SINGAPORE — Today, indie-pop artist and YouTube star Blanks has announced his debut album, ‘Nothing Last Forever and That’s OK’, slated for release on October 29th. As executive producer, Blanks wrote, composed, and produced the majority of the album himself, showcasing his incredible talents as a multi-instrumentalist in the process.
The collection of songs takes the listener on a journey through Blanks’ own memories, pulling inspiration from the good and the bad, including his first love, spending summers with friends, and tragically losing his best friend at a young age. Inspired by the sounds of popular music at the time and flipped with a modern approach, Blanks has created a contemporary indie-pop album that invites the listener to make their own treasured memories with this album as the soundtrack. Released today is the fourth single of the album, “Never Have I Ever” – an upbeat summery bop with instant feel-good vibes.
Image courtesy of Secret Signals
Co-produced by Blanks and Joonas Parkkonen, “Never Have I Ever” incorporates retro-style synths, big anthemic vocals, and unforgettable pop hooks right in time for those end-of-summer feels. “Never Have I Ever is a song for the people in your life that get you excited, make you try new things, make you feel alive. To me, this is the song I want to scream the lyrics to in the car with my closest friends while we’re going on a road trip, ending up somewhere unexpected, building a fire or watching the stars,” explains Blanks of the song.
“I wrote this song together with Joonas and writer Eirik Næss over Zoom, where Joonas was in Finland, Eirik was in the Maldives, and I was in the Netherlands. It’s still crazy to me how we managed to write this banger like that. I guess it was a combination of Scandinavian music magic, Maldives good vibes and excitement!”, he elaborates.
Accompanying the album are five thematic music videos. When watched in succession, they tell the coming of age love story of Emma and Erik (played by Blanks). The cinematically exuberant fourth video in the series, “Never Have I Ever”, finds the couple having a blast at a beach party with friends. The good times roll as the group sings songs and dance around the fire. Our love birds appear to be falling more in love by the minute, that is until Emma, furious at something Erik has done, storms out of the party. Fans will have to wait until the fifth instalment to find out how the beautifully chronicled story ends.
Outside of his original work, you might be familiar with Blanks via his ultra-popular YouTube channel “Music By Blanks”, which currently has over 1.3 million subscribers and expresses his unlimited love for music, where he posts his famed STYLE SWAP series, reproducing trending songs Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License” and Post Malone’s “Better Now” with an unexpected genre twist. The latter of which went viral with over 9.5 million views and over 19 million streams.
Starting out as a bedroom producer in his family home, the 24-year-old songwriter is already the most promising indie-pop artist from the Netherlands. Traveling the world as the “overexcited music boy” he is, not even a pandemic could bring down his spirit. Blanks stayed optimistic as always and immediately wrote and released an uplifting quarantine song with quirky dance moves on top.
Blanks’ spontaneity and uplifting music has resonated with audiences across the globe, and has definitely struck a chord with listeners in Southeast Asia, with his Top 15 Countries based on streams including Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia, while Philippines and Malaysia are in his Top 10 countries based on YouTube and Instagram fans globally.
Since launching his YouTube channel in 2013, Blanks has risen rapidly in both the social media and music spheres, building a follower base of over 1.3 million on YouTube and accumulating millions of views on his TikTok, and received acclaims from the likes of MTV and Clash, with Clash describing him as “A rising songwriting force”.
No stranger to dazzling collaborations, his “Blanks Invites” series led to studio collaborations with AlfieTempleman, Dayglow, SanHolo, and Sheppard. Besides his artist project, Blanks also mentors an online songwriting and production class, amongst others like CharliePuth, RyanTedder, and LouisBell. While playing around on Instagram, Blanks frequently asks his followers to contribute ideas during his songwriting process, resulting in instant bops like “Wave”, “Bittersweet” and “Higher”.
Stay tuned for more updates as Blanks gears up to release his debut album ‘Nothing Last Forever and That’s OK’.
Watch the music video for “Never Have I Ever” below: