What’s This? Metal Vocalist Channels Patsy Cline…?

An appetizer for the Album of the Month

Screenshot from “Beste Zangers,” youtube

One day in late summer 2019, I was surfing around on YouTube, and on impulse, I searched “Floor Jansen” on the off chance there was something new from her.

The first thing that popped up was, in fact, something that had just been posted minutes earlier. It was a live performance that apparently had just taken place that day. I clicked and watched her sing an opera aria for an audience of seven people.

If you aren’t familiar with Ms. Jansen, she normally fronts Nightwish, a symphonic metal band. They typically perform in front of audiences of tens of thousands. So this intimate little scene was unexpected, almost weird, but wonderful. Nightwish are the subject of this month’s Album of the Month…

…so I thought it would be fun to give you a little glimpse of some of Ms. Jansen’s other work.

After a bit of research, I found out that the setting was a Dutch reality show called “Beste Zangers” (Best Singers). The show's whole premise is unique, as far as I know. Established recording artists from wildly different musical genres take turns performing for, and then with, each other. They often go out of their comfort zone to try their hand at styles they don’t normally sing.

Some of the most enjoyable moments are when one of them has the cojones to sing another one’s hit song back at them. Unlike American reality shows, it doesn’t have winners and losers — imagine that! No backstabbing, no blood in the water, no social media revenge, no ruined lives. Just mutual respect and admiration, a group of stars egging each other on to new heights.

It is the only reality TV show I have ever watched for longer than about ten minutes. I ended up watching the entire season. Initially, the draw was Jansen, but along the way, I also fell in love with some other artists, particularly Henk Poort (more on him below).

Jansen is classically trained, but there is relatively little posted material showing off that side of her. So, this was a revelation. The season's final show featured a round of duets that was, as they say, to die for.

“Beste Zangers” was unknown outside Holland until it was announced that Jansen would appear in the 2019 season. Nightwish fans worldwide descended on the show, week after week, to see what she would do. What we got was a mind-blowing demonstration of vocal prowess and versatility. This post features three of her performances from the show.

Floor does opera

Jansen was tapped to perform the opening song of the season's first show. It was the first time most of the other artists had heard her sing. She had been introduced to them simply as the singer in a metal band, so it’s amusing to watch them trying to process what they are witnessing.

Here, she does her own arrangement of the German opera aria, “Vilja Lied” (watch with subtitles on):

Floor goes country

Here is Jansen channeling Patsy Cline (!) with “I Don’t Know a Thing about Love,” sung in English.

The original was a crossover hit for Ruben Annink, the young man who gets all teary as she sings it back to him:

…..

Floor channels Christine

Henk Poort played Erik in some of the first European productions of “The Phantom of the Opera” and was said to be Andrew Lloyd Webber’s favorite Phantom. He was also one of Floor Jansen’s idols when she was growing up. Rumor had it that she agreed to do Beste Zangers only after hearing Henk was on board because she wanted to sing “Phantom” with him. Fans went crazy speculating whether they would do it. Well, of course, they did. Fittingly, this was the finale of the season.

Please do join us on Sunday for the Album discussion!