Finding the Rhythm

Auditioning for American Idol (or one of its siblings worldwide) may be one way for people with singing talent to get discovered, as I blogged earlier this week. In fact, just tinkering with one’s video camera and posting the results on YouTube has proven to be another way some people get to the spotlight.

One of those people came to my attention on Monday while updating the music on iDanceRadio.fm, and that person is The Netherlands’ Esmée Denters. Just three years ago, Esmée was videotaping herself singing popular songs, Idol audition style, and posting them on YouTube. Apparently the results were impressive enough for someone in the industry to notice.

Denters was eventually introduced to Justin Timberlake, who in addition to signing her to his new Tennman Records label, had her open for his European concerts in 2007. She’s been hanging out with Timberlake since, as a sort of protégé. Fast-forward to today, and she’s preparing for the release of her first album. Not bad for a kid who just a couple of years ago was merely goofing around with Internet video.

Her debut single, which is what I added to the station on Monday, is titled Outta Here. It’s probably exactly what one might expect from someone associated with Timberlake: a nice, pleasant, radio-friendly, pop song infused with R&B, that sits nicely in an iPod playlist next to Beyoncé, Rihanna, or any number of otherwise largely soundalike female pop artists today. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that, only that it’s commercial pop music that follows the rules and sticks to the formula that’s proven to work as well as anything does these days in the music industry.

I’ve not seen or heard any extended remixes of the song yet; I hope they’re coming. But the album single works for me. Listen for it on the station and see if you agree.

It’ll be interesting to see where things go next for Denters.