She has been named the “crown princess of Dutch pop”. And after sending a tweet in May 2021 asking her fans how she could go to Eurovision, S10 has now become the Netherlands’ representative for the 2022 contest, where she’ll be singing “De Diepte”.
Scroll down to read the “De Diepte” lyrics!
Netherlands in Eurovision 2022: S10 “De Diepte”
S10 (pronounced “Es-Teen”) – that’s Stien den Hollander – is a 21-year-old singer-songwriter from North Holland. She dropped her first EP Antipsychotica in 2017, which she recorded on her phone. Being spotted by the label Noah’s Ark, she grew to become a notable name in the Dutch-language alternative pop scene. Her music fuses rap, hip hop and dance, all sung in the Dutch that is spoken by young people in urban areas.
Her national breakthrough came in the summer of 2021 when her song “Adem Je In” topped the Dutch charts. Following this, she released the new album Vlinder and performed at Eurosonic Noorderslag among many exciting things.
S10 is known to be open about her time in a closed youth psychiatric hospital. She resided there on a few occasions as a result of her problems with auditory hallucinations and depression. In the documentary Storm om mij heen (Storm around me), she described some of her experiences there. Next to being a singer, she has spoken out about being an activist for children in similar situations as she was.
In an interview on TV show Matthijs Gaat Door in March, she said she is now doing much better in her life than before and that some of the problems she experienced had become a thing of the past. S10 noted:
“I was, in essence, from the age of 14 to 17, affected a lot by depression and psychosis. It came on in a day and also left in a day. But there has been a lot of insecurity, a lot of sadness… Now, it’s not the case anymore. If you know that type of sadness, then it’s very nice that it’s not there anymore.”
What do the “De Diepte” lyrics mean?
“De Diepte”, which has been translated as “The Depth”, can also be interpreted as “The Deep” or “The Abyss”. In the Dutch language, depression and feelings of sadness are usually compared to being somewhere deep down, below the ground. In “De Diepte”, S10 sings about a state of mind in which “deep down” means being “lost”, “depressed” or “confused” about oneself.
S10 draws heavily on the idea of a relationship to discuss self-love. As with every relationship, there are moments of hardship, doubts and misunderstanding between partners. She uses those ideas to talk about the relationship between her and herself. The hardship is pronounced in the first verse, where the lyrics paint a picture that the world is designed to be against someone.
The confusion becomes especially clear in the second verse of the song, when the narrator says: “I hide underneath the table and I hope you find me / I’ve waited the whole evening already, oh I’m like a child / I grit my teeth and I know you do that too / But God what else can I do, when is it enough”.
In the last part of the song, there is a strong feeling of not wanting to let oneself go, despite earlier problems. Although there is despair and all seems hopeless, “Oh my love what do I do / I am deep and I don’t want to let you go / No no, no no / Don’t want to let you go”, there is also a realisation that self-love is enough to rise out of the deep eventually.
“De Diepte” lyrics – S10 (Netherlands Eurovision 2022)
Music and lyrics by: Stien den Hollander, Arno Krabman
Original Dutch lyrics
Ben je wel eens bang dat het altijd zo blijft
Want het regent alle dagen en ik zie geen hand voor ogen
Jij en ik toch samen, dat zou altijd zo zijn
Tadada dadadadadada
Oehoe aha
Hier in de diepte hoor ik steeds maar weer je naam
Oeh aha
Oh mijn lief wat moet ik nou
Ik zit diep en ik wil jou niet laten gaan
Ik wacht al heel de avond, ach ik lijk wel een kind
Ik bijt weer op mijn tanden en ik weet dat jij dat ook doet
Maar god wat moet ik anders, wanneer is het genoeg
Tadada dadadadada da
Oehoe aha
Hier in de diepte hoor ik steeds maar weer je naam
Oehoe aha
Oh mijn lief wat moet ik nou
Ik zit diep en ik wil jou niet laten gaan
Jou niet laten gaan
Tadada dadadadada da
Hier in de diepte hoor ik steeds maar weer je naam
Oehoe aha
Oh mijn lief wat moet ik nou
Ik zit diep en ik wil jou niet laten gaan
English translation
Tadada dadadadada da
Oohoo aha
Tadada dadadadada da
Do you like the story behind the “De Diepte” lyrics? Is S10 among your favourite artists at Eurovision 2022? Let us know in the comments down below!
These lyrics remind me very much of my 2d all-time favourite Eurovision song – Never give up on you by Lucie Jones. The only, yet the most important difference here, however, is that S10 wasn’t ashamed/afraid to openly admit that she is singing them to herself, and didn’t try to hide behind some run-arounds instead such as that she wrote them to her lover or whoever, like Lucie did while the real meaning of her song was obvious. Kudos to S10 for that! My even huger respects go to her for being open about her psychotic episode and her activism… Read more »
Right!
