Emma Heesters (born January 8, 1996) is a singer, songwriter and entertainer from the Netherlands mostly known for her YouTube covers of popular hits. At a young age, she developed a big passion for singing and dancing. At the age of 8, Emma won her first prize at the Dutch song festival of Kinderen voor Kinderen in 2004. At the age of 14, Emma began performing professionally, doing almost 100 gigs a year.
Her YouTube covers are so popular she has recruited 200,000 subscribers in only 1 year, with followers hailing from over 185 countries and attracting views from more than 300 countries. With 25 million views on YouTube, her effect on people is clear.
She has an extremely devoted following all over the world. Her hundreds of thousands of fans tune in every day to keep up with her weekly uploads. Her version of Rihanna’s & Drake’s “Work” went viral reaching over 10 million views on YouTube.
Emma now spends her time working in the studio with multi-platinum and Grammy Award winning record producers & writers. Her first single that matches her flawless vocals and edgy, yet stunning image is to be released this year.
The Levity Ball had the absolute pleasure of getting to know more about this Musician’s Musician…
How did you become interested in becoming a musician, and how old were you when you started?
“My father is a pianist from origin, so once I knew how a cd player worked (I might’ve been 4), I’s always be playing music around the house which I’d sing and dance to because that was who I was. My parents couldn’t really do anything about that and didn’t have to push me in a direction. When I was 8 I won my first prize in a contest in the Netherlands and since then I’ve been very passionate about singing on stage. I think I got so much true passion for music in my body, that it just puts me in the right directions.”
Everything about you is taking the world by storm! What do you hope people take away from your music after listening?
“Haha glad to hear you think that! The biggest compliment for me is when people say they listen to my voice when they’re down but they feel better after hearing my music. I just want people to feel something when they listen to my music. For me that’s what music is about.”
Who are your biggest influences in music?
“I really like to go in my Discover Weekly playlist on Spotify as it makes me discover different music with different influences. But overall I really enjoy listening to Bebe Rexha, Ariana Grande, Zara Larsson, MØ, Wizkid and many more…”
Many people I speak to have the opinion…including me and my better half, Brianna, that your rendition of each cover you do surpasses the quality of the original artist. How does hearing that very real possibility, even if an opinion make you feel?
“Ahhh that’s a huge compliment, thank you! It gets me really motivated to make more music.”
Which other artist have you enjoyed working with the most so far?
“I really enjoy working with Shaun Reynolds because I really like his productions. Gladly I’m not the only one as our “work” cover has reached 10 million views which is amazing!! I also want to mention I really enjoy working with my friend Mike Attinger, who has been with me since the beginning.”
Which artist would you like to work with in the future?
“I would love to work with Kurt Hugo Schneider, maybe soon.. ;-)! I also think Leroy Sanchez and Alex Aiono are very talented, so it would be fun to work with them in the future.”
How do you define the genre of your music, and where do you feel you fit into that definition?
“My genre of music is very much pop with electronic influences.”
Has growing up originally in the Netherlands influenced your sound today?
“To be honest I don’t really think so. Growing up I was listening to a lot of American music on channels like MTV and when the internet came I started to watch YouTube video’s so I was more influenced by sounds of certain artists like J.Lo and Beyonce rather than the Netherlands itself. What I do think influenced my sound in a huge way is the fact that I had musical training, which may explain why people think Ariana Grande’s voice and my voice are so much alike (she used to do musicals too when she was younger).”
What tips would you give young artists coming up or what do you wish someone would have told you when you first started out in the music industry?
“When I was musically trained, no one told me it’s important to craft your own sound. In musicals you basically sing covers too and personally I think a lot of people in that world are trained to sound the same (which can be really good in certain circumstances). On the otherhand I would really want to say I find it important that you put all of your feelings in a song. A lot of artists today on YouTube miss that, they just sing a song without feelings behind it.”
Why do you believe you are such a YouTube/social media sensation?
“I believe my voice is very commercial, which makes it that a lot of people like it very easily. I’m also working really hard to get where I want so I guess when people see me and hear my voice they are also interested in following my journey.”
How are you preparing and do you think you are as prepared as possible to be, in our opinion, the next best vocalist/musician/chart-topper on the scene today?
“I do think I’m quite well prepared and can’t wait to show people what I’m capable of with my original music!! :)”
Outside the music world, what are some of your favorite things to do?
“I love online shopping, sipping cocktails on the terrace with friends in Amsterdam, dancing, watching Disney movies and making moodboards :)”
What is something right now you would like the world to know about you?
“I’m releasing my original music which will be out this year!! yaaaay :)”
What do your close friends think about all this?
“They are still getting used to the fact random people are approaching me on the street, but it’s funny to see the look on their faces and to experience my journey with them!”
Lastly, and this one is a selfish question…when might you bless the United States with a visit and hopefully in conjunction to a world tour?
“That would be so cool! I will be visiting LA very soon to work on my project. It’s my dream to do a world tour so hopefully I will be blessed enough to make that reality.”
