Judy Blank
Dutch artist Judy Blank recently released her latest single “Confetti”. I immediately fell in love with her voice and this song. As a mental health advocate, hearing songs like this makes me so happy. This song feels sad, emotional and hopeful at the same time. At the end of the day, we are not alone and it is okay to not be okay.
The songwriting of “Confetti” is amazing. It’s probably one of the best songwriting and one of the best songs I’ve ever heard lately. “Confetti” is brilliant and it deserves so much attention.
Thank you so much Judy for this incredible song and thank you for this conversation.
“Confetti” is out now :)
Photo credit: Jantima Talsma
Introduce yourself - what's your story?
Hello! I am Judy Blank, I'm from the Netherlands. Music has had a huge pull on me since I was a child - I remember buying my first record player at a yard sale and being obsessed with it. Sam Cooke, the Beatles, ABBA: I had a random record collection and dreamed away listening to all of them in my bedroom as a teenager. I got curious and wanted to play music myself, too. I started taking piano classes when I was 14, and ever since I learned how to play those first few chords, I've been processing my feelings, adventures and existential crises through songwriting. I've lost and found myself a million times and songs have always helped me navigate my emotions. When I was 19 I released my first album, but the second one is what really kicked off my career. I released 'Mary Jane', the first single off my sophomore album 'Morning Sun' in the Spring of 2018, it became a hit in the Netherlands and I've been lucky enough to ride many cool waves ever since that moment.
"Confetti" is your new single - what's the inspiration behind this song?
I think most of us are familiar with feelings of gloom and depression. (If not, congratulations! You've mastered life!) Our lives aren't always great as we want them to be and there are so many unexpected things that can interfere with our happiness. I'm usually very optimistic and relatively happy, but sometimes I just slip into 'dark mode' and struggle to get back to whatever normal is. But in these moments I try to cling to the thought that the good days wouldn't be as special if there weren't any bad days to counterbalance them. It sounds super cheesy, but it's true. You won't always feel this way. Better days are coming. And then worse days. And then better days again. If every day was like a party, it wouldn't be as fun to go.
When did you start working on "Confetti"? Could you describe the songwriting/production process? Who helped you create it?
I wrote this song with Jordan Garfield, a fantastic songwriter from LA who is most known for his collabs with multi-plantinum selling pop artist Duncan Laurence. We wrote this song the day we met. It’s crazy how being vulnerable can spark a connection between strangers. We’ve both been dealing with feelings of depression and anxiety, like so many of the people we know. It was as if the song wrote itself; the words just rolled out of our mouths, we wrote them down in my notebook and it was done in like two hours. We used a lot of party metaphors in the song; We weren’t trying to downplay the subject, but wanted to give it a hopeful perspective. I think we succeeded! We both love this song and have been friends ever since.
What do you like the most about this song?
Hmmm. I really like how simple it is, without it being too direct or too cheesy, I guess. It's just a real honest, conversational tune. It's easy to understand, and yet has so much feeling and meaning to it. It seems like those songs are the easiest to write, but they're actually the hardest. I also like the fact that I played piano on this song. It's a live in the room piano and vocal recording that I'm pretty proud of, and I haven't released a piano driven song since my debut record! It's been 8 whole years. Wow.
What message do you want to deliver through this song?
The song talks about mental health struggles in a very simple way. And the most important message to me is that there wouldn't be any highs without the lows. It's just a comforting thought. A joke, a smile, a glimmer of hope when you're in a dark headspace; it's all super meaningful when you force yourself to believe that those are signs of improvement. We all have to deal with our stupid mental health, and this song is a reminder to stay optimistic. You won't be stuck in the same place forever. It's impossible. There's also a little hint to some well-needed body positivity hidden in the third verse: ''But if all we did was dance to ditties, would everyone be skinny? Cause that would be a shame.''
What can you tell us about your upcoming EP Saddies?
