With her signature blend of dreamy alt-pop and vulnerable storytelling, philine returns with “ten years time,” from her upcoming release, the truth of living in reality, out September 5th. The Netherlands-born singer-songwriter captures the quiet anxieties of growing up and growing into yourself, especially when your dreams don’t fit into traditional molds.
“ten years time” is a gentle, acoustic-led track with philine’s breathy vocals, but beneath the calm exterior lies an emotionally layered narrative. The song explores her longing to become a mother and create a family, while also wrestling with the uncertainties that come from being in a queer relationship. “Who would be the carrier? Who would be the father figure?” she asks.
Rather than spiraling into fear, philine uses the track as a moment of grounding. “ten years time” becomes less about having the answers and more about making peace with the unknown. “All I have to do is focus on the present moment,” she reflects, a line that sums up the song’s heart, it’s okay not to know what the future looks like. What matters is that you’re still moving forward.
“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.”
The single marks another step in philine’s evolution following her 2024 EP the side-effects of living in a fantasy, which saw her diving deep into themes of imagination, self-isolation, and internal dialogue. “ten years time” feels like the next chapter. More rooted, more resolved, but still tender.
Fans will have the opportunity to experience her world up close as philine embarks on a run of intimate tour dates later this year. She’ll play select shows across the Netherlands, including a stop at Amsterdam’s iconic ARTIS Zoo for Summer Nights on August 30, and a full headlining tour this November titled the truth of living in reality. The tour promises to further bridge the gap between the world in her head and the one she’s learning to embrace.
