heyy :) so I saw your post about the new willemijn podcast interview and the translation thing and was wondering if you could dm it to me cause I really want to know what she said and I don’t have Apple Music cause I’m poor lol 😂
hello :)
I decided to just write a whole transcript of the thing because there are probably more people wanting to read it so I put it in a google doc and also down below if u dont wanna open links i hope this doesnt crash my post <3 tell me if there's any problems with it ! anyway i ALSO dont have apple music i was able to create a free try month so i don't have to pay for it 🙏
link to the episode + the translation below!
Podcast-Folge · Das hört · 11.02.2025 · Nur Abonnent:innen · 30 Min.
Notes: The Interviewer’s name is Jenny btw bc I will be using her name instead of Interviewer in the transcript :) Also WIllemijn mostly tal
Notes: The Interviewer’s name is Jenny btw bc I will be using her name instead of Interviewer in the transcript :) Also WIllemijn mostly talks in like one really long sentence with pauses in between and I’ve tried to stay true to that, but sometimes it just works in German, but not really in English when you’re trying to make it make sense of it with the different syntaxes, so I added more periods to the sentences. Sometimes, her flow of speech is not exactly how I put it down here but I tried my best to convey it like she said it!
Jenny: Hey, my name is Jenny and welcome to a new episode of “...listens to” today with Willemijn Verkaik, and I’m very happy you all tuned in for it. You know how this works, we always ask our favourite musicians what they listen to privately, and I’m very excited about today’s guest. Hello!
Willemijn: Hello, I’m happy to be here.
Jenny: I’m going to introduce Willemijn now for everyone who might not know her. She’s a real power woman, and she’s truly one of the best voices in the musical scene of our time. She already charmed audiences all over the world in Wicked and in her iconic role as Elsa in Frozen, and she’s not just fantastic on stage, but she’s also a great inspiration for everyone, who dream big themselves. Now you can be excited for exciting/thrilling insights and especially into the music she listens to most in her own life. I’m excited to hear what you chose for the first song, what is it?
Willemijn: Something that maybe no one expected, and thanks for this introduction, that was really kind, thank you. What many people don’t expect from me, just a very happy song from Wham! I grew up with that, and I’m a big fan of George Michael and this is “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”
Jenny: That’s definitely a song everyone immediately knows and everyone knows it just gets you in a good mood, so I would suggest just starting with the song before we say too much right now, and then we will talk about the song more later on. Here is Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!
The song plays -
Jenny: What a song! What does it make you feel when you listen to it?
Willemijn: I want jump up and get on a chair and dance… I was nine years old when it came out, and it is so fun, it gets you in such a good mood and energizes you, and yes, now that I’m a few years older, I still want to jump up and dance to it.
Jenny: Amazing. Which song from your list is next?
WIllemijn: Next is a really special song, that is “Annie’s Song” from John Denver and I chose it for this list because it’s very close to the heart. We always went everywhere with the car with the whole car, really everywhere and my dad always put on this song, this music on the radio and I think John Denver is such a special musician and has such a wonderful, warm voice and then this song, Annie’s song, that is very special to me because I am also a person who loves nature and these metaphors that he’s always using, to compare love and life with nature, that is just so beautiful and with such a fantastic melody, I can always listen to it, my heart feels warm, and I get … what is it called? Tingles over my skin (she was looking for a German word here)
Jenny: Chills
Willemijn: Oh yes, exactly, I get chills all over and I can always listen to it, every day, every hour.
Jenny: I’m very excited because we all also want to feel what you just described. Get ready because here is Annie’s song by John Denver now.
Song plays -
Jenny: I immediately knew what you meant with the way your heart grows warm, the song is so…-
Willemijn: Yeah
Jenny: so comforting somehow when you listen to it-
Willemijn: Yes.
Jenny: and I can totally feel what you feel, what you described.
Willemijn: Very good, because the song is a bit older of course, because the youth of today hasn’t listened to it, doesn’t know it as well, but I would recommend listening to a few songs of his because they’re really… really beautiful. (she’s using a really informal tone of voice/language here, like she’s talking to a friend when she addresses the audience here)
Jenny: The next song you brought with you is one that has a special meaning for you, I think, I believe, and it is from a musical that made into the cinema again-
WIllemijn: That’s true (but more used like an agreeing yeah here).
Jenny: and it has fans over the whole world and it’s a really big thing, it’s a song from Wicked - the Witches from Oz. (that’s the German title for the musical)
Willemijn: Exactly.
Jenny: Tell us more about it, what song did you choose, why did you choose this song and what meaning does it have for you?
Willemijn: Yeah, the song is called “Frei und Schwerelos” in German ((Defying Gravity German Version. The translation of the German title would be “Free and weightless/gravityless”), the song has so much meaning for me because in 2007, I heard that I will play the main character in Wicked, the main character, Elphaba, a girl who was born green and was ostracized and hated because she was born green, from her family but also her environment, and she decides anyway to fight against wrong doing and yeah, it is an unbelievably beautiful story that she tells and now there’s a movie in cinemas and I really hope Wicked gets a boost again, also in Germany, because it is a very beautiful story with amaaazing music by Stephen Schwartz and Defying Gravity is at the end of the first act, where she says Hey I’m strong enough, and I can fight against injustice and I feel free and weightless, and I will fight for that.
