Music / Blanks

The overexcited music boy.

Simon de Wit (born April 19, 1997), better known by his Stage Name Blanks, is a Dutch YouTuber ^note  channel name Music by Blanks , producer and Singer-Songwriter. He's known on YouTube for his various music and production-related series:

• One Hour Song Challenge, in which he gives himself a one hour timeframe to recreate popular songs,
• Styleswap, in which he recreates popular songs in the style of another era, genre or artist,
• and Fill in the Blanks (formerly called Story Sessions), in which he produces an original song based on recommendations and suggestions from his followers through his Instagram stories.

On the flip side of things, de Wit specializes in Indie Pop as a music artist, with his prevailing influences being '80s Synth-Pop and New Wave Music. So far, he's released two extended plays and one full-length album under the Blanks name.

You can find his channel here.

Discography:

• cheap sodas and ice cream kisses (EP) (2020)
• Nothing Lasts Forever And That's OK (2021)
• And So It Begins (EP) (2023)

His content provides examples of:

• The '80s: A couple of songs in his Styleswap series have been remade into 80s synthpop, "Better Now", "thank u, next", "Old Town Road", "The Middle" and "In My Feelings" just to name a few.
  • Many of his originals evoke an eighties style as well, such as "What You Do To Me", "Lost in the Moment", "Home Without A Heart" and "Heart On Fire".
  • Though not apparent sonically, the music videos of "Breathe In Breathe Out" and "What You Got (Ayo)" are shot with the fashion, set design and film quality of an early '80s MTV video. The latter even has a fake "BTV" logo in the corner.
• The '90s:
  • His "Ransom" cover for Styleswap is done in the style of a '90s Boy Band a la *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.
  • His original song "What You Got (Ayo)" sounds reminiscent of the decade's Alternative Rock (particularly Beck's "Loser"), turntable scratches and all.
• Affectionate Parody:
  • He's done a Post Malone-style version of "Dancing Queen", a Beatles-style version of "Blah Blah Blah", and a blink-182-style version of "Someone You Loved" for his Styleswap series.
  • The original "Nobody Knows" bears a strong resemblance to "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots, complete with rapping and lyrics about the disillusionment of growing up and making it in the music industry.
• All Just a Dream: The "Favorite Nightmare" music video features Simon and his ex-girlfriend going on a date interspersed with him waking up in bed during the chorus, frustrated that she keeps getting into his head and into his dreams as well.
• all lowercase letters: "oh no" and cheap sodas and ice cream kisses.
• Anti-Love Song: "Favorite Nightmare" starts off with the narrator describing good times he had with his lover... until the chorus hits, where it's revealed he wasn't fondly reminiscing at all and those descriptions were instead thoughts of her invading his head after their nasty break-up.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: The aspect ratio in the "Silly People" music video sometimes switches to 4:3. The "Let's Get Lost" video also does this, but it's justified as those 4:3 parts are viewed on a retro TV In-Universe.
• Concept Album: The And So It Begins EP is the first Blanks project with some sort of narrative throughline, that being the process of self-discovery and learning how to make your way through life. The final track "Love Situation (911)" is the only one not to continue the story and is instead about developing feelings for a friend in the vein of his other Silly Love Songs.
• Concept Video: The music videos of "Breathe In Breathe Out", "What You Got (Ayo)" and "Nobody Knows" seem to tell one continuous story about a guy who resigns from his Soul-Crushing Desk Job to become a musician. The first two are shot in a cinematic fashion, while the latter is shot like a normal music video, albeit with the subtitles narrating the story as a parallel to Simon's own life.
• Darker and Edgier: His songs seem to be taking a darker, more rock-influenced direction after the release of the bright and summery cheap sodas and ice cream kisses EP, both lyrically and sonically. "Stranger" is a notable example. Hell, even his cover art got sadder!
