Although Davina Michelle has been scoring hits for years and has more than a million followers on YouTube, it never came to an album before. On August 21 the time has come for the 24-year-old singer. The writing of that album was not just like that: “When the gigs and the career go away, what’s left of me?”
Many people’s lives have come to a standstill in recent months. You have been in Ahoy, recorded a film, you are on the jury of a talent show, you release singles, you release an album. Have you had any rest?
“And I also have two cats, haha. It has been really very busy. In fact, the time around the filming of the film has been one of the busiest periods in recent years, I think. Everything was at the same time. And you think. Write songs for an album, but there is so much more to it. Pictures have to be taken, promotional plans have to be made, you have to come up with clips. And I have to be there. “
“There was a period between Ahoy and Pathé where I spent a lot of time at home. I had to write for the album and the single, while at that moment I was a writers block had.”
That you sit down because you know you have to, but you just can’t.
“Exactly. All performances were canceled and I had little on my agenda. I sat down and suddenly it dawned on me that I could not perform (due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and the accompanying measures, ed.) and therefore was not ‘the artist Davina’. And then I wondered: What is left of Michelle?
At the same time you could also think: that is something you can write about, that you are so stuck.
“Yes, I wanted that in the end. But that didn’t just happen. I normally listen to a melody and then think about what the song should be about, I write about it. With the melody of My Own World I thought it had to be about someone who is mentally cheating, so not really. But I couldn’t figure it out. I couldn’t write from myself at that moment, I couldn’t empathize with what I would be like in situations because I was so confused about how I felt and what was going on. “
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So does your personality depend on ‘the artist Davina Michelle’?
“The moment I’m on stage or writing, I’m a different person than when I’m just chatting with you, mowing the lawn or sitting in a restaurant with friends. the same person, but a different version of it. Not that Davina took over, but just, I didn’t remember. Then one day I was very happy or very enthusiastic, as I am myself, but as Davina I am quite modest, because everyone recognizes you and looks at you as if you are some kind of statue, some kind of object. I took that home and it overflowed too much.
Isn’t that also because you were always busy for years? Then you don’t have the time to think about it until everything suddenly disappears.
“It’s so hard to explain. But if I’m not Davina, not the artist, what do I like to do? When the gigs and the career go away, what’s left of me? It was very confronting that you are sitting at home and you realize that you used to go out or go somewhere, but now you can no longer. Because then I have to have my picture taken all day. “
“When I started to realize what was bothering me, I could also write it down. The melody of My Own World is a bit crazy, a bit mysterious. And so it suddenly became true when writing these feelings down. I’m glad I was able to put that in a song. I hope people can agree with that. It is also not a unique situation for someone, I think there are a lot of people who have this. That’s why I think it’s just chill to share it.
In the concert registration you also say that you can feel completely different from one moment to the next: then you are cheerful and cozy and after that you do not want to sit alone anymore. If your mood changes like this, you run the risk of reading back your texts and thinking, I don’t feel like that anymore.
“Because we now had a deadline, because we actually wanted to release the album last year, I could no longer keep tinkering. While you always make a hundred adjustments again, I had to make that decision at some point. Of course I can now. I still think: oh if only that were different. But I am very proud of what we have achieved and I really support it. Also because it captures how I feel very much. Every song is a different feeling. “
“That’s the same as when I got an ugly tattoo three years ago. That butterfly, it really is a moth. The fact that it looks like this doesn’t matter to me, because it takes me back to the moment of putting it. But if I could now erase it and put it back on I wouldn’t do it. “
Breakthrough partly thanks to Pink
- Michelle Davina Hoogendoorn was born on November 12, 1995 in Rotterdam
- In 2016 she participated in the returned Idols, in which she dropped out during the duet round
- The singer shared covers of hits through her own YouTube channel. That was very popular with Pink, after which the video of What About Us went viral
- With Duurt Te Lang, by Glen Faria, she scored her first hit after De Beste Zangers
- This was followed by hits such as Skyward, Hoe Het Danst, Beat Me and 17 Milljoen Mannen
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If you have a lot of hits, you will quickly be accused of being commercial. How do you deal with that?
“You get that very quickly with pop music, that people think it is commercially oriented. And if you are a jazz musician, you make art. But you should not let me make jazz, I cannot do that.”
“It’s almost like you have to defend yourself that you’re not writing music to make money, but that you’re a musician. I really don’t give a shit if people think that way. I write music for myself and for the people who care about it. In addition, I earn my living with it and that is only logical because otherwise I cannot keep it up. And I do not make choices because I earn money with it, I do not do it for that. “
You scored enormously with Dutch songs, so commercially you should have done a Dutch song on the album.
“Well exactly. How it dances I did because I was invited by Marco Borsato and Armin van Buuren, you are really an idiot if you say no to that. But with 17 Million People (the hit she scored with Snelle, ed.): that was an accident. A very nice accident. “
What’s next?
“I can shout: I will be the new Beyoncé, but I can’t do more than work as hard as possible. I believe you shouldn’t expect too much, because then you can only disappoint yourself. I try to keep my expectations low, but not my hope. So I don’t expect to make it abroad, but I hope so. You shouldn’t set the bar too high, then you can disappoint yourself. And I’m just human. just want to live a good life. “
My Own World can be heard and purchased from August 21.
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