Davina Michelle got her start the new-fashioned way: she recorded herself singing covers of well-known pop songs, uploaded them to YouTube, and built herself a loyal following. But from the beginning, this 28-year-old singer-songwriter from the Netherlands had bigger things in mind; those covers were the key to opening bigger doors. Today, Michelle is an established artist in her own right. Her third album, Higher, is set for release on September 27. Ahead of that release, Michelle has debuted an irresistible and high-energy single, “All Is Ours.”
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Even though Michelle is a very intentional artist, she admits surprise at the level of success she has already earned. When it’s pointed out that she has landed nearly 20 of her songs on the Top 40 charts in the Netherlands, she’s caught a bit off guard: “I didn’t know about that statistic; I’m very thankful,” she says. Blushing with modesty, Michelle quickly adds, “Holland is a pretty small country. It’s not nearly as big as America, for example.”
Davina Michelle’s co-writer is boyfriend/producer/multi-instrumentalist Sebastiaan Brouwer; he can be found behind the drum kit on live dates as well. Michelle’s busy summer – high profile opening dates for Robbie Williams and James Blunt – will be followed in autumn 2024 with a run of concerts in the Netherlands and Germany, capped by a special hometown performance at Rotterdam Ahoy on November 2.
What does “All Is Ours” mean to you?
Well, I wrote the lyrics myself. And I wanted to write about love – not stuff, not having things – being the most important thing. You can have the whole world, but if you don’t have anyone to share it with, you don’t need any of that stuff. And that’s something I really experienced myself the past few years; I have a partner that I really love. We’re having a great time, we’re doing good. We have cars, and we have a big backyard. But we were like, “My goodness, if we lose all the stuff, we would just spend time with each other!” And that’s actually where the idea came from to write “All Is Ours.” I hope everyone can identify with it; I hope that everyone has love in their life. And I’m pretty sure that if they do, they know that’s more important than having a nice car or a lot of money.
You got your start singing other people’s material. Were the cover versions part of a master plan to get people to listen?
Well, “master plan” sounds very evil! But it really was a plan.
I worked with a production team, three or four very young guys who support young talent. They all play an instrument, and it’s kind of like the old Motown vibe.
But let’s start at the beginning; this was about eight years ago. They said, “We saw this video of you online, just singing in the bathroom. Do you want to come over and start writing songs?” And I was like, “Well, I have nothing to lose.” And I actually had nothing to lose. So I came over and we started writing a lot of songs and started making music. They really introduced me to music, because I never really did any songwriting before then.
Eventually we wanted to release songs, of course. But we didn’t have a label! We didn’t have any platform, no following; we didn’t have anything. And that’s a very difficult situation, because you need someone to listen to your songs and bring them to the audience. But there was no label that wanted to work with us.
Especially with the promoting and the whole distributing part, there can be a lot of cost [associated with] releasing your own songs. So we thought, “Well, let’s at least build a fan base. And whenever we release new music, there will be people waiting.” So we started a YouTube channel.
Back then – and still now, by the way – singing covers [and sharing them] on YouTube is relatively cheap. It’s an inexpensive way to get yourself out there, to work on music and to introduce yourself to people. So that’s why we started doing covers every week.
I explored songs and explored my vocal [range], and it introduced me to an audience that eventually started following me. When I started releasing my own music, there actually were people waiting for the songs! That’s how it started.
So there was a master plan… just not an evil one.
When Pink heard your YouTube cover of “What About Us” in 2018 she raved about it, saying, “That is better than I will ever sound.” How much of a boost did that give you?
Massive. Incredibly large. The amount of influence that woman has is incredible. She blew up my whole world. I got to perform in places all over the world. I got to meet very inspiring people. Here in Holland, it hit the press and I got to do a lot of TV shows. And it gave me a bigger platform for my own music. It really changed my life.
You’ve been in the bright spotlight in the Netherlands for more than six years now. What have you learned about making music that most surprises you?
At first I thought it was all about just writing good songs. But I realized there’s so much more about being an artist: it’s about strategy, it’s about photo shoots, it’s about interviews. And I love it, because I love to do a lot of different things; I love to explore and learn new things and be diverse. But that’s definitely something that surprised me: you can have a good song, but it’s [about] the whole package.
You’ve already found great success in the Netherlands and Europe. Do you alter your approach at all as you try to create music that an American audience might want to listen to?
Honestly, I have no idea what the Americans want to hear or what the U.K. people want to hear. The world is very large; there are a lot of different tastes and a lot of different cultures, and they all want to hear something different. So I just write whatever I want to hear, and throw it into the world. I hope that people [know] that it’s honest, it’s from my own pen and it’s my own story.
I’ve learned in the past six years that I can’t make everyone happy, and I can’t make every listener like [my music]. But there will be some people out there that do like it, and I love to pay my attention to those people.
On “All Is Ours,” you and Sebastiaan steer clear of using a lot of vocal processing. Was that a deliberate production choice?
Definitely. I wanted to keep the vocals organic, because [that’s in line with] the topic of the song. Love is pure, straightforward and honest, and both Sebastiaan and I really wanted that [in the] vocal sound. We tried to meld the instrumental and the vocal with reverb, but keeping the vocal as clean as possible. Just like love, actually.
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