We spoke to you just before your debut album Wellif was released. How did you end up experiencing the weeks since the release?
I was strangely very calm and fulfilled; it feels very liberating not to have to carry that record around on my own anymore. Also, I had been writing new songs for a long time and almost felt like I was cheating on ‘Wellif’, so now I can work out the world of the next record with a clear conscience.
What’s the nicest compliment you’ve received about the project?
It was really nice to hear from unexpected places that it can bring solace, and people can find their own story in it. Someone had also sent me something very poetic that made me blush: “Wonderful how you open your album. Wonderful how you put it down at the end. Impossible not to fall in love with you in between.”
Has Wellif taken on a different meaning for you since its release?
Yes, actually it has. For Christmas, I had burned a CD of the record for my grandmother as that is the only way she can listen to music. She doesn’t understand English and told me that the record calmed her down a lot. I never understood people saying it calmed them down because I felt so much pain and heaviness during the creation process that it was a very hard record for me. Since the turn of the year, I have gone through an enlightenment; I am very happy and have left the sadness of the last few years behind me, which allows Wellif to also awaken a softness and security towards me, and that is very nice.
