UCU student Thijs becomes finalist in The Voice of Holland

Thijs Veldhuis (21) decided to participate in The Voice of Holland on the spur of the moment, without any expectations. He was one of the lucky few to be invited to participate in the blind auditions, out of over 3,000 applications. 

The University College Utrecht (UCU) student impressed the coaches in the blind audition, after which he gave an interview to DUB. We approached him again now that he has reached the final. 

“I’m actually doing really well,” Thijs says straight away. “I had to keep this a secret for a few months. It feels great to finally be able to tell people." The episodes are filmed in advance, and only the final is broadcasted live. 

‘I’m going to show a different side of me’

This coming Friday is finally the day he’s been working towards all this time. Part of the episode has already been recorded, but the live segment begins as soon as viewers at home are allowed to vote. 

Thijs is looking forward to the final, "especially because I’m going to show a different side of myself.” Thijs feels he has performed quite a few emotional songs so far. “The song I’m going to perform in the final is also emotional, but in a different way. It’s also the kind of music I want to make myself in the future.”

The UCU student can’t give too much away, of course, but he can say that he’ll be stepping out of his comfort zone even more than he has done so far. He adds that getting out of his comfort zone was one of his goals during the show. “Doing new things was key to me, partly because I’d never really performed before.”

‘Emotion is the beauty of music’

Thijs had tears in his eyes after singing Rufus Wainwright’s Going to a Town in the semi-finals. The song is about disappointment in American society and politics. After his performance, Thijs said that the song had moved him, although he couldn’t put into words why that was. He says it’s perhaps something that can’t be explained, but simply has to be felt.

“You play music to move people, but also to move yourself; to process things or gain new insights.” According to him, music is healing, and he doesn’t mind at all that he became so emotional. “It was special, and I’m happy about it. That’s what I do it for.” He embraces emotions while singing. “Then I just let the emotion speak. That’s the beauty of music."

The fact that the whole country could see him like that was something new. “Some viewers told me they thought it was beautiful, that they really felt the emotion and were moved themselves. That's very special.”

‘I didn’t enter to win, but winning would be brilliant’

Asked to rate his chances of winning, Thijs says, laughing: “I really don’t know. There’s a chance I might win, but there’s also a chance I won’t.”

He thinks all four finalists are unique, so it all comes down to a matter of taste. “It also depends on what people think of my performance, of course,” says Thijs. “Unfortunately, I can’t influence that beforehand.”

“I hope I win, obviously. That would be brilliant and amazing. But that’s not why I entered the competition in the first place. I did it to improve as a singer and feel more comfortable with myself on stage. But now that I’ve got this far, I really want to win. I’m really looking forward to it. Above all, I’m keen to finally find out who’s going to win after all these months.”

The winner of The Voice of Holland will sign a record deal. The final episode will be broadcast this Friday at 8:00 pm on RTL 4.