When philine writes a song, she invites everyone to spend a little time inside of her head. Her tender voice, delicate tunes, and vivid lyrics grab your attention right away, but it’s her wild imagination that really hooks you and,ultimately, inspires. It’s as if she’s turning her feelings into real-life magic, letting her thoughts dance around in catchy melodies and shimmering chords.After quietly buzzing out of The Netherlands, the singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist opens up her world on 2024’s side-effects of living in a fantasy EP [Nettwerk Music Group]. “During the writing process, I spent a lot of time inside of my brain,” she notes. “I have a huge imagination, and I’m a big overthinker. I tend to live in fantasy more than reality. I get so caught up with how I perceive things and my almost movie like version of life. The upside to it is that with a mind like that, I’ll always have stories to tell. But the thing with a story is, it’s not reality, it’s a story. And it keeps you from living in the actual reality. When that happens, or when reality hits in my face, I isolate myself and become very absent to the outside world. These songs are the moments when I’m captured inside of my thoughts.” Early on, she recognized the power of music. Mom taught music to kindergarten-age kids in addition to constantly singing and playing guitar around the house. Transfixed by her mother, philine went from penning her own songs in Dutch to writing in English at 11-years-old. After participating in a professional songwriting competition as a teen, she recognized her path forward. “That’s when I decided I wanted to be a professional songwriter and musician,” she notes. She attended a conservatory in Rotterdam, logging countless hours in the studio with friends. During 2020, she formally introduced herself with the single “gone.” The songstress further built momentum with her debut so sick of myself EP [2023], generating streams in the millions. Not to mention, she joined Melle for “Old Summers,” which reeled in over 524K Spotify streams. Throughout 2023, she absorbed inspiration from the world around her and wrote what she saw, felt, and experienced. Along the way, the side-effects of living in a fantasy came to life.