The recordings took place right in the middle of her exam week, but Carmen reassures that her adventures as a carnival artist haven’t cost her a single study credit. She wrote the lyrics for Lekker Rije—largely inspired by nights out—together with her secondary school friend Lisa, mostly during the summer, by the pool.

According to the Applied Physics student, writing a carnival song is a lot like working on a group project. “We started with brainstorming and regularly had meetings to discuss everything. You really have to approach it in a structured way; otherwise, it all falls apart.”

Sjans en Grietje

Those efforts now seem to be paying off. The music video (see below) has already been viewed 17,000 times on YouTube, and the song finished 22nd in Omroep Brabant’s Kies je Kraker competition. In that contest, the friends competed against established carnival artists, including their favorite group Veul Gère.

The idea for Sjans en Grietje originated with a song by that group, Lisa explains. “At a party hosted by my parents, Carmen and I spontaneously sang Un Lekker Delleke together. That’s when we thought we could just as well release a song of our own.” Un Lekker Delleke has stayed in the mix; at performances, it is a fixed part of Sjans en Grietje’s setlist.

Fans

The duo may only have one original song so far, but they have already performed in major venues such as 013 in Tilburg and the Beursgebouw in Eindhoven. Afterward, fans came up to talk to them. 

That took some getting used to, Carmen says: “We used to be the ones going up to the artists, and now we’re experiencing it ourselves.” What she enjoys even more is that they can now hang out behind the scenes with their own favorite artists.

Carmen’s fellow student society members are fans of the song as well. A few of them even appeared as extras in the music video. “They already know the dance, too.” On Thursday, her women’s society Curieus is organizing a carnival get-together. “I’m sure the song will be played a lot there.”

This article was translated using AI-assisted tools and reviewed by an editor.