Duncan Laurence on 'Small Town Boy', True Love, and Overcoming Bullying
NEW debut album Small Town Boy, inspiration behind the title, writing process, his favorite track from the album, working with fiancé
Personal definition of true love and romance
Turning bullying experiences into songs and a more positive outlook
BONUS: Fun facts about Duncan Laurence at the end of the article.
"Turning something negative into something that I could find comforting that no one can ever take away from me. A world that I create myself, where I can just make mistakes. Most times, actually, those mistakes turn into such beautiful things."
Photo credit: Paul Bellaart
After representing winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019 and touring across Europe, Dutch singer-songwriter Duncan Laurence is debuting his first studio album under Capitol Records, Small Town Boy. Small Town Boy is set to release on Friday, November 13. Available to stream here. The album will contain major hit singles like "Arcade", "Love Don’t Hate", and "Someone Else".
All about Small Town Boy: from the creative process to his most meaningful songs
“Small town boy in a big arcade, I think that describes it all!” he says, enthusiastically, “It’s such a crazy feeling, I don’t think I’ll ever lose this feeling!”
The 26-year-old musician composed and produced material for the album in various cities all over the world. “Every time I went somewhere, I kind of got influenced in another way! I travelled to Stockholm, London, Los Angeles a lot!” Duncan's international travels has allowed him to learn more about the English language and make his songwriting more unique by adding different metaphors. He admits, “Being more poetic and taking time to letting things be mysterious, too, in songs… that’s what I learned by traveling a lot.”
The idea for Small Town Boy came from his own journey from being bullied at 13 years old to becoming the Dare to Dream Eurovision Contest Winner. “I was comfortable the most when I was locked in my room and playing the piano,” he opens up, “And all of a sudden, I was famous. I was so surprised constantly and overwhelmed and it was such an exciting adventure, it really felt like that small-town boy went on that rollercoaster ride!” he exclaims.
“Wow! This is me! I’m the Small Town Boy in this big arcade! And I want more of this rollercoaster!”
What are Duncan Laurence’s thoughts on releasing Small Town Boy this year? To that he replies, “I see myself as a storyteller in music. And for me, this was the perfect time. I really need stories right now, especially during these quarantine times. And of course, I was already working towards that album. For me it’s all about… when it feels right, I’m just doing it!”
He hopes that through this album, “I can try to reach out to people and say, 'Hey, sometimes life is not the way we want it, but just please make the best of it.' That’s why I wanted to put the album in the middle of corona times.” However, he continues, “With or without corona, it’s good to hear that it’s okay and it’ll be all right. That’s why I always write songs that are sad, but they always have hope in it.”
Photo credit: Paul Bellaart
“Somewhere in that dark cloud, that ray of sunlight comes through’ kind of songs… that just gives me so much of a kick! I love to write those songs and I love to sing them, too!”
Debut album Small Town Boy releases Friday, November 13. It will contain the song “Arcade” that won him the Eurovision competition.
Duncan’s favorite track on the album is "Sleeping on the Phone", but the song that represents him at the moment would be "Beautiful". Duncan explains the why behind "Beautiful": “In these times, we stay in touch with the people that we really love, through whatever way we can. There were some negative moments, and that’s when my friends and family came in, and they always guide me, help me through everything. So, beautiful is about them.”
Falling in love and collaborating on Small Town Boy with fiancé, Jordan Garfield
Instagram story via @itsduncanlaurence
Duncan is engaged to American songwriter, Jordan Garfield. He describes working with fiancé as “amazing”. "We write every day. Every time I come home, I hear his voice somewhere, you know, singing a new song or a new melody line... I’m very lucky that I found someone who is an amazing songwriter, who has great taste, who loves my music, and who is able to be writing with me because I can be quite a handful when it comes to writing and singing and everything. I’m really thankful!”
This love between Duncan and Jordan sparked the question about what Duncan's meaning of true love is. He defines, “True love is finding someone who you can totally be yourself with. You don’t have to compromise, you can just be yourself, even with the negative parts we all have, because we’re all human! Just accepting that and finding each other, that for me is true love.
I ask him if he is a romantic, and he laughs and agrees. “I love to bring people gifts, to be thoughtful… it’s a part of me that’s always been there. I love to just bring flowers and stuff. But what I really love… I’m very melancholic when looking back on 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. 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 boyfriend, actually, if that’s true. I’ll ask him,” he grins.
How Duncan used music as an outlet to process his bullying experiences
Credit: Paul Bellaart
Before becoming a singer touring around Europe, life was not easy for Duncan. When Duncan was being bullied, he would lock himself in the room, spending hours playing the piano, singing, writing songs, telling stories while simultaneously processing everything that was going on. “Because I have a lot of stories cropped in here, in my heart, I just want to get them out and get them on paper or I get them in a song. It actually feels really good to just open up and tell my story. And that’s really healing, actually.”
After continuously using songwriting and storytelling as an outlet for his experiences, it has helped Duncan look at the world in a more positive way.
“It inspires me so much to always view the world from that boy who was bullied but always turned something negative into positive,” he says to me, earnestly.
His storytelling and emotions from his experiences translated into songs that people, even his bullies, were touched by.“[I] always turned the bullies into a song, and performed those songs at school in front of the bullies. And instead of the bullies being, like, shouting or screaming names at him, they started to rise up and applaud for him. And from that moment on it was like… I will never let go of this small-town boy.”
What's next for Duncan Laurence?
“Right now, I’m already writing for album two and what I’m experiencing is that I’m not only writing personal songs, but I’m also combining it more and more with that artistic imagination,” he explains. “I feel like a song should not only be, like, personal to whomever writes it, but also personal to whoever listens to it, and thereby it needs to be some sort of universal message.”
I ask him if he will consider composing a song in Dutch, and he replies, “Of course, because I speak Dutch, I have tried to compose in Dutch before, and I actually did compose a few songs.”
(He translates a line in “Arcade” to Dutch.)
“It just sounds weird to me!” he laughs.
[I counter: “You should totally do it. You know, the whole album, you should translate it into a Dutch version! We will expect it sometime!”]
“I will try it with one song, and if that works, then I will, like, definitely consider it!”
All songs on Small Town Boy will be performed live on November 17, 2020, at the prestigious (and COVID-19 friendly) Dutch indoor arena, the Ziggo Dome, in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Duncan brings up the wave of emotions he experiences from performing: “I get really nervous, that’s no question. But at the same time, when I sing that first line and I just, you know… start, then I take off, and it feels like meditation! I hope we can go back on stage very soon again because I miss it. I miss it a lot.”
BONUS: Fun facts about Duncan Laurence
Credit: Leuke Recepten
I asked Duncan what is a "very Dutch dish" that I should try. He responds, “If you ever want to try something very Dutch, in winter time, I must say... because it’s only nice in winter and autumn ’cause it’s kind of a heavy dish...eat Erwtensoep. It’s great! And everything that’s fried is probably from Holland!”
Some other fun facts about Duncan is that he is a Harry Potter fan, and belongs to House Ravenclaw. He also has five tattoos, which one of them is the acronym “DTD” for the phrase, "Dare to Dream."
Following this "small town boy" on his journey
Looking forward to more Duncan Laurence? Duncan remarks, “I am still the person who does everything on my social media. And I will always do that because I think social media is such a powerful tool to connect with fans. I have the opportunity on Twitter to just be more personal or just be more open about things, and on Instagram to be more about, like, ‘Hey, this is who I am as an artist, and this is what I stand for, and what I want to show you’. If you want, follow both.”
Check out Duncan Laurence on Instagram and Twitter and his latest album, Small Town Boy here.
