About Me

My name is Iris Rijnsewijn and I have been professionally performing since I was sixteen years old. I started learning to play guitar from my father when I was twelve, after hearing him play his version of Fast Car by Tracy Chapman. After playing guitar in a band at school, I started singing quietly in my room. After a while, my parents got me to sing in front of them. Their encouragement made me feel more comfortable with singing. I was about fourteen when I wrote my first song, You. Then, after a year or so, I won a local talent show with my song Perfect We. It was my first time performing for an audience. In that same year, one of my teacher entered my in my school's talent show, called Prove It. Despite being very nervous, I won the show,

which gave me a confidence boost.

The day after I turned sixteen, I had my first paid performance as the supporting act for Margriet Eshuijs and Maarten Peters at De Amer.

I started playing more and more paid gigs, and I grew a lot, both musically and business-wise.

In 2014, my parents entered me in a contest that RTV Noord organized, 'Muzikaal Talent'. I was chosen to play Perfect We and to my amazement I made it through to the finale. In the finale, I got 52% of the votes, which made me the winner of Muzikaal Talent 2014. I was eighteen at that time. This victory helped me grow a lot in my musical career. It gave me a bigger audience, airtime on the radio and I started performing even more. It gave me the opportunity to play at venues like Martiniplaza, Bevrijdingsfestival Groningen and of course at Radio Noord. A couple of months after winning, I started recording with Martin van de Vrugt. This led to the creation of Throught the Walls, my first album. It was officially released on November 29, 2014.

In 2016, I was invited to perform at GrunnSonic, a local and free part of EuroSonic/Noorderslag. I performed twice, in a store and during the Bus Sessions.

In the summer of 2016, I recorded vocals for the chorus of Altijd Verder Gaan, a song on the album Hart by Der Helm. The album was released on October 28, 2016. At the same time, I started working with DJ and producer Kwambo on a track called Perfect Waves. The tropical house song was released in February of 2017.

Although 2017 has been extremely busy for me, due to a board year and a very busy academic year (I started studying Art History in 2014), it has been a quiet year for me as a musician. I still performed sometimes, but not as much as I used to.

In 2018, now that I have more time, I am trying to record more music for people to enjoy online. My availability for performances has gone up, too. I am looking forward to a more musical year.