Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Nelleke Kuipers. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Nelleke , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
I think this question is very relevant to me right now. I’ve had many chapters in my life where I didn’t actively had to deal with checking in on myself to see how confidence or self esteem was manifesting within me. From an early age on I have felt purpose and direction in my life, luckily that was nurtured by my parents who were so supportive of me going into theater and later-on, music. This was a frame I could easily design my life within. I’ve always felt and seen a picture of my future in music and that gave me confidence and belonging as a person.
But over these last years, when I more and more carved out my own path within the music industry, when I started writing and developing my own music, when I left the theater and therefore a certain kind of security behind, when I moved abroad, when I had to run faster for people to hear my message, I felt like the ground was sometimes shifting underneath me. Things that felt rock solid turned out to be more fragile and vulnerable because I as a person simply felt more vulnerable expressing myself through my own work.
I found out a few things about myself. A negative body image is and was a thing that I’m dealing with. I kind of shut down the memory of me obsessively working out and going on diets as a 16-year-old in order to fit more into the popular ‘picture’. I erased feeling guilty after meals, seeing an under chin on one of my pictures, my pants that felt tighter, not being able to go braless like all the other skinny girls. I’m struggling with the emphasis on body and appearance that society puts on women ánd men. I struggle with what the women in my family passed on to me in that domain, unconsciously. But I myself am getting more conscious about my self image, I’m proud to belong to a generation that can express their vulnerabilities more and more, a generation that is more vocal about mental health stigma’s and body issues. It’s a constant battle of becoming even more conscious and loving myself through all these phases, and music helps me process the thoughts and feelings that belong to that awareness. I’ve experiences the years 25-to 30 to be quite impactful as a young adult (can I still say that, makes me insecure to type this in the first place), figuring out relationships, my career and the balance between those two important factors in my life. When there’s a misbalance the floor underneath me starts to move again, but I’m getting more and more familiar with that feeling and I’m trying to push through that by talking about it and making music. For me this proces is the proces of maturing and regaining confidence and power.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Nelleke is a singer, songwriter and producer from a small town in the east of The Netherlands. Her oldest memory is singing, dancing and acting around her childhood living room with her dad playing on the guitar. She was fascinated by folk music since she was little, with influences from Joni Mitchell, Sting, Bonnie Raitt, and at a later stage, to Bon Iver, James Blake and Damian Rice. These influences sparked a flame for writing her own material from an early age on.
Nelleke is navigating the complexities of life and womanhood and her songs resonate with relatable tales of growth, contradictions, and the timeless pursuit of understanding. Nelleke’s music takes you on a ride through Folk, Alternative Pop, and Americana, always exploring the in-between spaces where genres converge.
Nelleke started out on a Musical stage, which led her to study Music Theatre at Codarts University of the Arts, Rotterdam. After graduating Cum Laude from her bachelors, she first toured and then landed a role at ‘Soldaat van Oranje’, one of the most renowned musicals in The Netherlands.
Her first steps into producership were taken during a residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, early 2020, where she decided to leave the theater behind and pursue her solo career as a singer songwriter. After an exclusive feature on the TV show We Want More on SBS6 (Dutch National Television), her song ‘Zephyr’ was released in April 2021 through the TV program.
Soon after, Nelleke secured acceptance at Berklee College of Music, where she dedicated herself to crafting her debut EP, “bird/on concrete,” officially released on September 23 2023. The project naturally drew in a collaborative team of producers, engineers, and creatives, contributing to the creation of this body of work. Nelleke graduated with distinction, majoring in Contemporary Performance with a focus on Production.
Since the launch of her initial singles, Nelleke has graced stages in various European cities, including London, Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Rotterdam, while also gearing up for a relocation to the UK in the coming year. In 2023, she embarked on a successful tour across the United States, facilitated by the local booking agency PR Fresh. Her debut EP received notable coverage in the press and has been hailed as a “life-altering record.” (Mezmerised, 2024)
‘’through my music I’m battling the stigma around softness. softness doesn’t mean feminine. it doesn’t mean masculine. softness means it all; it’s a powerful word because it implies acceptance. softness could imply setting boundaries or releasing anger and above all, it breathes duality. I always had the sense that I wanted to support people to feel things deeply. to feel rather than to over analyse. i try to communicate this through my songs, and embrace the duality of life through my voice and through my music.”
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
1. Curiosity. Especially in forcing yourself to keep talking to new people, even if your political or spirituals believes don’t align. It enriches you and expands your world. Doing this gives me endless inspiration. I deliberately place myself in low key places/spaces that can connect me to new people.
2. Do It Yourself approach. Try not to wait too much for anyone. You’re the person that runs fastest for your own projects. Follow your intuition, your gut feeling and have a hands on approach achieving your personal goals and in learning skills to do so. I’m currently a singer, songwriter, producer, artdirector, editor, content creator, social media manager, pr&marketing agent, booking agent and so much more, in many of these tasks supported by my manager. But we’re a soon te be expanding team of (currently still) two women that want to make some noise together and it makes me so proud to make my first steps in the music industry like this.
3. Perseverence. My own personal motivation is and will be ‘I’m gonna be under their noses, not giving up on my dreams, for as long as possible and they will know and they will see”. I have the famous words of the German poet Rilke in my head for some years now. First time I saw this passage of his, was on a plane from Canada back to The Netherlands, on a very important and heartbreaking moment of my life. I was on a plane in an ongoing heartbreak panic attack (didn’t know that was possible but it was and it sucked) when I saw the movie JoJo Rabbit. At the end of the movie Rilke’s words are projected in the credits. ”Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. no feeling is final. just keep going”. These words got me through very tough times and they still do. Passing this on for anyone who needs it.
Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?
I’ve been reading the book ‘braiding sweetgrass’ by Robin Wall Kimmerer and it has been life changing to me. It took me a while to finish the book, I remember I started reading at the start of the pandemic and that time has been very impactful and hard for me. Reading a book that meant so much to me, spiritually, was hard because every page I read was hitting me hard. At that time I struggled with anxiety and it was very hard for me to look at the world with innocent eyes again. This book helped me in that process. There are a lot of important lines and moments in this book that to me worked so nurturing. I love that the book was written from a scientific as well as an indigenous perspective, but most of all I love that those to perspectives were connected to the third perspective of being a mother. The connection to nature that’s being described, the Indigenous wisdom that is being shared, it’s all so valuable and I felt so connected to the natural world. This book inspired the stories in the songs I’m writing (and as a direct result, my ep ‘bird /on concrete’ that came out in September), because it motivated my longing to write about nature, relationships and womanhood.
a few quotes:
“Action on behalf of life transforms. Because the relationship between self and the world is reciprocal, it is not a question of first getting enlightened or saved and then acting. As we work to heal the earth, the earth heals us.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass
“This is really why I made my daughters learn to garden—so they would always have a mother to love them, long after I am gone.”
― Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants
this last one hits home, since the important women in my life knew and know how to garden and live their lives partially with their hands in the earth. it’s something I have yet to learn.
In the musical world, writers as Joni Mitchell always inspire me, like a distant kindred spirit. Her poetry and musicianship are out of this world. The song ‘Hejira’ is one of my favourites. Every line she wrote there resonates deeply.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nellekemusic.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nelleke_music/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nelleke.music
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nellekekuipers/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nelleke_music
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/nellekemusic
- Other: http://linktr.ee/nelleke
Image Credits
photo (2) on stage: Ella Bailey (@timefeeder on instagram) other photos (1,3,4,5,6 that are posed): Yasmine Hatimi (@hatimiworks on instagram)
