Esmée Denters (born 28 September 1988) is a Dutch singer and YouTuber. Denters started promoting herself as a musician online in 2006, covering songs by artists including Justin Timberlake and Natasha Bedingfield. Denters was signed by Timberlake as the first artist to his label Tennman Records. In May 2009, she released her debut studio album, Outta Here, and toured the United States with Timberlake. After the label dropped her, Denters moved to London, where she competed in BBC One's The Voice UK.
In 2017, Denters released her EP These Days, followed by the EP Past, Present, Future in 2020.
Early life Denters was born on 28 September 1988, in Arnhem. Denters lived in Westervoort next to Arnhem until she was fifteen, when her family moved to Oosterbeek, Gelderland. She graduated from high school in Arnhem in 2006 and subsequently attended the HAN University of Applied Sciences where she was working towards a Bachelor of Social Work until she dropped out in her first year in February 2007 to join Tennman Records.
Career
2006–2008: Early career On 25 August 2006, Denters made a YouTube channel. She posted several videos of herself singing covers of other pop stars' songs. Denters traveled to the U.S. to write songs and record in the studio. There were plans for a reality show around Denters in the United States, which followed up the release of her debut album. She also sang a song that was written by Kelly Rowland of Destiny's Child. She then flew to Sweden for a few days to write songs and record.
In 2008, Denters started her professional career after attracting the attention of Dutch media scouts and American pop singer Justin Timberlake. Timberlake went on to sign her as the first artist to his label Tennman Records. Timberlake served as an executive producer on her debut album, Outta Here.
She also appeared on TV shows like Oprah.
2009–2010:Outta Here and collaborations
In April 2009, Denters confirmed on Dutch radio station Radio 538 that her debut album would be released in the Netherlands on 22 May 2009, also confirming that the album is a mix of Pop and R&B with both ballads, and uptempo tracks. Her debut single, also the title song of the album, was released in the Netherlands on 14 April 2009 and in the UK on 15 August. Outta Here reached number five in the Netherlands and charted in Belgium, where it reached number 3 for five weeks on the Flemish Region Albums Chart. The album was released in the UK on 11 January 2010 and features her 2008 charity duet with Timberlake, "Follow My Lead" as an additional bonus song. The second single, "Admit It", only reached 28 in the Netherlands and 56 in the UK.
In autumn 2009, Denters went on tour with Honor Society. The album's third single "Love Dealer" reached 12 and 68 in the Netherlands and UK respectively.
Denters also worked on several collaborations during this time. She performed on tour with artists Ne-Yo, Enrique Iglesias and N-Dubz. She lent her vocals to the German band Stanfour who featured Denters on their single "Life Without You", released on 25 May 2010. The music video for the single was postponed due to the April 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption. On 1 May, Denters and Stanfour flew to New York to record the video for "Life Without You". The official release of "Life Without You" in Germany was 28 May. The video leaked on the internet on 24 May. In the UK, she also accepted a collaboration with British rapper Chipmunk on his hit "Until You Were Gone", which entered the top three on UK charts.
She received an MTV Europe Music Award in 2009 and the European Border Breakers Award in 2010 for Outta Love.
2011–2014: Dismissal from Tennman Records
Denters started working on new songs for her second studio album in January 2011. She worked with British DJ and producer K-Gee and musician Ben Cullum on the album, which was to be titled Screaming Out Loud. "City Lights" was the first single from the album.
At the end of 2012, Dutch DJ and producer Erik Arbores and Denters collaborated for the new Dance4Life theme song called "dance4life (now dance)", released digitally on 23 November. They performed the song at the Dance4Life 2012 charity event in Ahoy, Rotterdam. Denters was dropped from Tennman Records that year.
On 24 February 2014, Denters returned to the stage, performing new music at Showcase Live in London. She opened the show singing her first hit single "Outta Here" followed by three new original songs: "Cars and Airplanes", "If I Could I Would" and "Anything For The Money", along with a performance of Lorde's "Royals", Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home", and Avicii's "Wake Me Up".
On 24 September 2014, Denters released her first independent single "If I Could I Would" on iTunes and Spotify.
2015–present: The Voice UK and independent work On 24 January 2015, Denters appeared on BBC One's The Voice UK, selected to join will.i.am's team for the next round. However, she was eliminated at the knockout stage.
At the end of 2017, Denters worked with Shaun Reynolds and released a 5-song EP These Days on iTunes and Spotify. In January 2018, Denters mentioned on Instagram that the second part of the EP would be released in May 2018. On 25 May 2018, Denters sang the lead single "Feeling Good" live on the Dutch TV show M. One month later Denters headlined her own live show at the Melkweg in The Netherlands. Sylvia Aimee and MVTCHES were the opening acts. A second live show followed in March 2019 at The Borderline in London.
In 2020, Denters released a 3-song EP titled Past, Present, Future. The EP was created during the UK lockdown with Shaun Reynolds, who said they "managed to piece [it] together remotely from two opposite sides of the capital". The EP includes the tracks "Love Me The Same", "Ruins", and "Better Things", with each song depicting a different period of time in a romantic relationship.
Media
Appearances in the Dutch and international media.
