If you’re a fan of the Irish rock band Kodaline, or you just love beautiful, emotional singing combined with ethereal piano music, you need to meet Emma Bale. Her live cover of Kodaline’s All I Want has swept the internet, with more than 50 million views across different videos on YouTube.
Emma Bale was born on August 2nd, 1999, in Belgium, as Emma Balemans. She longed to be a singer and musician for as long as she can remember. She says that the second she got her first email address, she started sending emails asking for auditions. Her family is not musically inclined, neither of her parents nor her siblings play instruments or sing.
However, Emma’s grandparents had a piano in their home. Her parents have photos of her at just two years old, standing in front of it and trying to play.
Emma took her love of music seriously, foregoing the usual childhood games and parties to build her career. She says it was difficult sometimes, but her hard work paid off. She wrote, recorded and released her first single when she was only fourteen. Then a year later, she showed her talent to a much wider audience.
Emma appeared on The Voice Kids talent show in Belgium. She made it all the way to the semi-finals and got very positive comments from the judges.
Not winning the competition did not slow her down one bit. Even though she wasn’t even eighteen yet, Emma continued to write music and perform. In 2016, she won Best Belgian Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards. She then won Best Solo Female at the Flemish Music Industry Awards, the youngest winner in its history.
It was a surreal moment for Emma as she had grown up watching the awards on tv and couldn’t believe she had been nominated. She was over the moon when she won.
In the last few years, in addition to uploading songs to YouTube, Emma has started recording her songs. She has released twelve singles and a studio album which have sold very well in Belgium. They are also available on Spotify, and they are popular worldwide. Her music receives over 350,000 listens per month. The number of subscribers to Emma’s YouTube channel is fairly modest at 68,000, but she is only twenty-three. Emma’s talent and work ethic make it certain that it will grow.
Her fame is not just spreading online either. She has played to sell-out crowds at some of the most well-known venues in Belgium and has toured Europe extensively. The All I Want video was recorded on tour, where she was the support act for her fellow countrymen Clouseau.
The video has been liked 80,000 times, and viewers are raving about Emma’s voice. One person described it as, “It’s February 2022 and somehow this is the first time I’m hearing this lovely version and the only word that comes to mind as the goosebumps raise is angelic. Sooo good!”
If you’ve never seen it, you need to check out this fantastic performance now. If you would like to see more from Emma Bale, you can subscribe to their YouTube channel or follow them on Facebook.