Fellow Adlicious members Shirley Spoor and Jordan Roy have previously been guests of Better Than Ever, but they have not told the story behind the band. Laise, on the other hand, does. First of all, she emphasizes that she sees participating in the X Factor as a great experience. “It was fantastic. I thought to myself: what the hell, this is so great. Making TV, new outfits every week, performing, meeting new people.”
Laise describes Adlicious as a cow completely full of milk. “It is milked completely empty. Four or five years later, all the milk was gone,” she says. The group signed a contract to make new music. “We also had a manager and he ran away overnight. He left us with a debt of 200,000 euros. Then we were left with the contract and because we signed it, we also had to repay the debt. “
How is that possible exactly? That explains Laise. “As an artist, you get an advance from record labels. At the time, we had received an advance to record a record in America. In the end, the record label / booking agency had a rough time with our manager and we as artists were in the middle. Because those two couldn’t work it out , the manager ran away and we were left behind. Then we were looked at: who is going to pay back that debt?”
At the time, this resulted in Adlicious having to hand in a thousand euros from every show for two or three years. “I was left with two hundred euros per show. It was super intense. That’s actually where Adlicious came to a standstill.”
Although the participation in the X Factor is now years ago, it feels like yesterday for Laise. Still, she has some thoughts about it. “Jordan and Shirley came forward more in the program. I didn’t mind that either,” she says. “I was very quiet, always in the background. Everything to make it easy for everyone. Sacrifice, that’s the word.”
When presenter Martijn Krabbé tells Laise that she may have shortchanged herself a bit, he touches a sensitive point. “I’ve failed myself enormously. I’ve had so many musical opportunities,” she says through teary eyes.
You can see Better Than Ever every Thursday at 8.30 p.m. on RTL 4.