Appearances in the media Year Media Country Notes 2006 Het Land van Maas en Geel The Netherlands Interview 2007 De Wereld Draait Door The Netherlands Interview Unknown Norway Interview Jensen! The Netherlands Interview and scoop signing at Tennman Records Oprah The United States Interview 2008 YouTube (Justin Bieber) The United States Justin Bieber sings for Esmee Denters 2009 Radio 538 Evers Staat Op The Netherlands Music promotion 'Outta Here' De Wereld Draait Door The Netherlands Interview & Music promotion 'Outta Here' Van Der Vorst Ziet Sterren The Netherlands Interview Ados France Interview TMF Awards 2009 The Netherlands Singing 'Outta Here' & Awards winner PunchBowl TV The United States Interview 2010 The Netherlands Helps Haiti The Netherlands Charity I'll Be There' with Trijntje Oosterhuis & Waylon ET The United States Interview with Justin Timberlake / Behind the scenes 'Love Dealer' GMTV The United Kingdom Interview with Chipmunk Radio 538 Koninginnedag The Netherlands Singing 'Outta Here' & Interview Iheartradio The United States Interview / Behind the scenes 'Love Dealer' 2013–2015 Ont' Sofa Gibson Sessions The United Kingdom Music promotion 'If I Could I Would' and multiple covers (one together with Fabian Belassie) 2015 The Voice UK (series 4) The United Kingdom Participant, Team Will.I.Am & eliminated in the knockouts RTL Late Night The Netherlands Interview RTL Late Night The Netherlands Music promotion 'Lean On' with Ronald Molendijk 2016 YouTube (Esmee Denters) The Netherlands The Road To Ahoy part 1–6 RTL Late Night The Netherlands Retrospective YouTube 2018 M The Netherlands Interview & music promotion 'Feeling Good' with Thijs Boontjes Dance- and show-orchestra 2020 The Voice UK (10 years) The United Kingdom Retrospective The Voice UK (Season 4) 2021 3FM The Netherlands Interview
YouTube
The uploaded YouTube videos from Esmee Denters can be found below. A video appears on the list if it is a song, it reached more than 100,000 views on YouTube, is not an official released single, not part of a TV show and cannot be found on an album.
YouTube videos (incl. streams) Year Title Streams 2006 "One In A Million" YouTube: 1.653.000 "Only Hope" YouTube: 1.072.000 "Tears In Heaven" YouTube: 3.528.000 "Irreplaceable" YouTube: 7.547.000 "The Dock Of The Bay" YouTube: 920.000 "Impossible" YouTube: 961.000 "18 Years Old" YouTube: 543.000 "Anything Is Possible" YouTube: 1.956.000 2007 "Have You Ever" YouTube: 786.000 "Ironic" YouTube: 1.295.000 "So Simple" YouTube: 1.006.000 "Listen" YouTube: 1.882.000 "Like A Star" YouTube: 2.357.000 "Best Friend" YouTube: 545.000 "How Come You Don't Call Me" YouTube: 1.819.000 "Dance With My Father" YouTube: 8.549.000 "You Give Me Something" YouTube: 2.039.000 "Let Me Love You" YouTube: 7.498.000 "What Goes Around"(with Justin Timberlake) YouTube: 24.707.000 "Unwritten"(with Natasha Bedingfield) YouTube: 16.927.000 "Because Of You" YouTube: 6.530.000 "Baby Love" YouTube: 2.618.000 "Nobody Knows" YouTube: 2.426.000 "No One" YouTube: 7.424.000 2008 "Crazy & R.E.S.P.E.C.T-Medley (Live)" YouTube: 3.145.000 "I'll Be Waiting" YouTube: 2.792.000 "Stop And Stare"(with Ryan Tedder from OneRepublic) YouTube: 4.634.000 "As" YouTube: 4.337.000 2009 "O Holy Night" YouTube: 366.000 2010 "My Own Way"(with Honor Society) YouTube: 237.000 "You Lost Me" YouTube: 196.000 "Silent Night" YouTube: 162.000 2011 "Someone Like You" YouTube: 350.000 "Tears Dry On Their Own" YouTube: 146.000 "Without You" YouTube: 426.000 "It Will Rain" YouTube: 289.000 2012 "City Light (Acoustic)" YouTube: 125.000 2013 "Stay" YouTube: 131.000 "Unconditionally" YouTube: 113.000 2014 "Counting Stars" YouTube: 464.000 "All Of Me" YouTube: 230.000 "Drunk In Love" YouTube: 424.000 "Stay With Me" YouTube: 124.000 "It's A Man's Man's Man's World" YouTube: 133.000 "Take Me To Church" YouTube: 131.000 2015 "Blank Space" YouTube: 102.000 2016 "Sandcastles" YouTube: 109.000
Discography
Tours
2007 Justin Timberlake – FutureSex/LoveShow (opening act, Europe)
2009 Enrique Iglesias – Greatest Hits tour (opening act, Europe) Ne-Yo – Year of the Gentleman tour (opening act, Europe) Honor Society – Fashionably Late tour (opening act, United States/Canada) N-Dubz Christmas Party (opening act, UK)
2010 Stanfour – Rise & Fall tour (special guest, Germany)
Awards YearRegionAwardCategoryResult2009NetherlandsTMF AwardsBest Female ArtistTMF Superchart AwardBelgiumBest International ArtistEuropeMTV Europe Music AwardsBest Dutch & Belgian ActBest European Act2010EBBAMost Successful Artist (outside own country)NetherlandsTMF AwardsBest Female ArtistBest Video "Admit It"United KingdomUrban Music AwardsBest Collaboration "Until You Were Gone"
Notes and references
External links
Artist Discography Esmée Denters Esmée Denters