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B2-

Atlas

Pommelien Thijs

Language
Dutch
Released
2025
Genre
pop
Level
B2-
Difficulty score
884
Duration
3:00

How to study this song

Learning “Atlas” means 84 entries at B2- — 33 Dutch words, 15 adjectives and 36 verb forms, every one taken from what the song actually says. Work through the glossary first: zand, zakken and wind are the words you will lean on most. This one leans on its verbs: 36 distinct forms against 15 adjectives, so conjugation is where the effort goes. At this level the words on their own are not the problem — it is the way they are put together that takes the work.

The words of this song, in several languages

Every word below is taken from this song and translated by us. Nothing here is the lyric itself — these are the individual words you need in order to follow it.

Vocabulary

NLENESITFRPTDE
zandsandarenasabbiasableareiaSand
zakkenpocketsbolsillostaschepochesbolsosTaschen
windwindvientoventoventventoWind
haarhairpelocapellicheveux

What this song teaches you

Level · B2-

Vocabulary words
33
Adjectives
15
Word combos
20
Expressions
12
Verb forms
36
Quiz questions
35

More Dutch songs at this level

  • Het Regent Zonnestralen — Acda en de Munnik (1998)B2-
  • Als Ge Slaapt — Yong Yello (2020)B2-
  • Dansen aan zee — BLØF (2000)B1+
  • Vonken & Vuur — Clouseau (2006)B1-

Background

About the song

«Atlas» is a Dutch-language pop song by the Belgian singer and actress Pommelien Thijs. It came out as a single on 21 March 2025 on Sony Music and later became part of her second studio album, «Gedoe», released on 3 October 2025. The English-language Wikipedia describes the sound as folk pop: an acoustic guitar carries the song, and the arrangement grows slowly around her voice.

Pommelien Thijs was born on 4 April 2001 in Mortsel, near Antwerp, grew up in Lier and moved to the village of Kessel in 2009. Flemish audiences first knew her as a child actress and television presenter. She played Caro in the youth series «#LikeMe» from 2019 to 2024, appeared in the Christmas films «De Familie Claus» and took a lead role in the series «Knokke Off». Her music career took off in 2020 with «Nu wij niet meer praten», a duet with the Dutch singer Jaap Reesema that reached number one in Flanders and in the Dutch Top 40. Her first album, «Per ongeluk» (2023), was the best-selling album of that year in Flanders.

According to Wikipedia, she wrote «Atlas» together with Simon de Wilt, the Dutch producer known as Blanks, who also produced the track. The title refers to Atlas, the Titan of Greek mythology who was condemned to hold up the sky and is usually shown carrying the world on his shoulders. Thijs has explained that she used the figure to describe a relationship that was out of balance, in which one person carries everything. She said the song took months to finish and that it brings together several stories from relationships she lived through herself. She also directed the music video on her own; in it she dances and plays the guitar.

The song is a break-up story told without self-pity. The singer describes herself as worn down by the effort: she has tried to do impossible things for the other person, has kept carrying a weight that was never hers alone, and has slowly worn herself away, the way the sea changes a coastline. When the other person ends it and gives her the nickname of the Titan, she accepts the role with a mix of irony and pain. She admits she still adores this person, that she gave far too much, and that she was drawn to how complicated they were.

The chorus turns on the central image. She sold what she owned and built fragile things just to believe the relationship could work. She knew the load was heavy, but not that the story was false: she held the other person's world, and nobody ever held hers. In the second verse she remembers pulling the other person through a hard time and then asking if there was room for her, only to see the moment pass. The bridge looks back at the weeks they shared with a wish to burn them, and it ends with a dark joke about how far she would still go if she were asked. De Standaard called it a complex break-up song that avoids the easy clichés.

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cabelo
Haar
hoophopeesperanzasperanzaespoiresperançaHoffnung

This card holds 28 more words. You meet them when you play the song.

Adjectives

NLENESITFRPTDE
zwaarheavypesadopesantelourdpesadoschwer
klaaroverterminadofinitofiniacabadovorbei
complexcomplicatedcomplicadocomplicatocompliquécomplicadokompliziert

This card holds 12 more adjectives. You meet them when you play the song.

Verb forms

NLENESITFRPTDE
hebI havetengohoj’aitenhohabe
hadI hadteníaavevoj’avaistinhahatte
hangthangscuelgapendependpendehängt
moetI musttengo quedevoje doistenho demuss
verzettento movemoverspostaredéplacermoverversetzen
isisesèestéist

This card holds 30 more verb forms. You meet them when you play the song.

Did you know?

The title works in every language: «Atlas» is the Titan who carries the world, but it is also the word for a book of maps, named after him. In the song only the first meaning counts. The image of carrying someone else's world on your shoulders is the key to the whole text.

Several Dutch idioms are hidden in the lines. «Bergen verzetten» means «to move mountains», to do something that seems impossible (German has exactly the same: «Berge versetzen»). «Iemand op handen dragen», literally «to carry someone on your hands», means to adore someone and treat them like a treasure. «Een blok aan het been», «a block on the leg», is something that holds you back, a burden.

«Achteraf bekeken» means «looking back» or «in hindsight», and «andersom» means «the other way round». «Iets graag hebben» is a friendly way of saying that you like something, and «doen alsof» means «to pretend». In the song the short form «doen of» is used, which is common in spoken Dutch.

The song is full of strong (irregular) past tenses, which change their vowel instead of adding -de or -te: «zwemmen» becomes «zwom», «trekken» becomes «trok», «geven» becomes «gaf», «brengen» becomes «bracht», «vragen» becomes «vroeg» and «weten» becomes «wist». You also hear «wou», a very common informal past tense of «willen»; written standard Dutch prefers «wilde».

Dutch loves diminutives. «Stuk» means «piece», and «stukje» is «a little piece»; «stukje voor stukje» means «bit by bit». Two more small lessons: «been» is a leg and its plural is «benen», and «klaar» can mean «ready» but also «finished» or «over», as when a relationship is over. «Sorry» and «complex» are words Dutch shares with English.

Charts & streaming

«Atlas» entered the Ultratop 50, the singles chart of Flanders, at number one in its first week. According to Wikipedia it was her sixth number one in Belgium. It stayed at the top for 22 weeks in total, in several runs, swapping places for a while with Alex Warren's «Ordinary». That broke the Flemish record of 17 weeks held by «Dance Monkey» by Tones and I and «Blinding Lights» by The Weeknd.

In the Netherlands the song reached number five in the Dutch Top 40 and number four in the Single Top 100. It was the best-selling single of 2025 in Flanders and topped the Flemish year-end chart. The Dutch-language Wikipedia lists it as four times platinum in Belgium.

The prizes followed. «Atlas» won the VRT Zomerhit 2025, was named Hit of the Year at the Music Industry Awards 2025 and Song of the Year at the Gouden K's 2025. In November 2025 it entered the MNM1000, the countdown of the Flemish radio station MNM, directly at number one, according to VRT NWS. The album «Gedoe» went to number one in Belgium and number two in the Netherlands.