Lucas Bontje, known by his stage name Dabeau, is the artist to watch out for as he takes over the airwaves. The 19-year-old artist from Amsterdam has become a household name in the music industry thanks to his videos on TikTok. Known as an influential social media app, TikTok has proved to be Dabeau’s breakthrough after his new song, “Alienated,” went viral, gathering thousands of views and likes. The song’s success spread to other platforms, where it garnered over 100K streams in the first week following its release.
Going viral on social media has been a significant boost for Dabeau, whose young brand is gaining recognition across the divide. Dabeau takes pride in being one of the few artists with a massive fan base on the national stage and beyond. This has been a significant milestone for the young, ambitious artist seeking to grow his brand and have his music dominate the airwaves in the coming years.
Unbeknown to many, Dabeau started making music at a young age. He has always been intrigued by music, and it’s a dream he has always worked to bring to life. Growing up in Southeast Amsterdam, which isn’t the best part of the city, motivated him to focus on music to stay away from the rampant social ills of drug abuse and crime.
“At some point, almost all of my friends were actively engaging in criminal activities while I wasn’t. I didn’t want to indulge in these activities, so I started to distance myself from most of my friends. Around this time, I started to take music seriously and was constantly trying out different genres and styles,” shares Dabeau.
Dabeau draws his musical inspiration from the many UK garage sounds that he grew up listening to. He found so much meaning and influence in how these songs are composed, which reflects in his music. In all his releases, Dabeau always puts in a lot of creativity to ensure that every song has a deeper meaning behind it. “For example, my song ‘Alienated’ really takes me back to a period in my life where nobody truly understood my dreams and goals,” says Dabeau.
Like many other artists, getting started in the music scene wasn’t an easy task for Dabeau. Most of the time, he felt lonely despite always having friends around him. According to him, no one really understood his vision at that time, and most people thought of him as just another dreamer.
“I have been making music since I was 15 years old, but I never had the courage to release any of my songs. It took me a very long time to find my own style and create music that I was actually proud of and wanted to share with the world. During the process of releasing new songs, I also had to deal with a lot of anxiety. I thought that my music was not good enough and people would not take it seriously. But now, I have surrounded myself with the right people,” Dabeau adds.
The goal for Dabeau is to become a world-recognized artist and help other artists out with getting started.
