Her spring concert in Paradiso and this summer’s festival shows already showedthis: singer Froukje is going to take a leap. When the time comes, 6,000people in the AFAS Live, she is silent for a while because of the size.Laughing, slightly dazed: “There are so many of you. I don’t really know whatto do with it.”
For a moment there is the memory of the period when Froukje Veenstra fromNieuwkoop could not imagine her audience at all. The breakthrough cameunexpectedly, in the first corona year 2020. ‘Greater Than Me’, a danceable,fresh-realistic song about climate unrest. With ‘Ik Wil Dansen’ she draggedyoung people through a concertless vacuum.
As the timid opening act of the test event ‘Back to Life’, Froukje sang livefor the first time in 2021. With her striking sobriety and the beautiful penwith which she captured her insecurities in songs, she then made her waythrough the pop landscape. There were video clips, awards, two EPs. And moreand more performances.
And so the contrast can – only a year and a half later! – no bigger. A self-confident pop woman now shines on a wide stage with a large video wall and anelevation for her four-piece band. One that dares more, that puts on a showwith speed, based on electropop. The music production: solid, well thoughtout, with fresh modern lighting. Tonight 21-year-old Froukje in a white outfitseals her year of success.
Also read this interview: ‘ My generation is a bit bitter, just likecoffee’
delirious
Her vulnerability, gloomy themes in an eloquent package on beats, touches onall sides. “I don’t remember who I was before it all started. I also don’tknow what I am now except young, brash,” she sings. Her songs have been pumpedup and expanded through remixes: they last longer, sometimes distort her voiceand make the audience jump even harder.
Outrageous is the keyword – after her latest EP. The hall sways and with asense of drama, Froukje kneels in white light. At ‘Between Light and Dark’ theaudience eagerly lets the telephone lights shine.
But it can also be small. And moving. Very professionally she urges theaudience to form a path, she wants to go to the mini stage in the middle ofthe hall. There awaits her father (“with whom I have shared a passion formusic all my life. Without him I would never have been here.”) with guitar fora duet: a fragile ‘A Sign’. Solo then a new song ‘Ik Ben Bang’, a beautifulgem, almost cabaret.
Speaking of contrasts, quite astonishing is the hellfire she later ignites.Screaming guitars against flames in the thumping ‘Is This Really?’ Cliché, buthey, is that bad? This is brand new for her target audience. As on the duetafter, ‘Zonder Face’ with the equally popular S10, now every concert can becounted. Froukje has mastered the show finesse. Curious what her debut album,now finally in sight, will bring.