“De Diepte” is now at number two in the Official Dutch Top 40.. that has never happened before with a Dutch Eurovision entry in the Dutch language..It is very very popular in the Netherlands, Maybe it has something to do with the high quality of the song. Let’s see what’s going to happen in May…
It’s definitely a high-quality song for the netherlands. To be honest, I thought they would take it easy and send something non competitive because they would want to take a break After holding the hosting bag for two years, but no they’re sending something that’s really great. I wish them good luck
To be fair, the song being in Dutch probably helped in getting so many Spotify streams. Almost all the songs in the current Spotify top 10 are in Dutch. English is losing ground among Dutch listeners, certainly young listeners.
That’s true, the last non-Dutch entry to top the local charts was Pepas
For me, this is the best and most genuine of the many quiet songs on offer this year. I hope it does well!
How is the name even pronounced? Is it Sten or Steen? Anyway, I really like it. Hope she does well.
Tien (10) is pronounced as teen in Dutch.
Steen, like in Spring-steen.
It is a verk good song, i like it but she dosen’t give me any winner wibes in stage. Her performance is depressive And she lacks some carisma. It think it Will end up high pushed by the juries.
Don’t worry, in Turin they’ll have dancers on stage and a performance with rainbows and unicorns to make it less depressive. Just for you.
Why are you sarcastic? it is important in Eurovision that the artist have a great stage presence. I said I like the song. Last year Barbara eleveted a kind of boring song with her performance without any props. It was my favorite. I don’t like props. But she doesn’t do anything to this song except having a great voice. The song is a kind of similar to last year from Belgium ‘ s being in the wrong place. They have a similarity. I liked it too but the gloomy mood was not helping it.
I’m sorry Helene.. but you don’t know anything about the staging…Please judge after you know how it will look like..
btw.. Barbara’s song wasn’t boring at all..
Yes, I loved Barabaras’s song. But most of all was the staging elevating it.
I’m curious what your definition ‘boring’ is because Voilà is all emotion.
you misunderstand me. I Said Barbada was my favorite performance last year. She gave the emotion. The song in itself is however according to me nothing special, in fact it is a tribute to padam padam you Edith Piaf. Very simular but less intriguing that the original. But Barabara made it become something special. I think the Dutch song is better – but still needs someone like Barbara to sing it.
One of the best tracks of 2022. That’s quite amazing, considering the oo-oo, the ah-aa and ta-da-das. 😀
The big challenge will be staging it live. For example, I don’t think emptying a fridge and locking oneself inside it would work well. But, singing while hiding under a table might work.
Did you see her live performance? That staging was already amazing so I don’t think staging will be a problem. I do think that they are going with a different staging but tbf that staging would already be amazing
That’s great. (No, I didn’t know there had already been a live performance.)
You can see it here:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkcR-zI-0Wk
A laser cage! Wow, that’s excellent. Thank you for sharing that. 🙂
I have no idea how well this song will do in the competition, or if it will even make the final, but in the Netherlands it’s already the biggest pre-Eurovision hit in years. Bigger than Arcade. And our country is not like Sweden where the Eurovision entry will hit number one no matter what.
That’s what a cousin who lives there has told me. One can hear De Diepte everywhere in the Netherlands alread, which is rather unusual for a Eurovision song 🙂
Great song!!
Amazing song! Since the very first time I listened to it I was surprised by this powerful ballad. My mumber one! I hope she wins!
It’s a masterpiece.
I’ve loved De Diepte since it was released, it’s such a genuine and heartfelt entry and now that its lyrics are translated I can feel related to the song 🙂
I do not like it
Damn, what beautiful lyrics…you really have to acknowledge this song now…
the dutch can totally be proud of their entry this year. it isn’t easy to make an international audience get into a germanic language song, but she managed to achieve this amazingly.
By that you mean excluding english right? But yes i completely agree
Was gonna say, the vast majority of entries are in a Germanic language, if you think about it
my absolute #1
De Diepte is so heartfelt and beautiful.. The Dutch language makes it even more special.. Top 5 is within reach, maybe more!
Netherlands just keep upping their game every year. This is such a cool and distinct song with great lyrics. I could see the Netherlands getting a very good result with this. Least they deserve after getting robbed blind last year (still unbelievably salty about that).
NL wasn’t robbed blind last year. They just sent a mediocre song.
This year’s entry is better. It’s a touching song with a smart chorus.
I will say this year is better, but I really loved Birth of a New Age.
“Birth of New Age” might have deserved a bit more points than what it got, but it was far from brilliant. Should’ve ended like 18th instead of 23rd. The 2020 entry “Grow” though, that was something else. Easily a top 10 song.