Dutch singer-songwriter Douwe Bob has released his fourth studio album The shape I’m in, a personal account inspired by a break-up and post-Eurovision heartache.

The shape I’m in is perhaps the most personal yet also the most accessible album by Douwe Bob, displaying a more pop-orientated sound. However, the inspiration for the album is far from mondaine, as the songs describe deep feelings of despair and the resilience to overcome obstacles.

Eurovision experience

Douwe Bob made a splash at Eurovision 2016 in Sweden, even hosting his own bar in Stockholm which successfully welcomed many fellow Eurovision artists. He eventually decently placed 11th during the Grand Final with his song Slow down.

Talking to reporter Jan Vollaard of newspaper NRC prior to The shape I’m in‘s release, Douwe Bob looks back at his Eurovision experience:

I learned so much from it. It boosted my international career. There’s no better way to reach 350 million people in one strike.

Slow down was inspired by today’s hectic society, the pressure to be successful in the modern rat race which leads to burn-outs and depression – a topic that suited Douwe’s own situation following Eurovision. He continues:

Only, after that intense period of very hard work, I should have taken my rest. I couldn’t stop, I had to keep going hard. I did not make me a nicer person. I drank too much, my relationship crashed. I almost stopped making music.

Post-Eurovision depression

Douwe Bob landed in a dark place following Eurovision 2016:

My relationship with the finest woman I have ever known crashed, because of my own fault. I kept drinking, cheated, yet at the same time couldn’t be without her.

Although he contemplated stopping with music, it was the music that eventually saved him:

And then the songs came. Queen Of Hearts, that was her. Out On The Road, that I was, constantly. I looked outside and saw hundreds of starlings flying in formation. A magnificent sight. Those little creatures can’t be without each other, I thought. That’s what Make Believe is about. I felt part of a Velvet Generation, that rests on velvet and has everyting. And has nothing at the same time, deep inside.

The lyrics of the songs are very personal, sometimes even confrontational. Douwe Bob had a free upbringing, yet a difficult one: his father, artist Simon Posthuma, currently resides in a nursing home, having Korsakoff syndrome due to alcoholism. Douwe looks back on a bittersweet childhood, confessing in The shape I’m in:

I drowned a bird when I was eight, I had a hard time telling love from hate.

He later saved another bird, to make up for his mistake.

Douwe Bob performed the title song of The shape I’m in in the talkshow Pauw, hosted by Jeroen Pauw:

Zanger @douwe_bob speelt live bij #Pauw de titelsong van zijn nieuwe album: 'The Shape I'm In'. pic.twitter.com/jOWNaL6QN9

— Pauw (@pauwnl) November 9, 2018

Shine and I Do

Douwe Bob has already released the music video for the album’s first single, Shine. He has also presented I do, a duet with singer Jacqueline Govaert, former frontwoman of the band Krezip and now a successful artist in her own right. Jacqueline has been tipped as a potential Eurovision candidate herself:

The shape I’m in is out now:

Tour

Douwe Bob has kicked off his The shape I’m in-tour. Some concerts are already sold out:

For information visit Douwe Bob’s official website.

Douwe Bob at Eurovision 2016

Douwe Bob Posthuma (Amsterdam, 1992) is a Dutch singer-songwriter. He represented the Netherlands at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden, with the song Slow down, inspired by burn-outs of young friends and the fast pace of modern society. Placing 5th in semi-final 1, Douwe Bob eventually reached a decent 11th place in the Grand Final, receiving 153 points.

Douwe Bob was also the official Dutch spokesperson during the Grand Final of Eurovision 2017, revealing the Dutch “douze points”.