Former Delain singer Charlotte Wessels has discussed her departure from the band and the chapter of her career that has followed in a new interview with Metal Hammer magazine. Speaking to Hammer's Jen Thomas in their latest issue, Wessels faces questions from some of her fans, including ones about her previous band. Delain's lineup effectively dissolved in 2021, with keyboardist and founder Martijn Westerholt rebuilding the band soon after.
Wessels would move on from Delain by returning to her solo career, with new album The Obsession coming later this year. When asked by one fan in the new issue of Hammer whether it was difficult to adapt following her departure from the Dutch symphonic metal heavyweights after over a decade and a half, Wessels responds:
“Yeah, definitely. It was my life for 16 years, so of course there was that moment of ‘Now what?’ I knew I couldn’t fall into a black hole, I couldn’t dwell on it. I didn’t allow myself to as I didn’t want to let people down. It just took a lot of adaptation, but I’m so glad I had that safety net already of my fans. I don’t think I could have started again otherwise. I feel like I have to reintroduce myself now, the tension and the anticipation is so high. It all feels brand new again.”
When asked about her creative process as an artist, Wessels points to her previous solo work as evidence of her willingness to push out of the metal zone, stating: “I’m very interested in experimenting with genres. Basically my last two albums consist of songs that vary wildly in genres: pop songs, fully electronic songs, metal songs... I even did a [dance subgenre] hardstyle track! I’ve spent a few years writing songs with little to no sense of direction, and I think I’ve started to find my own sound again. I’m in my creative sweet spot, but I’d love to do something classical or neoclassical.”
Read more from Charlotte Wessels in the latest issue of Metal Hammer, out now.