  • As of the release of "What You Do To Me", this no longer seems to be the case, as he has returned to his optimistic Synth-Pop sound. The two edgier singles released after the EP ("oh no" and "Stranger") aren't even included on his debut album, so it's reasonable to assume this direction was scrapped.
• Disco: The aptly titled "Dance Like This" is in this style.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: His earliest videos were entirely in the Dutch language. He only switched to English after his One Hour Song Challenge remake of Bazzi's "Mine" went viral and garnered him many non-Dutch subscribers.
• Existential Horror: "Silly People" is about how humans cause trouble, seek attention, fall in love and indulge in pleasures just to fill the void and find some meaning in life.
• Genki Guy: He describes himself as an "overexcited music boy". And it shows; he's very energetic, enthusiastic and cheerful in his videos.
• Genre Throwback: What his Styleswap series is based off of.
• Genre Roulette: He's mainly an Indie Pop artist but dabbles in and experiments with other genres through his One Hour Song Challenge and Styleswap series.
• Glory Days: "Where Did The Time Go" is about overly reminiscing the "good old days" as a way to escape feelings of emptiness and unfulfillment with the present moment. It's implied the narrator's current life isn't so bad despite what his Jade-Colored Glasses tell him, and that creating new memories is a better way to find some semblance of happiness than reliving old ones.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: "Dance Alone", based off his experiences during the COVID-19 lockdown.
• Hidden Depths: He studied information science in university and originally wanted to be a programmer.
• I Can't Dance: He isn't bad, but he plays up the more lousy and awkward aspects of his dancing in the "Favorite Nightmare" music video to juxtapose his professional backup dancers.
• Intercourse with You: "Don't Stop". The title should be pretty telling.
  Hands in my hair, your lips on mine
  No shirt, no blouse, lost track of time
  Baby I just wanna get you all night to myself
  We could just leave and go somewhere else, woah oh
  Don't stop, keep doing what you're doing
  Don't stop 'cause I like it like that
• Lyrical Dissonance:
  • "Home Without A Heart", despite its upbeat '80s synthpop production, is lyrically about the falling apart of a relationship. The video also contains some dissonance, as it features Simon and a girl on a bike ride looking relatively happy.
  • "Ok To Cry" is a rather jaunty song for being about how it's okay to be vulnerable and show emotion. Though judging by the outro ("Tears will dry and turn into laughter"), maybe that was the point and the song is meant to be triumphant?
• Precision F-Strike: He's normally a happy-go-lucky dude who doesn't swear in his videos, so hearing him cover a song with swear words in the lyrics can be jarring for some.
• Reggae: Covers "Without Me" and "Stressed Out" in this way for Styleswap.
• Road Trip Plot: The music video for "Don't Stop".
• Rockers Smash Guitars: Smashes his Fender guitar in the "Favorite Nightmare" music video just before it Smashes to Black and ends.
• Shout-Out:
  • "Seaside" mentions The Kooks song of the same name. Oasis is mentioned too.
  • Post Malone is namedropped in "Sweaters".
  • The "Classic Armstrong" is none other than Louis Armstrong, whose classic songs are likened to the subject of the narrator's infatuation.
  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is referenced in "Nobody Knows".
• Silly Love Songs: The cheap sodas and ice cream kisses EP is jam-packed with these. Only 2 out of the 8 songs on there aren't this trope. Lead single "Favorite Nightmare" is an Anti-Love Song but still invokes this trope (see above).
• Spoken Word in Music:
  • "What You Got (Ayo)" features a spoken interlude framed as the narrator's grandmother leaving him a voicemail to make sure he's still following his dreams.
  • "Where Did The Time Go" begins with the line: "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left".
• Training Montage: "Heart On Fire" was composed specifically with these in mind, featuring a driving synth-pop sound and bouts of motivational lyrics. The music video, which was shot in Germany with his fans, features lots of colorful windbreakers and punching the air.
• Wanderlust Song: "Let's Get Lost".