Dutch-raised Surinamese singer néomí has followed her 2024 Edison Pop Award for best “Alternative” album with new single “Do You Want To Be Honest?”, a song about sincerity and truth. The band sound is new for the folk artist but it complements néomí beautifully.
On the song, the singer-songwriter stated that “I was fed up with guessing what everybody says or thinks,” and the lyrics wonderfully reflect that. The first verse’s “just to see / just to talk if we were able” shows a relationship scarred with silence instead of communication. In the chorus, the folk artist sings “If you want to keep it down / I can make no sound and / Let it die tonight,” showing a bitter impatience over the eventual end of a relationship. These lyrics are full of internal rhymes that flow from one another poetically. Each line feels like a soft internal confession that focuses on the songwriter’s own self rather than trying to accommodate for the listener, which only makes the song feel more vulnerable.
néomí naturally has a strong voice, but her soft vocal delivery gives this song a subtle weight against the light guitar melody. As already noted, the song has a more full band sound than the artist previous releases, but the sound is a natural creative progression. The echoed drums that hold strong throughout the song add to the reflective tone. In the second verse, a full drum set enters along with an electric guitar. More a decorative counter-melody to the main vocals, the electric guitar gives a louder sound for the underlining bitterness of the lyrics. The full band accompanying this song as compared to past acoustic songs signals a subtle but exciting growth in néomí’s creative direction.
“Do You Want Be Honest?” is a beautifully crafted song about change and self-reflection that weaves vulnerable lyrics with raw sounds. The single is the first taste of future sound from the Dutch artist néomí and is out now.
