Bente says TV success brought a broader audience — and changed how she made her new album

Dutch singer Bente Fokkens says her appearance on television programme *Beste Zangers* brought a wave of new fans and changed the mix of audiences at her shows. She is releasing her first album since the programme’s success, after spending two and a half years writing and recording it.

In an interview with ANP, Bente said her established fans had to adjust to a broader audience, including more people who listened quietly rather than singing and dancing along. She said young people and adults now made up roughly equal shares of the audience, whereas people aged 30 to 60 had previously accounted for about a fifth.

Her song “Kan Je Me Zien” reached the upper reaches of the Dutch charts, while other songs from the programme were streamed millions of times on Spotify, according to Nieuws.nl.

The new album, *DWARS*, has 14 tracks, selected after 60 demos. Bente said she initially tried to anticipate what her larger audience wanted, but stopped when that left her unhappy and unable to write. She described the finished record as spanning different styles rather than fitting into a single genre.