A mere two years ago, Esmée Denters was just a pancake house waitress with a webcam and a dream. An aspiring singer who fell in love with her father’s Stevie Wonder albums as a child, Esmée was 17 when she began posting videos of herself on YouTube singing her favorite hits by Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, P!ink, and Natasha Bedingfield.”I had seen all these videos of amateur singers, which gave me the idea,” she says. “I was just interested in what other people thought of my voice.” Within nine months, Esmée’s videos had racked up 21 million views, and she became the number one most-subscribed musician in the history of the popular video-sharing website.
Esmée’s clips soon caught the attention of Justin Timberlake – one of her musical idols – who was drawn to her silky, soulful voice, natural charisma and songwriting talent. He then signed her to his label Tenman Records, an imprint of Interscope, and began executive producing and co-producing the majority of her debut album. They lined up an impressive list of noted songwriters and producers to collaborate on the project including Polow Da Don (Usher, Ciara), Stargate (Rihanna, Ne-Yo), OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder (Leona Lewis, Natasha Bedingfield), and Toby Gad (Beyoncé, Fergie). The result is an edgy, soulful pop-R&B set that Esmée says truly reflects who she is as a person.
Relatability was something that was important to Esmée on her debut outing, which is why she was thrilled for the opportunity to co-write the majority of the songs. Her first single, “Outta Here,” sends a message of female empowerment through a hybrid of urban beats, pop lyrics and rock attitude. Sneak a peek into the studio to learn more about the Dutch beauty when she recorded the track with Justin Timberlake and Polow Da Don.
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