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ON THE COUCH WITH: Vanessa Amorosi

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: Congratulations on yet another top 20 hit!!
Vanessa Amorosi: Thankyou! Absolutely thrilled!

Access All Areas.net.au: With the single ‘Perfect’, the track was the third most added track to radio even before its official release to radio; were you at all surprised with the instant reaction you had with this single?
Vanessa Amorosi: Totally shocked! Totally shocked you never think when I’m writing these songs that they’re going to be be appreciated and grabbed like that you know you always thing that there’s going to be a lot of hard yakka you know so I am absolutely thilled that people like it.

Access All Areas.net.au: Its been a long time between albums, are you excited to be back under the spotlight?
Vanessa Amorosi: Yeah I’m absolteyl wrapped it was pretty much five years that I was doing production and sound engineering before I started doing this and you know the fire in me was killing me so I wanted to go on stage and I thought this was inevitable that I had to go back and I was trying to get it as diverse as I could and get it real as what I am when I am buying an album, is I don’t want to buy an album of an artist that is covered in all this fairly floss, I want it to be real.

Access All Areas.net.au: Its been a long time in between albums, what had you been doing during that time?
Vanessa Amorosi: No it was really time was production for other people sound engineering really just a lot music whether fo rme or someone else didn’t matteer 2 years starteed new time together

Access All Areas.net.au: The new album is quite a diversion from what we’ve come to know of Vanessa Amorosi through previous albums, where did your progression come from with this album?
Vanessa Amorosi: I think its just called growing up. The first album was about what I wanted to experience and so I sort of interperated what I thought I would feel like and that is kind of what I wrote about where is with this album I was writing about actually going through the experiences and now reflecting on what I have done.

Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve since got new management, a new label and the new sound – does it feel like a new beginning for you?
Vanessa Amorosi: Umm… in a way, yes, and in a way, no. I’ve been around for so many years now, I havn’t really left the music scene, I’ve still been chipping away. It is nice to have new faces surrounding me and that is very inspiring and encouraging and the Universal team are so good and we share something in common - we both like music [laughs] and I love doing music with them.

Access All Areas.net.au: As with any artist that goes in to their second album, there’s always a high level of expectation from the media and public alike, did you feel any pressures at all when it came to writing this album?
Vanessa Amorosi: Not really, I thought honesty it would probably break through so it was really just finding the right song to go ou twith and even if that wasn’t a commercial hit I just wanted to make sure that it was still connecting with people and if it was then I had done my job properly.

Access All Areas.net.au: And when can we expect some touring plans to kick in?
Vanessa Amorosi: There will definitely be a tour and it won’t start for a couple of months and at the moment we’re just talking to different venues because its something you have to find that’s fitting. The tour will be going around to all the cities and also doing venues out of the cities.

Access All Areas.net.au: So what’s ahead for yourself?
Vanessa Amorosi: I’m really hoping to be doing a lot of shows I think and the new album is coming out soon so I am very interested to see how the public react to it.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Vanessa Amorosi has been singing her whole life and it shows.

The moment she sings people can’t help but notice. Hers is one of the great voices of Australian music, a voice that led to huge hit singles (‘Absolutely Everybody’, ‘Shine’) and the album ‘The Power’. Vanessa Amorosi became the first Australian female to reach #1 on the National ARIA chart with her debut album.

She was 18.

In May 2008, now 26, Vanessa Amorosi delivers her eagerly anticipated second album, ‘Somewhere In The Real World’.

It’s been worth the wait. “Through the quiet time – when people must have thought I’d run away and joined the circus – I was doing a lot of production. “I love walking into studios. I’ve always been fascinated by the sound and the feel that comes from different technologies. I was fixated on creating the feel records used to have, creating an energy in recording with modern technology, as well as being a singer and songwriter. I was so into it I actually went around every studio in Melbourne and said “Can I just sit here and watch you do your job?”

“I spent a good four years doing that and then I started writing for other people. I’m constantly writing songs. I have a catalogue of thousands of songs sitting on my hard-drive. People were asking if I would like to write for other artists, so I started doing writing sessions.

I got to a point, after all that, after doing all that work and doing a lot of studio stuff, where I realised I really missed singing on a stage.

I was singing for hours in the studio, but that’s nothing compared to singing live in front of people. That thirst, that hunger for wanting a crowd and winning them over started to come back. I decided I wasn’t ready yet to put the microphone down.

I started seeking out people who could inspire me, people who could push me to a level that I hadn’t previously been pushed, to give me something to fight for. That’s when I met my manager Ralph Carr, who’s just as feisty and passionate about it as I am. I don’t want a manager who agrees with me. I want someone who challenges me and has different opinions. I said to him,I want to write this new album and I want to be frightened about doing it. “

“We’ve got great songwriters in Australia and great studios and people I love working with but I’d been working in those studios for the last four years so we decided to work on the new album in America.

I wanted to work with people who didn’t know me, who had no previous expectations, who wouldn’t look at me twice. I was more interested in them, to work with them, to make them want me, and I would do the rest.”

This was before any deal was made with a record company.

In November 2006 it was announced she had signed to Universal Music Australia.

“We went to the States and that’s when the real work started. I wanted them [her collaborators] to be just as excited stepping into the studio as I was. I didn’t want them to think of it as another day at work. I didn’t care if it was a dance song or a ballad or if it was a rock song. It had to be something I wanted to wake up and sing, something other people wanted to listen to”

On the way to ‘Somewhere In The Real World’ Vanessa wrote hundreds of songs with some of the best song writers in the world and recorded in America with songwriters and producers Ron Aniello (Bareback Ladies), Greg Wells (Mika, Timbaland) and Cliff Magness (Pink, Avril Lavigne)

“I think this album represents me finally. When I listen to ‘Absolutely Everybody’ and ‘Shine’ now, I sound like a baby, because I was a baby. ‘Somewhere In The Real World’ represents who I am now and I believe it’s still recognisable. You can’t change your soul, but I have matured and have had life experiences that brought out these songs.”

I took a long time making sure that every song on the album meant something to me. I wanted it to be one of those albums you buy, where you listen to it from the beginning to the end and it takes you on a journey.

Somewhere In The Real World is a journal of what I’ve been doing.

SOMEWHERE IN THE REAL WORLD
Available May 24

www.vanessaamorosi.com

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

Gyroscope
I’d probably say it was earlier this year, we did a show over in Perth, I think it was a festival. The show was completely sold out & at home we were able to have heaps of friends & family, don’t get me started on the size of the guest list, but the crowd was great. To be able to rock out to so many people from our home as well as the people we know & love it was just great & that’s the stand out for me.

Ideal Lineup?
Well despite the impossibility of it I’d definitely say Nirvana. They are & were such an inspirational band of their time & even though they’re no longer around, I’d still love to see them as I missed out. Besides that, I’d love to see some bands from the 60’s & 70’s that are more melody based, such as The Beatles & The Rolling Stones, they really did great stuff & I feel the melody in music has really disappeared today. So to see bands like that play would be great.

Face artist you've seen at a Music Festival?
One that really stands out to me still is a set I caught here in Perth by The Music. They were playing the Big Day Out in Perth & I was waiting for another band to come on, but went over to the stage they were on about 25 minutes early. The set by The Music was just amazing, the passion & technique the musicians put on was amazing & to see them up in like tracksuit jackets in summer really was cool & it was just a great set.

Tips for attending a music festival?
Pretty much just sunscreen & water. As I mentioned, the place gets really hot in the afternoon & with heaps of people there, the amount of shade becomes a lot less. The water is basically just to stay cool & to survive the day & then besides that just have some booze & food if you need it & all is good.