Niels Littooij, also called Nielson, is only 29 years old, but with signing up for "The Best Singer-Songwriter of the Netherlands' he begins again on his third musical challenge. He began his career as a rapper at the Herman Brood Academy. In that setting the Dordtenaar won the Rotterdam Kunstbende challenge and allowed him to be support act for Dutch rap formation The Opposites. This resulted in an approach of MTV / Nickolodeon, asking him for a spot in the pop group Zirkus Zirkus, which he was part of until 2011. With that formation Nielson already scored two top ten hits and played at venues like Ahoy Rotterdam and the HMH.