Mart Hoogkamer needed therapy after his breakthrough. The singer says this in the podcast Kapper van de Sterren. “I couldn’t walk down the street normally anymore.”
Hoogkamer was on vacation in Spain with his cousins when he showed off his singing skills on the beach. A video of his performance went viral and that soon had major consequences. His video also became a big hit in the Netherlands. “Then I said: ‘I don’t know what’s happening, but I think I’m becoming Justin Bieber’,” Hoogkamer says laughing.
The 27-year-old singer had to leave Spain early due to obligations in the Netherlands. “I suddenly found it so exciting,” he says. “You have to understand that you leave with a few friends, not knowing that your whole life will change when you come back.”
According to Hoogkamer, the success took its toll. “All the people came running up to me in the street,” he says. “I said: ‘This is not what I want at all.’ I completely panicked.” It frightened the singer so much that he didn’t dare to talk to anyone. “I was so shy, it wasn’t normal.”
Hoogkamer therefore decided to seek professional help. “Doing well for everyone, that doesn’t always work.” Two months later he released Ik Ga Zwemmen. “That broke all records at the time.” The song reached number one in the Dutch Top 40 and the Dutch Single Top 40.