*Esmée Denters is undoubtedly on her way to musical stardom, with her debut album filled with songs she co-wrote with a host of top-notch hit-making producers. Esmée is one of the first artists signed to Justin Timberlake’s Interscope imprint Tennman Records, but a mere two years ago, this Dutch 20-year-old was just a pancake house waitress with a webcam and a dream.

An aspiring singer who fell in love with her father’s Stevie Wonder albums as a child, Esmée was 17 when she began posting videos of herself on YouTube singing her favorite hits by Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Pink, and Natasha Bedingfield, which she recorded in the bedroom of her suburban home of Oosterbeek in the Netherlands. “I had seen all these videos of amateur singers, which gave me the idea,” she says. “I was just interested in what other people thought of my voice,” she says. “My friends had told me they liked my singing, but I was curious to get strangers’ opinions because music was what I really wanted to do.” When the videos were a hit and viewers started to make requests, Esmée was encouraged and began posting several clips a week, including songs she’d written herself. Within nine months, Esmée’s videos had racked up 21 million views and the teenager became the No. 1 Most-Subscribed to Musician in the history of the popular video-sharing website.

MMIM: What made you want to post your videos or YouTube? Was it just “out of fun” or did you do it in hopes to be discovered?

ED: It was more because I wanted to know different people’s opinions. I always had this dream of becoming a singer, but I definitely never thought that putting covers on YouTube would get me there. It really amazes me every time I think about how everything happened. I am really thankful to everybody that supported me by watching my videos on YouTube.

MMIM: Tell us about your upcoming project.

ED: My album “Outta Here” is set to come out this fall. I’m very proud of it. Justin really let me have a lot of creative input on what I wanted the album to sound like. He also was the producer on all of the songs and a writer on a couple of them. I got to work with some amazing producers like Stargate, Ryan Teddar and Toby Gad. I wrote on most of the songs that are on the record. Writing is really one of my favorite parts of being an artist. Creating a song is one of the most fulfilling things there is. The record is made up of all kinds of different sounds. It’s a pop record mixed with some other influences like dance, soul, and even little bit of rock. I really wanted people to see how I have grown since I started out on YouTube. I really wanted to make a record that fits with the 20 year old girl that I am now. The record has some great up-tempo’s that are just fun and great for a girls night out. But then there are also a couple of ballads and mid tempos were I touch on some deeper subjects, like the song “Victim”.

MMIM: How has it been working with Justin Timberlake?

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