B-Side Guys

Relationships rarely end with definitive periods; they trail off into ellipses, leaving questions hanging in the air. On her Nettwerk debut “Do You Want To Be Honest?”, Dutch-Surinamese artist néomi (Neomi Speelman) captures this painful ambiguity with disarming precision.

The track builds a delicate architecture of restraint—acoustic guitar lines that hesitate and advance, production that breathes rather than overwhelms. This measured approach serves néomi’s central question about emotional clarity in relationships where one party refuses commitment to either staying or leaving. “I was fed up with guessing what everybody says or thinks,” she reveals about the songwriting process, a frustration that imbues every careful note.

What distinguishes this release is how néomi balances poetic introspection with unflinching directness. The title itself functions as both plea and challenge, establishing the confrontational intimacy that characterizes her artistic voice. Her vocal delivery—a mixture of vulnerability and quiet determination—carries emotional multitudes, creating tension between resignation and the desire for resolution.

This single follows néomi’s debut album ‘somebody’s daughter’ (2024), which recently claimed the Edison Pop Award for best ‘Alternative’ album. While her earlier work established her as a thoughtful storyteller, this release suggests an artist deepening her craft, finding fresh emotional terrain within the folk-pop framework.

The Zwijndrecht native’s approach evokes contemporaries like Phoebe Bridgers and Julia Jacklin without surrendering her distinctive perspective. Her music inhabits the liminal space between modern indie-folk and more traditional singer-songwriter frameworks, drawing from influences like Ben Howard and Bon Iver while maintaining her particular emotional geography.

“Do You Want To Be Honest?” hints at néomi’s evolving artistic direction—a sound that honors intimate folk roots while embracing fuller arrangements and more expansive production. The question at its heart remains unanswered by design, reflecting the messy reality of human connections where clarity remains elusive and closure feels perpetually just out of reach.