’ as quickly as possible. “But those children are also part of it.”
Voice of a generation
That is the benefit of this time, and Froukje knows that beautifully May 23 very nicely captured. Andrea: “Froukje dares to be vulnerable, she dares to sing about it.”
Froukje (22) voices the voice of her generation, you hear it said. Because she sings about what she experiences, often the same things that her peers also experience. Fears, doubts, I want to dance during corona time.
“She gives you a feeling that you can imagine in what kind of situation she could write that,” says Line. “But she uses a lot of words that you wouldn’t immediately think of. Very recognizable and yet uniquely expressed.” Marit thinks so too. “She knows how we feel.”
And what about Andrea Lagro, 53 after all? Andrea who likes to go to concerts with her daughter, preferably in matching outfits and who always prefers to be at the front because then the atmosphere and the music come in all the better?
Universal, generationless
“I’m often the oldest there,” she says, “but those things that Froukje sings about are fairly universal, generationless. She has, yes gut, what should you call it, that purity. Her voice is also very beautiful. You recognize them out of thousands.”
She first saw Froukje four years ago, at the Grasnapolsky festival in Scheemda. Line, then 10, was not present, although she has been attending the Into The Great Wide Open festival since she was 5. “She’s still upset about that,” says Andrea.
Froukje fans are an active group of people, as is evident from the app group that Marit set up with a few friends. The Frokkelinos. First with about thirty like-minded people. But now, about a year and a half after those early beginnings, the count already stands at about 550, and not just girls. New members are joining every day.
And it is a particularly active group, “a real one.” community ”, says Marit, not without pride. With subgroups for each concert, to travel together and for the discussion afterwards. But there is also a group for S10, a successful singer and friend of Froukje.
Life itself
It is actually always very pleasant in this app group, but it can also go deeper: about concerts, about lyrics, but also just about school. Life itself. “If someone is not feeling well, we can talk about it very well.”
There is also a carnival freak in the group who always brings everything to that party. And then Froukje’s debut album Necessary sadness had just been released, a joint listening session via Zoom soon followed. “Very funny,” Marit remembers.
At the try-out concerts surrounding that release, a friend of Froukje joined the group as secret messenger , with hints and even rebuses that eventually led to tickets. Groups of friends have emerged from this app group, even couples.
In short: Froukje, with her young years and her already beautifully matured artistry, does make a difference. Or as Marit says: “She may have given me a little more self-confidence. I was always a very quiet and calm girl. But her music and her words have made me feel freer. Because I recognized something.”
Froukje: February 21 and 22, Oosterpoort Groningen. Both sold out.
Froukje Veenstra, from Nieuwkoop
Froukje Veenstra (Nieuwkoop, 2001) broke through during corona times with songs like Bigger than me and I want to dance . In the 2022 season she performed on almost all major stages and festivals, which almost led to a burnout. Her critically acclaimed debut album was released earlier this year Necessary sadness out. Froukje comes from a musical family. Her father René, from Emmen, once played in The Charlies with Daniël Lohues, who also participates in Necessary sadness .