Froukje won the title 3voor12 Song of the Year three years in a row, but writing those songs requires more and more of her. The singer found it difficult to remain unapologetic on her debut album Necessary Sadnesswhich comes out Friday.
“Because of how my life has changed, I found writing more difficult,” the 22-year-old singer tells NU.nl. This is partly because she has less time for it due to performances. “For writing you have to be in the right headspace being and feeling open-minded. I have more trouble with that now.”
A lot is expected of her music, after her hits like I want to dance, Nothing Between in Brash has scored. She notices that herself. “If I can’t figure it out when writing, I immediately wonder whether it is something I want to make and what people want to hear. Those questions were much less important before.” The fact that she was writing for an album added pressure. “That actually wasn’t very conducive to my creativity.”
“When I get stuck, I try to make it fun for myself again. Because there’s no point writing songs if you don’t love them anymore.” The singer tried to return to the feeling of when she started music. “I have started to see it again as something beautiful and not as something that has to be done. Since I have accepted that I write less than before, things have actually gotten better.”
‘I’ll buy back some freedom if the album goes well’
Froukje hopes that she will feel less pressure if her debut album becomes a success. “Then I also know that my career is not immediately over if I make something that sounds different. I still had the feeling that it had to sound in line with what I have already released. The music I make now is also which I like to do, you know. It’s not like I felt very limited. But if this record goes well, then it buys me some freedom to experiment.”
Necessary Sadness became not just the title of a song, but of the entire album. It best summarizes the overarching message of the record. “I think in my generation, and also in my earlier music, there is a lot of room for our sadness and fear of things that feel uncomfortable. It’s good that we protect our boundaries, but sometimes in life you also have to do things that are not pleasant.”
“I am doing quite well now and that is really because I have gone through a lot of sadness and have dared to put up with it. That is necessary to come out of it better and to be stronger in your shoes. I want to say that you having to do things in life that are annoying. That it is not necessarily something that is done to you, but is part of it. Those fears can be overcome and that makes you stronger.”
‘I don’t think communicating through my music is pure’
Froukje prefers not to explain what her songs are about. She already reveals enough of herself in her songs and the music speaks for itself, she thinks. She sometimes finds it difficult, especially for her loved ones, that her music is drawn from her own life.
“On the record there is a song (23 mei, ed.) about my deceased brother. I think it’s nice that my parents hear about it before it comes out. I postponed that for a while, because I don’t like talking about my songs with people who know me well. I talk to them as myself. I don’t want to communicate through my music. I don’t think that’s pure.”
The singer is also not afraid of some self-mockery in her songs. In Now that I don’t write about you anymore she addresses the listeners, asking if they are getting tired of her “nonsense”. “I think it’s important to look at myself with a wink every now and then. People may think what I have to say is just nonsense. I sometimes think so myself. Sometimes you experience something and then you think six months later : Did I really worry about that? With music you romanticize everything, but sometimes I also want to give it some air.”
2024-01-12 04:07:16
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