Jenny: Yeah, and I really like that Wicked is now on the big screen and Wicked gets a boost and people are enchanted again [by it], so let us listen to it now, here’s “Frei und Schwerelos” (Defying Gravity German Version) sung by you.
Song plays -
Jenny: It feels immediately like you’re in a different world, like I totally forgot that we’re here recording an episode because you’re immediately so immersed in such a magical world. Do you still remember all the words to this song, that it’s just so powerful that you’ll never forget it or are you more a project-to-project and then the lyrics are gone person?
Willemijn: I’m actually more of a project-to-project focused person because I feel like it’s better for my brain, but just this song I have sung so many times, not just in the musical but also on concerts and I still remember these lyrics well, yeah, I think.
(They laugh)
Jenny: That song will probably always be a part of you and a part of your being and-
Willemijn: Yeah, exactly.
Jenny: the next song has equal importance because I just think it’s a song, a play/musical, a movie that has excited people all over the world, and it’s Disney’s Frozen. I think it has captured so many little girls and women and boys and also adults, the whole story, and what does the song mean for you and which song is it?
Willemijn: It is, of course, Lass jetzt los (German Let It Go) and I am incredibly proud that I was allowed to sing Elsa’s voice back in 2013. When I sang it in the studio, I knew hey that’s a beautiful song and it’s going to be successful, but that it is going to be SO successful and that children who can’t even speak their own language yet can already sing the song… and that is captivating young and old people the same, that is so beautiful and I’m so proud of being a part of that, it’s really great and that I was in Hamburg last year on stage in the Theater an der Elbe playing Elsa on stage was a full circle moment and kind of the cherry on top, I would say.
Jenny: Let’s listen to it again and here it is, Lass jetzt los by Willemijn Verkaik.
Song plays -
Jenny: I think the song is so touching, you’ll cry instantly when you listen to it, I don’t know what it is about, can you explain that or what the song makes you feel?
Willemijn: I hear the song in a different way, I hear myself sing, and I think about different things of course (they laugh), but I could never really explain it, because many people ask why is this song so… why is this song, this movie so successful and I uhh.. I also don’t know. I once asked the writers what is your magic, what is this and they said we just started writing and that is so beloved is a gift for us as well. They’re just brilliant, the authors who wrote this.
Jenny: For the last song, I think it’s really crazy that we’re almost through because the time runs so fast, and I think we learn so much about your career alone from your playlist because it is so insane to see what you’ve done. You have one last song for us that relates to your current musical, what is it and what are you doing now?
WIllemijn: I play Anne Hathaway in the musical & Julia right now, that is a feel-good music, a party and I get to play the role of the wife of William Shakespeare, her name is Anne Hathaway, and she thinks, hey, the Romeo and Juliet, it could deserve a better, more beautiful ending, and what happens if Juliet doesn’t kill herself, what happens then? I start with this idea and William and I write that story during the musical, we write that while the show plays, and it is really fun and emotional, it’s really beautiful.
Willemijn: I sing this song in the second act and I try to reassure Juliet, hey, maybe living is not that easy, and it doesn’t always go your way, but we get through it, and we can do it, us great power women. (She laughs)
Jenny: And the song we will listen soon, in which part does it appear or in which situation can we imagine it?
Jenny: That’s great! Here’s That’s the Way it is by Celine Dion.
Song plays -
Jenny: That’s a really nice song to end with, a song that gives you a push and really gives you power. Do you have some advice for us for the new year, something that’s like That’s The Way It Is because I think you as someone who lives their dreams, who goes through life with a lot of power, you can give us some advice.
Willemijn: (she Laughs) It is really nice to be seen as a power woman and I am really proud of that, but I really think it is just important to be true to yourself and know that power is not always necessary to be a power woman and I think that’s really important. Sometimes you can just be very sensitive and very bescheiden and then you still have a lot of power and thats really important for the new year.
Jenny: Yeah, that the power is in vulnerability and being true to that and not pretending when you don’t feel like it.
Willemijn: Yeah, exactly.
Jenny: Thank you for being here and sharing your songs, I feel like i learned so much about you and I really like the songs you chose for this and thank you for being here.
Willemijn Verkaik delivers a grand rendition of The Wizard and I during the evening performance of Wicked in London on the 11th of February 2017. Her “and I want nothing else till I die”-riff is to die for - it sounds brand new and I’ve honestly never heard it anywhere else (not from her, nor from any other Elphaba out there). It’s incredible.
The audio is not mine, here you have the full version that was uploaded on YouTube by Team Emphaba.
Hey Willemijn, aka Elsa, how many costumes do you have? Four, I think. I have this one, the coronation dress, the ice dress and the "Monster" outfit. Yes, that's four. And which one is your favorite? The ice dress.
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