Simon de Wit (born 19 April 1997), known professionally as Blanks, is a Dutch singer, musician and YouTuber. Beginning his music career as a YouTuber, he created his channel 'Music by Blanks' in 2013. His remakes of Bazzi's "Mine" and Post Malone's "Better Now" went viral in 2018 and became his breakthrough.[2]
Blanks | |
|---|---|
 Blanks in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Simon de Wit |
| Born | 19 April 1997 Vleuten-De Meern, Netherlands |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Years active | 2013–present |
YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Genre | Music |
| Subscribers | 1.31 million[1] |
| Total views | 86.200.843[1] |
Last updated: 16 June 2023 | |
Career
In 2013, De Wit started his own YouTube channel under the name of 'Music by Blanks', where he regularly uploads music and vlog videos. His earliest videos were done in Dutch, but after his remake of Bazzi's "Mine" went viral in February 2018,[3] he decided to switch fully to English. One of his current video formats is "Style Swap", where he remakes an existing song into an 80s-style track. De Wit's remake of Post Malone's "Better Now" in June 2018 became his biggest breakthrough.[2]
After doing cover videos for several years, De Wit started writing and producing his own music. His debut original single "Don’t Stop" was released in February 2019, and was added to the playlist of Dutch radio station NPO 3FM a few days after its release. De Wit's second release, "Wave", was added to several radio stations abroad as well as the playlists of Dutch NPO Radio 2, NPO 3FM and became a "3FM Megahit".[4] He was also awarded for the 3FM's talent pool.[5] He was awarded "Best Artist" during Popgala Noord as part of Eurosonic Noorderslag in January 2020.
De Wit's single "What You Do to Me", released on 12 February 2021,[6][7] became a Harde schijf ("Hard record") at Radio 538 during the radio programme of Barend van Deelen.[8] In 2022, he participated in the fifteenth season of the AVROTROS reality show Beste Zangers.[9]
Personal life
De Wit studied information science at the University of Groningen.[10]
Discography
Studio albums
- 2021 – Nothing Lasts Forever and That's OK
Extended plays
- 2020 – Cheap Sodas and Ice Cream Kisses
- 2023 - And So It Begins
Singles
- 2017 – "Pictures"
- 2018 – "Better Now"
- 2018 – "Blah Blah Blah"
- 2019 – "Don't Stop"
- 2019 – "Wave"
- 2019 – "Let's Get Lost"
- 2019 – "Higher"
- 2019 – "Bittersweet"
- 2019 – "Everything's Changing"
- 2020 – "Sweaters"
- 2020 – "Dance Alone"
- 2020 – "Silly People"
- 2020 – "Oh No"
- 2020 – "Stranger"
- 2021 – "What You Do to Me"
- 2021 – "Turn Around"
- 2021 – "Classic Armstrong"
- 2021 – "Never Have I Ever"
- 2021 – "I'm Sorry"
- 2022 – "Lost in the Moment"
- 2022 – "Home Without a Heart"
- 2022 – "In My Feelings"
- 2023 – "Breathe in Breathe Out"
- 2023 – "What You Got (Ayo)"
- 2023 – "Nobody Knows"
- 2023 – "Not Scared Anymore"
- 2023 – "Find Myself Again"
- 2024 – "Love Situation (911)"