Amy Shark on the biggest year of her career ahead of APRA Awards and national tour

Sarcasm and revenge might not usually be part of a recipe for success, but they’re exactly why pop sensation Amy Shark’s hit single ‘I Said Hi’ won votes for the APRA Song of the Year.

Amy Shark knows exactly why her hit single I Said Hi won votes from her songwriting peers for the APRA Song of the Year.

It was inspired by Shark’s response to her managers when they would tell her who they had a set up a meeting with and it turned out to be an industry gatekeeper who had rejected her.

The same people who said no before she independently released her breakthrough debut single Adore in mid 2016 were now offering worldwide deals.

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Amy Shark is up for APRA Song of the Year for the third year running. Picture: Luke Marsden.

Sarcastic revenge songs celebrating success and survival always work when they are as clever and catchy as I Said Hi.

“That’s what is so special about that song, I think,” Shark says.

“There’s a little chip on every musician’s shoulder. That song doesn’t just match up with my story; everyone had someone who told them they were s---.

“No one just breezes through, there’s always setbacks and stuff.”

There was a decade of playing her dues, propped on a stool in the corner of a pub where no one cared as she performed covers.

We’re gonna need a bigger bus...Shark has gone global since Adore’s hit the charts. PICTURE: Amy Shark Twitter @AmySharkMusic

But in the almost three years since Adore began her ubiquitous presence of the Australian charts and then propelled her onto stages, radio stations and television shows throughout the US, Shark has got both the fan love and peer respect.

This is the third year running she has been nominated for Song of the Year at the APRA Awards, which will be announced on April 30 in Melbourne.

“It’s a big deal keeping it up to that level. APRAs mean a lot to me because I know the people who are looking at these songs and pulling them apart and putting them back together again are all great songwriters,” she says.

“They are artists who know their s …”

Her watershed year included winning all the ARIAs. Picture: Christian Gilles

A few days after she finds out who did write the Song of the Year — also nominated are Paul Kelly, Ainslie Wills, Angie McMahon and Mojo Juju — Shark heads out on a victory lap of sorts of Australia.

While she has played bigger gigs on festival stages this year from Falls Festival to kick off 2019 to Adelaide Oval for the AFLW grand final between the Crows and Blues last month, this headlining tour signals Shark’s step-up from theatres to small arenas in Australia.

Those kind of milestones are the ones Australian artists have on their to-do wishlist, the exponential growth in tickets sold regarded as a more reliable marker for a viable career these days.

Shark and her husband Shane Billings, who also oversees the day-to-day management of her career, got excited about an email from their local promoter last week which declared her show at the Hordern Pavilion next month “could not fit one more soul in the place”.

Shark’s husband Shane Billings has her back. Picture: Supplied.

“I don’t think I really understood just how big it is yet but I know I am so excited, so hyped for this tour; I’m going to try to not lose it because I think these shows are going to be overwhelming,” she says.

There is a sense these gigs will close the Love Monster chapter in Australia. Shark has been home on the Gold Coast for the past two weeks, the longest stint she and Billings have spent in one place since Adore extended its calling card here and around the world more than two years ago.

It has been equal parts relaxing and frustrating; Shark isn’t one to enjoy sitting in one spot too long and she knows the modern music business model demands momentum rather than stops and starts.

Could there be a collab with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan on her next record? Picture: Instagram/@Amysharkmusic

Some of her frustration may also be due to the misconceptions which dog the musician who isn’t so much regarded as a small business as they are a pop star.

The I Said Hi hitmaker bristles ever so slightly when someone tells her she’s lucky, even though she accepts good fortune and timing have their intangible influence on who makes it and who doesn’t in the pop world.

“I have to bite my tongue sometimes when someone says ‘You are so lucky’,” Shark says.

“They haven’t seen the sacrifices, or the things you miss out on, because for so man years I would have to play the gig so I could pay rent and to go record in a studio.

“Some people seem to think touring is going on holidays. I swear I age like eight years every time I go on tour. It’s hard work and I love it and I am seeing it grow all around the world but yeah, touring is not a holiday.”

All those platinum records, ARIA awards and tens of thousands of social media followers do also throw up the most unexpected of opportunities for the woman who has mastered the art of turning awkward intimacies and seething indignation into song.

The Vogue cover was unexpected for the T-shirt and jeans singer. Picture: Supplied.

While she can rock a red carpet, Shark certainly never expected to see herself on the cover of Vogue, not something the top-knotted, Adidas-loving, black jeans and T-shirt lover had ever contemplated.

She admits her label publicist talked her into the cover shoot but thoroughly enjoyed the experience of the shoot alongside supermodel Adut Akech and actor Angourie Rice.

“You know me! Modelling is not my forte and I was seriously hyperventilating on the way to the shoot because I was so nervous,” Shark says, laughing.

“They are all such pros and made me feel really relaxed and kind of special.”

After the tour, Shark will be spending much of the rest of the year based in Los Angeles.

The next album has been in her mind and her voice memos since the day she finished the songs for Love Shark.

Shark’s upccoming Australian tour is shaping up to be sold out. Picture: AAP/ Keryn Stevens.

Fans have been intrigued by her posts of meeting and hanging out with Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan and electro-pop hitmaker Diplo.

Shark isn’t giving away anything about her next musical moves beyond her hopes that her future singles and second album releases will be synchronised.

“My music took on a life of its own in Australia before I even knew what to do or had a team around me,” she says.

“So that’s what I am really excited about for the next phase is having everything aligned really well.

“I feel like I need to let Australia breathe for a second but I want to come back hard.”

The 2019 APRA Awards will be held at the Melbourne Town Hall on April 30.

Shark’s tour kicks off at the Fremantle Arts Centre on May 3 and 4, Hordern Pavilion, Sydney on May 10, Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne on May 11 and 31, Riverstage, Brisbane on May 17, Bass In The Grass, Darwin on May 18, Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide on May 24 and Kimberley Moon Festival, Kununurra on May 25.

Originally published as Amy Shark on the biggest year of her career ahead of APRA Awards and national tour