See Charlotte Wessels (ex-Delain) and Simone Simons (Epica) team up in flamboyant Dopamine music video

Charlotte Wessels and Simone Simons in Dopamine music video

(Image credit: Press)

Former Delain vocalist Charlotte Wessels has teamed up with Epica’s Simone Simons on new solo single Dopamine.

The track is the third single released from Wessels’ impending solo album The Obsession, which will be released on September 20 via Napalm Records.

Listen to Dopamine and watch its colourful music video via the player below.

Wessels explains in a statement that the new song was written about her experiences on antidepressant sertraline.

“Lyrically, Dopamine deals with SSRI induced numbness that I experienced a few years ago when I was on Sertraline, a type of antidepressant,” she says.

“While the medication was really helpful, there were so many side effects that I’d never heard of.

“This song deals with some of them, and while it feels vulnerable to expose the experience, I hope it helps in breaking down the shame and taboo around the topic.”

The vocalist also explains how the collaboration with Simons came about.

“Simone reached out to me as I was first opening up about this in an interview, and when the first version of Dopamine dropped on Patreon (because of course we’re each other's patrons) she texted how much she liked the song.

“So when we were working on the album version it only made sense to ask if she’d sing along on the track

“I am so happy she agreed and after all of the shared introspection, it was great fun to let loose wearing pink wigs in ball pits and marshmallow pools for the video recordings.”

Wessels continues: “Musically, out of the entire new album, Dopamine went through the biggest transformation.

What started out as an EDM demo for a collaboration with a dance duo that never happened, became an acoustic Song Of The Month on Patreon, which then had a massive overhaul when rearranging it with Timo [Somers, guitars].

“The new band version is an absolute banger, and the beautiful guest vocals by Simone complete the song.”

The Obsession will be Wessels’ third solo album overall, but her first with a full band.

Her solo band is composed of three fellow ex-Delain members – Somers, bassist Otto Schimmelpenninck van der Oije and drummer Joey Marin de Boer – as well as keyboardist Sophia Vernikov.

Wessels, Somers, Schimmelpenninck van der Oije and Marin de Boer left Delain simultaneously in February 2021, leaving keyboardist Martijn Westerholt as the sole remaining member.

Westerholt has since restarted Delain with an all-new lineup.

Wessels’ solo band will tour Europe and the UK from August. See the full list of dates and get tickets now.

Simons will release her debut solo album, Vermillion, on August 23 via Nuclear Blast.

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.