S10’s Songfestival adventure had just come to an end, when she could get back to work: touring through the Netherlands, playing as support act for Anouk and releasing a single with BLØF. The singer continues and that feels good, she tells NU.nl. Personal questions from journalists are sometimes quite difficult.
By: Lara ZevenbergA pressure cooker. The singer mentions her participation in the Eurovision Song Contest several times during our conversation in her home in Amsterdam. A place where everything has to happen in a short time and one mistake can be fatal. This makes it an excellent place for a young artist.
“That focus, I love it. That you work towards a moment. And the Song Contest is of course the biggest I’ve ever worked towards in such a way. This was not just releasing a song or a record, but a thousand other things at the same time. Now dropping a single suddenly feels like very little work, while normally that was just a lot,” laughs the 21-year-old singer.
‘Difficult that I was constantly asked about my past’
S10 has been working on the road for quite a few years. She released the albums snow sniper (2019) and butterflies (2020) out and with Breathe in she had a hit last year. Yet many people first heard of her when she was announced as the Dutch entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. And with that, there was suddenly a lot of attention for S10 as an artist and as a person.
She was suddenly approached by strangers on the street. “I don’t think I ever get used to it. It’s something I just have to accept. I see other artists who are equally friendly with everyone and take a picture with everyone, talk to everyone. I can’t do that. I know I’m not sure whether I want to, it’s just not quite my thing.”
Media interest was also new to S10. “I experienced that attention as quite okay, but it also felt like I had to sit on top of it and take matters into my own hands. If people wanted to go in a negative direction with me, I tried to steer that,” said S10, who is eleventh. was in Turin.
“I find it difficult that mature people in the media ask me questions that are very private to me. For example, when they ask about my mental health or my private life. I found it really difficult that I was constantly asked about my past. often thought: why would you want to pull this out of a 21-year-old girl?”
Stop talking about mental health
The singer has been open about her mental health in the past, but wants to put that topic behind her. And that is difficult if journalists keep asking about it.
“In my own life, my private life, I am very happy. I am someone who has a positive outlook on life and does not like to look back on things. So I really had to get used to people asking that just like that. I then thought: I I think I don’t want to talk about certain things anymore. Anyway, eh? Both in my private life and in my life as an artist.” Fortunately, says S10, people listen carefully. And she knows how far she wants to go.
‘I want to leave something beautiful’
Where many Eurovision artists are still touring with that one song years later, S10 immediately focused on new projects. Now there’s a single with BLØF, Let me go. And that collaboration is special: normally BLØF writes together with artists, but S10 already had a demo version of her song Let me go lying down.
“I had been in contact with Peter (Slager, bassist of BLØF, ed.) for some time and called him: I have this song and I don’t know if you guys do it this way, but I would love it if we could do this together And that’s what they wanted. But in the week that we had a session together, I got sick. Then they started working on it and put their own spin on it. And so it became a song of ours together where I’m really very proud of it.”
The song is a symbol for the singer for her upcoming album. “This number would actually For when I’m not here anymore to be named. And the album too. But in the end I thought it was too dark, too heavy. And I don’t want that, because it’s not dark. But it does sum up what I want to say on the album, on a song like Let me go or a song like The depth. I want to say that I am always there, through my music. I want to leave something beautiful behind.”
That’s why S10 is so looking forward to sharing her new music. Also because she experienced the tough periods in her life, which butterflies still sings of praise, wants to leave behind. “I’ve matured quite a bit in two years and so has my music.”
“I think my albums are really cool, but it just doesn’t really suit me anymore. Now half of a show is songs that I don’t recognize anymore and I don’t fully support that. I really want something fatter, I want to continue Taking people into my musical world with my new music, which I’m very much in love with, I hope I can enchant them a little every now and then.”
