Belpop, the documentary series about Belgian music on VRT Canvas, looks back on the heyday of Eurodance around the turn of the century in a final episode tonight. Belgian dance groups conquered the world with front women who no longer mimed, but were professionally accompanied and could actually sing. But the foreign success also had a downside, as several singers from that time testified tonight Belpop. The pressure on the artists was great and the money often ended up in the wrong hands.
This is what Kate Ryan, who broke through in 2002 with her cover of the French hit, testifies Disenchantedthat she was extremely insecure during that period. “I didn’t dare to indicate my limits. I just kept going, so I went into the red every now and then.” That eventually led to an eating disorder, which even caused her to collapse on stage during a performance in Poland. “I was very thin at the time due to anorexia and bulimia. My body suddenly indicated that it was no longer possible.” A few years later, when she wanted to go more alternative and acoustic, her new record company stopped her. He wants more of the same: dance. “I couldn’t make my mark: then you lose yourself a bit.”
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Jessy De Smet, the singer of The Mackenzie, also testifies in the program about the strangulation contract to which she was bound for seven years. “I wasn’t allowed to decide anything myself, not even what clothes I wore. I wasn’t seen as a person: I was a product. I had to be good, because I knew I had signed a contract that I could not escape. My manager regularly said, “I’m destroying you.” I believed that.”
Silvy De Bie, the singer of Sylver, now speaks about a period of ‘expression’. “It was a matter of taking money and we just had to follow. Going on stage and singing, I had to remain silent for the rest,” she testifies. De Bie also ended up in hospital several times. “I had lost a lot of weight during that period. But even when I was recovering in the hospital, they would call me and ask when I could perform again.”
The broadcast also pays attention to the story of Annemie Coenen, singer of Ian Van Dahl, the unsung success of Regi Penxten with Milk Inc. and the revival of Belgian Eurodance with the annual mass event I Love the Nineties.
Belpop: Belgian Eurodance, part 2tonight at 9.20 pm on VRT Canvas or can now be streamed on VRT Max.