Finding My Way Back to Music

Welcome back! It’s great to have you here again!

I effectively started this blog because I thought it might be nice to share my singing, songwriting, and music video-making journey with you guys. Particularly with this entry, I wanted to take you through my journey to get to this point right now where I am writing and singing again, and share a bit of the process with you all.

It’s taken a little while to get to this point; no seriously, its been over 10 years, since my high school days that I have really done anything particularly interesting or in the realms of music - other than maybe killing it in my shower and the occasional karaoke night...

...I guess just life, commitments, priorities and other things have taken precedence.

Back in high school I think music was quite accessible, and I didn’t have any serious relationships or full time jobs to push it to the back seat. It was also part of the school curriculum and I was in a band that formed at school; we were involved in school events and things, so it was part of my schedule as well.

(Side note...2007?! This makes me feel so old!! Haha).

But after high school, I was moving in a different direction with my studies - I moved out of home after University, I wasn’t in a band anymore, didn’t have access to my piano, I was in a serious relationship, etc, etc.

Although, I did audition for Australian Idol when I was about 18 - I got to meet with two of the producers; one of which quite clearly didn’t think I had what it would take to cut it on a reality television show in front of hundreds of thousands of people! But they both agreed that I should come back when I had a little more performance confidence, or just more confidence under my belt, and to be fair, I totally agreed! I was an absolute nervous wreck! And there weren't even cameras or an audience!

So given this combination of all of these different situations and circumstances, I guess I somewhat lost touch with my music - and then I decided to try something else and give Latin dance a go...

It has been such an amazing and huge part of my life for the past several years or so - but that’s probably a story in itself for another time. Weirdly though, I recently had an opportunity arise, through work, to perform at an annual gala ball held in China. In essence, the CEO of the company I was working for at the time heard me sing karaoke at a night out on conference. Next minute I was recording tracks for a “China’s take on Eurovision,” or so I was told – I never actually got to perform since, of all the places in the world, the event was taking place in Wuhan!! Aka the epicentre or ground zero of COVID-19 – yeah, crazy I know!

And what’s perhaps even crazier is that I still decided to do my already paid-for tour around China. To be fair, this was early January before things really took a serious turn for the worse. Silver lining though, I got out in time and avoided an imminent global pandemic, or being sent to quarantine on Christmas Island, and of course, I also got to see China! Honestly, I quite possibly may never have gone there otherwise; it wasn’t really on my radar, but oh my God - the Great Wall, the Terracotta Warriors…seriously mind blowing! Also, anyone who knows me knows I love shopping and even more so, a bargain, and China just absolutely takes that to the next level – it’s seriously shopper’s Heaven! Not just the huge shopping malls with multiplex after multiplex, but there are so many quaint old preserved streets and local stallholders selling everything from silk scarves to tea and beautiful ceramics, to bugs on sticks! Hmm, the later not so much my thing.

But moving on, what I most importantly gained with the whole experience was my reignited passion for singing and songwriting, and I realised I might have a little something-something that other people may appreciate and who it might spark some joy for, so heck, why not?! I moved my piano into my town house, upstairs…thankfully it’s detachable, and I had help! But boom, that was it! All the songs I wrote years ago came flooding back, and more so, a lot of the experiences, tribulations, failed relationships, and challenges felt like they were just ready and itching to let loose in song form. Side note - even if you don’t think you have it in you, I seriously encourage anyone to pick up a pen and paper and just get something out. It’s very therapeutic in any case, and you never know, maybe there’s a buzzing songwriter just waiting to come out and you don’t even know it yet!

I’ve had so much fun making videos with my #FastbreakFilms team, and learned a lot in the process. And through the process I’ve realised how much I love it! I love being creative and making music that means something to me and that I can then share with people and actually have them hear it and enjoy it. That’s the best feeling! I recently had my neighbours, who I don’t know particularly well, make a point of telling me how much they love hearing me sing and my music. My Dad also told me he showed my Nonna the clip for #ThisWorld and she couldn’t stop tearing up because it made her so happy and proud to see me pursuing my talent. Also, I think she gets a bit confused thinking I’m actually somehow in the phone singing to her there and then – she was apparently blowing me kisses and telling the phone as if it were me how much she loved it, bless her cotton socks! My point though is that this journey already feels like a success story for me, because I’m doing what I enjoy, I’m writing again, and I’m making people happy through my music – which is more than I could ask for.

I also kind of feel like I got a part of me back that I lost and didn’t think was important, and I know that we all have priorities, work, people and other commitments and things, or maybe a little voice in the back of our heads that says "why bother", "this isn’t that important", "it’s trivial" or "it’s not going anywhere" – but if something sparks joy for you, who cares if it goes anywhere, or if maybe not everyone likes your music or what you have to say. Maybe you will unfortunately get those people who don't appreciate your music or you just getting out there actually doing a thing, who don’t follow your music or ever have anything nice or supportive to say – well, to that I just say, haters gonna be haters! And for as many of those people there are, there are so many more positive and encouraging people – and moreover, if it makes you happy, then do it for you!

So that’s me and my journey in a brief nutshell, and I guess my words of wisdom and advice to any songwriters and musicians finding excuses against doing what you love. Don’t be like me and take 10+ years to get back into something you really love and enjoy doing – cause that makes no sense at all!

But that's it for now - thanks for reading and for your support, and of course, feel free to get in touch and share any thoughts.

Much love,