Well. The story in a very big nutshell is that I had an unexpected mental breakdown last Summer. My first real one. I couldn't eat, couldn't move, felt dizzy for weeks and was completely burnt out. My eternal optimism had just... melted away. It was gone. I didn't feel like playing music, talking to people, doing anything, being so anxious I would fuck things up. It was scary, it was as if there was a stranger living in my skin. I even scared the shit out of my mom, she's known me all my life and barely recognized me. I cried my eyeballs out every day until eventually, slowly but surely, I started writing again. Sitting behind the piano in my childhood house. Just like I did when I was a teenager. It was very therapeutic, and I decided to record some of these songs and a few other ones, about different sad topics. Not that it all sounds super sad and depressing or anything, it's just that the subject matter is a bit more serious. The songs talk about FOMO, anxiety, feeling lost, false hope, depression and fake love. It was very healing and I hope this EP will teach people that it's more than okay to not feel okay.
As an artist, what is the hardest part? And what is the best part?
The hardest part is that the dream you have as a kid, that thing you aspire as a teenager, standing on that stage and rocking it out, is simply not the reality most of the time. Being an artist is very stressful, and most of the time you're actually not playing music, but stressing about how many emails you didn't answer today, updating your linktree and songkick, doing song admin and other lame chores. Also, expectations from the outside world, feeling like you can never take a break, the constant shameless self promotion... it can be very stressful. But then it's also the most beautiful job in the world. Getting to express your feelings through music, creating things you're proud of, connecting with audiences all over the world... it's very cool. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
What are your thoughts on today's music industry? If you could change one thing, what would it be?
The music industry is what it is, I guess. It's never been perfect, and it never will be, lol. But if I could change one thing... it would be that artists weren't expected to be constant content creators. I never wanted to be a ''content creator''. Or a ''marketing expert''. I don't want to spend all my time making aesthetically pleasing looking reels that could potentially go viral on TikTok. I just wanna write songs and sing them for real people instead of spending half my life on my phone, haha. Is that wishful thinking?
What's the best advice you've ever received?
My friend Sam Lewis, an incredible soul artist, once told me something important while we were having tacos on an outdoor patio in Nashville in 2019. I was telling him how crazy busy I was and that I was feeling overwhelmed every day. He just shook his head and he said: ''You have to learn the magic word, Judy.'' I looked at him with big eyes, leaned forward and asked him: ''What's the magic word..?'' He came close, looked at me very seriously and said: ''No. The magic word is no.'' Best advice I've ever had. I'm trying to put that into practice every day, although I still suck at saying no sometimes, haha. Still learning. But hey, nothing wrong with that.
What advice would you give to artists out there?
Enjoy the process. Make whatever feels good to you, and don't compromise. You can be whatever and whoever you want, whenever you want. :)
Besides music, what are you passionate about?
Arthouse films! We have this super dope thing in the Netherlands called 'Cineville'. It's a card that grants you unlimited access to arthouse movie theatres. Me and my friends have a film club in Utrecht, where I'm from, and we often go see weird movies a couple times a way. It's such a good way for me to unwind and get inspired. A fantastic movie I saw the other week is an American film called 'Nine Days'. Check it out. You'll appreciate your life, and especially the little things in life, a lot after you watch it.
In your opinion, what would make the world a better place?
If everyone would just agree on a live and let live mentality. I'm so done with racism, homophobia and fascism. The world would be so much better if people would accept each other's differences instead of trying to stubbornly hold on to their own (stupid) beliefs. Things would be so much easier. For instance; the suicide rates for LGBTQ+ youngsters are depressingly high. I just can't understand why this world is apparently so unwelcoming to them they'd rather choose to die than live their lives. That breaks my heart, and I'll do everything to express that idea of inclusivity, and hopefully inspire others to do the same. Kindness is King. and Queen. And Queer.
What biggest life lessons have you learned so far?
Trust the universe. I'm not trying to be vague, I didn't take a sabbatical and backpacked for 6 months and I didn't do ayahuasca to figure this out, hahaha. It's just that the more I live, and the more I let go of that controlling grip on my life and my choices, the more I'm noticing the right things are happening at the right time, and it's super cool to experience that. Things will work out the way they're supposed to. If something's not meant to be, it's just not meant to be. And if it is, it is! To me, that's a very reassuring thought. Also, be kind to yourself. You're only human and you're allowed to make mistakes. Whatever it is you're trying to learn.
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