Joost Klein helped Ibe Bogaert through The Voice van Vlaanderen in more ways than one. The contestant said the coach supported her musically and mentally, and that his advice gave her the confidence to keep going after a difficult stretch in her life.
Bogaert said in an interview with the Belgian HLN that she had been through a hard period in recent years, after losing her mother by suicide and struggling with dark thoughts of her own. Before taking part in the program, she spent three weeks in a psychiatric institution. When she auditioned, Klein turned his chair quickly for her, and the contact between them immediately felt familiar.
That familiarity mattered because Klein had his own loss early in life. Bogaert said he lost both of his parents at a young age, and that their conversation only became a real one once she told him what she had been living through. She described him as “Hij is een waanzinnig lieve en authentieke gast,” or a wonderfully sweet and authentic guy.
For Bogaert, the most important lesson was not a vocal trick. “Het belangrijkste wat Joost me heeft bijgebracht, is zelfvertrouwen,” she said. She said she often felt fear on stage, and that Klein gave her tools to deal with it. Those tips, she said, now help her enjoy performing more.
She also said Klein often writes affirmations, and recently wrote one for her saying she can sing well. Bogaert keeps the note in her car. The story, based on her interview with HLN and published by Weekend Online, presents Klein as more than a coach on The Voice van Vlaanderen: for Bogaert, he became part of the reason she could step back into the spotlight at all.