Last summer, Nic Vansteenberghe became a viral obsession, and he has even bigger plans to take over this summer as well. Ever since he returned from Love Island USA Season 7, the 25-year-old has been balancing his buzzy relationship with Olandria Carthen and his burgeoning DJ career, along with several major ad campaigns. Now he’s partnering with Smirnoff Ice on a new project tied to Season 8 of Love Island USA, while also taking his music to the next level with a debut album.
“My first original track will be out by the end of June, hopefully,” Vansteenberghe tells Elite Daily. “I have 10 tracks that I’m making into an album. So I think I’ll release a couple at a time, and then the full album.”
He was encouraged by the unexpected success of his first release, a remix of “3am” by Łaszewo that he dropped at the end of February. It currently has more than 3 million streams on Spotify. “I just made that with my friends thinking, ‘OK, it’d be cool to get 100,000 streams.’ It’s crazy to me that it hit 3 million,” Vansteenberghe says. “It definitely sets the bar for the next 10 songs that I want to put out.”
Vansteenberghe isn’t the only Season 7 star to pursue music. His villa bestie Ace Greene released a rap song last fall, and winner Amaya Espinal has also been in the recording studio. “It’s pretty dope how all the Islanders are having musical career paths,” Vansteenberghe says. And although Greene and Espinal aren’t on the songs he’s preparing to release, he’s not shutting down possible collaborations in the future. “I’m open to it,” he says. “Ace’s rap song was fire. I’ve only seen a glimpse of Amaya’s song, but I think it’s really cool.”
The downside of his booked-and-busy DJ tour is that he doesn’t get to spend as much time with Carthen as he’d like. Early in their post-villa relationship, Vansteenberghe and Carthen were incredibly active on social media, but now that a year has passed, Vansteenberghe says they’ve learned to make the most of the time they have together.
“I think we both get it now,” Vansteenberghe says. “We’ve been doing this for so long that honestly, we don’t really film much of anything when we’re together. It’s more natural. If we want something to become a memory in our phones, then yeah, we’ll film it. But I’m not really actively thinking about filming at all when I’m with her.”
That said, it’s not always easy to put the phone away when the whole internet is still talking about your relationship. “I feel like I have to force [Olandria] to not look at social media sometimes,” Vansteenberghe says. “Because it’s nice to escape into a moment and be peaceful and not listen to everybody else’s opinions. Let’s just enjoy each other.”
As the next cast of Love Island USA prepares to take over, Vansteenberghe is happily rolling with the tide by partnering with Smirnoff Ice, which is becoming the show’s official malt beverage for Season 8. Throughout the new season, viewers will be able to vote in the Smirnoff Ice Fan Edit, where they can help choose the brand’s next flavor lineup.
“The Fan Edit definitely gives me flashbacks to the show,” Vansteenberghe says. “You get to vote Islanders on or off, and now you get to vote your favorite flavors on or off, too. It’s such a good partnership.”
And that may not be the only way Vansteenberghe will be involved in Season 8, which is premiering June 2 on Peacock. “I definitely want to play some part in this new season. I want to host a challenge or something,” he says. “That would be really fun.”
