Duncan Laurence - Releases “Small Town Boy”

As Narrow's resident Dutch expert (technically Danish, since I spent several weeks in Copenhagen), I was the obvious choice to participate in an invitation-only press conference with breakout Capitol Records and Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence.

Laurence became a Netherlands household name, first as a semi-finalist on Holland's version of The Voice, then by winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 with his song “Arcade.” Now, Laurence has just released his first full album for Capitol Records, “Small Town Boy,” which was certified platinum in the Netherlands just 3 days after its release.

During the interview, Laurence reflected a bit about the song “Arcade” becoming a Tik-Tok phenomenon. This helped make his fame more international, and with Covid-19 still raging, seemed the perfect time to release the album.

“And for me, this was the perfect time because people I think really need stories right now especially during these, you know, quarantine times we don't have a lot to do. You're mostly at home, of course, for all the good reasons. But I thought this is the perfect moment to release an album. And of course, I was already working towards that album for me. It's really all about whenever it feels right.”

As a bi-sexual male who was bullied during his youth, it seems many of the new songs have romantic overtones. During the interview, Laurence was asked if he is, indeed, a romantic.

“Yes, I'm a romantic. Whenever you listen to my songs, you can see that I’m a romantic...But what I really love and, and very melancholic when looking back on, you know, things in my life. And melancholic, I mean, in a very romantic way sometimes. And that is the part that I love writing songs about, mostly, that's what inspires me, mostly that feeling of melancholy, and looking back on what was or what is or what could have been, or what could be in the future and stuff...So I feel like I'm very romantic when it comes to songwriting. But also, I think I'm also romantic in real life. I have to ask my, my boyfriend, actually, if that's true.”

Laurence talked about many things that influence his songwriting, and one major thing was the ability to travel and write songs in different parts of the world. He mentioned Stockholm, London, and Los Angeles specifically as cities that were different culturally but offered great life experiences. Also, the ability to learn better and more English helped him, where he was able to write complete lyrics himself.

About the title of the new album, Laurence explained why “Small Town Boy” was fitting.

“I visited like countries that I had never visited before and all of a sudden I was famous in that country. And I was so surprised constantly and overwhelmed and it was such an exciting adventure. It really felt like a small town boy as I described in our cages went on that roller coaster ride but this time not in a negative walled heartbroken way but just in a such a cool, adventurous music way. And it was so cool. So that's why it was like, you know, I think that one line in our case, small town boy and a big arcade. I think that describes it all.”