néomí is the moniker for folk-pop singer-songwriter Neomi Speelman who writes authentic and sincere stories backed by dreamy soundscapes inspired by the classic folk songwriters, old and new alike.
Although born in The Netherlands, Neomi is half Dutch/Surinamese after her mother moved from Suriname as a child. As a youngster, Neomi’s first step into music didn’t exactly start on the right foot when she was told she had to attend piano tuitions. It was agreed that Neomi would attend the lessons for 5 years and afterwards she could decide whether to continue or not. Nevertheless 5 years passed and the unimpressed Neomi quit the piano and vowed never to play music again.
4 years would float by until Neomi would find herself at a musical junction. During a browse on a popular Internet video website she stumbled across a live video of Ben Howard performing ‘Old Pine’ with a cellist in tow. Spellbound and inspired, Neomi came out of her musical retirement, picked up a guitar and began teaching herself how to play from online tutorials.
As her skill and confidence grew, Neomi applied to music schools and, due to an administrative error, was invited to audition in Amsterdam. Despite being too young to apply, she was offered a place at the school based on her raw talent and potential. Over the next 4 years she would hone her songwriting and sound, her main influences stemming between Bon Iver, Bob Dylan, and her hero Ben Howard. She says of the trio “their lyrics are outstanding and insanely beautiful. I don’t think they make songs, but they make art, poems. That’s something I also really try to do; make little poems instead of songs.”
2020 was set to be the breakout year for néomí as she recorded her first singles with British engineer/producer Edd Hartwell (Tom Walker, Birdy, Tom Odell), supported singer songwriting legend Don McLean and was also invited to the UK to play her first shows abroad. However, the out-break of a pandemic followed by a sequence of metamorphic life events scuppered these plans with néomí using the time to develop as a songwriter and add to her growing catalogue of songs.
Last year, néomí released her debut 5 song EP ‘before’ on June 24th via [PIAS] which has garnered almost 2 million streams and 125k Spotify monthly listeners as well as landing numerous Spotify playlist support and her first global Apple Music playlists in ‘Breaking Singer/Songwriter’ and ‘New in Singer-Songwriter’. The EP has been praised by the likes of CLASH, The Independent, GIGWISE, Under The Radar, La Blogotheque, Cool Hunting, Ones To Watch, LOCK Mag, Record Of The Day (Song of the Day for each track) and many more. She supported Novo Amor, HAEVN, The Slow Show and Jonathan Jeremiah on their 2022 shows in The Netherlands and was named both OOR and 3voor12 Talent for the end of year Popronde tour. The year finished with néomí announced as one of the first acts to play Eurosonic Noorderslag along with an invite to perform on popular national TV show Top2000.
2023 has started with a bang for néomí: latest release ‘skipping stone’ follows on from her stunning comeback single ‘red balloon’, with early support coming from Line Of Best Fit, Notion, C-Heads and another Record Of The Day. After performing at showcase event Eurosonic Noorderslag she was voted the #5 best act of the whole festival by 3voor12 (the Dutch equivalent to the BBC) and she was awarded 3FM Talent by national radio station 3FM. Her next EP ‘after’ is to be released on April 14th with néomí’s biggest headline show taking place in Amsterdam’s Paradiso on May 7th. She will also be opening for SYML on his 10-date European tour in March as well us Jonathan Jeremiah on his EU tour in April.
néomí 