Maaike Ouboter shook the country with her beautiful autobiographical lyrics – she lost both parents when she was in high school – and the song hit the Dutch iTunes Top100 within two days and entered the Single Top100 in first place.
Maaike Ouboter became famous after singing on TV during an audition for the “Best Singer/Songwriter of Holland” contest. The jury, which consisted of three Dutch DJs, all cried during her performance. She shook the country with her beautiful autobiographical lyrics – she lost both parents when she was in high school – and the song hit the Dutch iTunes Top100 within two days and entered the Single Top100 in first place. One month after her audition, her single had already sold 15 thousand times, while her audition on YouTube had been viewed more than three million times (as of this writing, the number has increased to 4.8 million). Although her song was very popular in the Netherlands, she came in second, losing the TV contest to Michael Prins. This year, on August 2013, Maaike was invited by the royal family to sing her song at the funeral of Prince Friso.
Maaike uses short two-or-three-word sentences, which says a lot about the power of words. Just a few are enough to say plenty. The lyrics are sung to someone who went away, who just left or died. If you have a loved one in mind, the words seem much heavier. The song starts with: “Je kust me, je sust me. Omhelst me, gerust me” (You kiss me, you hush me. Hug me, secure me), and the rest is a bit like a love song, about the memories remaining and the emotions felt after a loved one has parted. “Eternally unscared me” is one of the word-games that Maaike plays in her lyrics, and she has done an exceptional job finding all these words and putting them together in one song. It seems so easy, but she does it in a very emotional way. When she says, “Hoe je stem zo dichtbij; Als een engel verzacht; In mijn dromen doorstromen; Oneindige leegte” (How close your voice; as an angel sooths; in my dreams flow; infinite emptiness), it really becomes clear that the song is about someone who has left, but who still means a lot to the singer. In dreams, this someone is still near.
The lyrics make it clear that the singer understands that she has to move on, but missing the other person is allowed and is quite normal, as you will feel when listening to the lyrics. Many people have similar experiences with lost parents, loved ones, or broken up failed relationships. “Maar al denk ik soms; dat het zo beter is; Kan ik het niet helpen; Dat ik je soms mis” (But sometimes I think, it’s better this way, I can’t help it, to miss you some now and then).
