{"id":118825,"date":"2020-10-22T13:24:16","date_gmt":"2020-10-22T11:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=118825"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:10","slug":"musician-and-student-lucas-vermeer-has-released-his-first-ep-alles-aan-mij-is-behoorlijk-nederlands-everything-about-me-is-pretty-much-dutch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/10\/22\/musician-and-student-lucas-vermeer-has-released-his-first-ep-alles-aan-mij-is-behoorlijk-nederlands-everything-about-me-is-pretty-much-dutch\/","title":{"rendered":"Musician and student Lucas Vermeer has released his first EP: \u2018Everything about me is pretty much Dutch’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucas Vermeer (22) has released his first Dutch-language EP: Esthetiek<\/em>\u00a0(A<\/em>esthetics <\/em>in English). Not the first thing you would associate with a student, but Lucas is not only at Erasmus University College either. He also studies at Codarts as part of the RASL double degree programme. “Music comes first.”<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

An Instagram post by Lucas reveals that he has always had a performer in him; we see the young Lucas enthusiastically singing and dancing the Dutch-language K3 classic Oya L\u00e9l\u00e9<\/em>. He has been taking piano and singing lessons for years. Music was his final exam subject in secondary school, and he has performed in a Mozart musical as well. Sometimes a broad Breda brogue flops out \u2013 like \u2018kei\u2019 (a colloquial form of \u2018hugely\u2019 inherent to the province of Brabant, often used in terms such as keihard<\/em> \u2013 i.e. rock-hard<\/em> or exceptionally\/really<\/em>). He immediately corrects this with the word \u2018heel\u2019 (as in \u2018really\u2019) and quips that he sounds so typically Brabants. However, Lucas, who grew up in an academic family in Breda, actually did want to do a university degree in the first place.<\/p>

Then the opportunity to follow \u2018keyboards, pop music\u2019 at the Rotterdam Conservatory unexpectedly presented itself. Lucas: \u201cAt first, I only applied for the University College with the intention: I am going to go to university because I want to develop myself as broadly as possible. I really wanted to carry on with music, but there\u2019s so much more out there and I didn\u2019t dare immediately and exclusively choose it as a study. Once I had joined the EUC, I received an email just before the start about the combination programme with Codarts. Which was perfect.\u201d<\/p>

As Lucas writes in an accompanying press release, the songs on the EP are \u2018musical love fantasies\u2019. Lucas sings under the name LUCAS about \u2018a quest for affection\u2019. He recorded backing vocals in the attic room of his parents\u2019 home in Breda. With mattresses up against the wall.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

The EP cover.<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

What do you prefer, the music study or the EUC study?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without a doubt: \u201cMusic. When I started the combination programme, I immediately noticed during my first year: Music has priority and everything at university revolves around that. It is such an interesting medium to communicate with. I benefit a lot from my university studies during the creative process. After all, music can only be powerful if you look at the context and the society in which it is produced. It can touch on themes that are very topical, open up issues to discussion, and express feelings as part of that process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which social themes do you want to address with your EP \u2018Esthetiek\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really want to fill that out for the listener. But I would like to make it clear that you can embrace your androgynous sides, for one thing. If you look at the Dutch music industry, the market is still rather patriarchal and heteronormative. At the same time, there is a lot of power in femininity \u2013 for men too. Things don\u2019t always need to be all about muscles and being tough. I want to rebel against that with my music.\u201d<\/p>\n

In one of your songs you sing about how you long for a life with someone with a home, garden and a pet (the Dutch clich\u00e9 \u2018huisje-boompje-beestjeleven\u2019). Isn\u2019t that incredibly, as you call it, heteronormative?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThat depends on how you interpret it. I don\u2019t sing whether that is with a woman or a man. Or if the children\u2019s room is coloured pink for a girl either. It\u2019s more about a sense of home that you can share with someone. I have tried to stay as neutral as possible in my choice of words and in the images that I create. By the way, it\u2019s not that I want that kind of life to happen by tomorrow, not at all. But I can sometimes long for it or dream about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLevien Willemse<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Has this heteronormative world been a problem for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lucas shifts in his seat: \u201cThat\u2019s not the main theme of the EP, y\u2019know! It doesn\u2019t have to be the headline of the story. It\u2019s more a case of me trying to ignore the standard of thinking in terms of blue and pink and doing my own thing in how I present myself. I think it could bring about a lot of wonderful things if that was all rubbed out. I hope I can contribute to that. But there is more to me than that: It\u2019s about the music; besides that, I find it interesting to look at social problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

And why do you do that in Dutch?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything about me is actually pretty much Dutch. I found that out during my exchange trip to England. And I think I can be a bit more vulnerable and intimate in Dutch. When I first wrote an assignment for Codarts in Dutch, it was very well received. I manage to convey intimacy more effectively. Ironically, a few months later I moved to England for a songwriting exchange trip, where I wrote a lot of my songs. But there they were still able to help me with the musical aspect of my songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI really enjoyed being able to dive into my own world there in Dutch. After a few months in England, I missed Dutch and noticed that I wanted to be surrounded by Dutch words and engage in new conversations in Dutch. So, I also came back to the Netherlands from England a couple of times to sort of recharge my linguistic batteries and get on with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What did you miss exactly?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I don\u2019t think some sounds, like the G, are not very nice, I missed the directness of the Dutch language and the ease with which I could communicate freely in it. Not to upset the English, but they are renowned for beating around the bush at times. By the way, \u2018miss<\/em>\u2019 is a bit of an overstatement, but I just needed inspiration because I was so absorbed in the Dutch language. So, I then went back to do gigs, see family and friends, go to parties now and then. It felt like a holiday in my own country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\n
\n\t\t\n\t\tIngesloten inhoud van Spotify overslaan\n\t<\/a>\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tI agree\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t<\/button>\n\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\tSee on Spotify\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\n<\/svg>\n\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
\n\t
\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tspotify\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<\/svg>\n\n\t\t<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t<\/button>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t
Ingesloten inhoud van Spotify overgeslagen.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/figure>

Any mention of corona on the EP?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause corona had started, I recorded these songs mainly at home, so I guess so in that sense. I recorded the backing vocals in my old room with mattresses up against the wall. I was forced to live with my parents again after ending my exchange trip because of corona. Yet the EP is not specifically about my feelings in the corona age, even though the theme sometimes touches on it. Being alone is somehow part of it, you could relate that to corona.\u201d<\/p>\n

How important is it that people listen to your music?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is that those who love it or can benefit from it, are able to find it. I want to do everything I can to reach those people. But as far as I\u2019m concerned, it really doesn\u2019t have to go viral.\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughs: \u201cAlthough that would be nice, of course, financially speaking. But thanks to the double degree, I can go in other directions too. Maybe I will become a journalist, or a psychologist, or a pop music arranger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t