Dami Im talks about ‘toxic’ music industry on Mental As Anyone podcast

She’s one of Australia’s most successful singers, but Dami Im has told the Mental As Anyone podcast she struggled to find her voice early in her career.

Dami Im would rather not be in the music industry at all than have to sing on someone else’s terms.

The popular singer has detailed the toxicity she experienced earlier in her career as she struggled to find her voice in the highly competitive industry.

“I would rather go back home to my small town church life and sing to 10 people, than being here and just trying to please some(one),” Im said in the latest episode of the Mental As Anyone podcast.

“And so I was just like, I’ve got nothing to lose in that sense, like I don’t care, so I’m going to do what I want to do.”
Im is one of our most successful singers of the past decade, having first risen to household name status off the back of winning reality show, The X Factor Australia, when she was 24.

Dami Im performing in Korea. Picture: Supplied

Part of her prize was a label deal with Sony Music Australia, which she left in 2020 and signed to ABC Music.

Im was grateful to have strong support from her management team, and husband, Noah.

“Being a part of a system that was really unfair and disrespectful to the artist was definitely tough, that’s an understatement,” Im explained.

“For so many years I felt like I didn’t have a voice and I wasn’t allowed to speak up on anything and not be able to be an artist that I want to be, otherwise I’d be in trouble.”

Dami Im was interviewed on the Mental As Anyone podcast. Picture Lachie Millard

As a self-confessed introverted extrovert, Im has at times also struggled internally with the level of fame that came with her success.

At school she recalled trying to blend in during class but also wanted to stand out.

“Even at school, I put my hand up to sing, even though it was terrifying, I would go up and everyone would be so shocked that the quiet girl would do that, like they didn’t even know I existed,” she said.

“That’s a weird combination I have that torments me. If you want to stand out, you want to be extroverted and don’t mind and don’t be so stressed about it but I do get really stressed over standing out in front to people. But then I also want it, how strange is that?”

She continued: “You learn to cope with things and you get used to things but I don’t think you fundamentally change the way you’re wired so I think I’ve learned to be able to do it, and then I know how to put myself back together and make myself feel comfortable again, so then I have enough energy to then redo it again.”

Dami Im with husband Noah and son Harrison.

Dami Im with her son Harrison. Picture Lachie Millard

It is not to say Im isn’t grateful for the success and acknowledgment she receives from fans.

“With what I do for work, which is to sing and to make people happy and feel things with my music and sell tickets to come to my concert, being famous definitely helps,” she said.

“It is a privilege that people recognise and they love my music, and it means something to them that they watch me perform somewhere, and it brings them a certain memory in their life – that’s such a privilege and I love that. But then, trying to be relevant and being just famous for the sake of being famous, I do struggle with that.

“If I had a choice, I want people to still love my music and come to my shows and then not be recognised on the streets. That would be the ideal, but I don’t think it works like that.”

* A new episode of Mental As Anyone drops each Tuesday.

Originally published as Dami Im talks about ‘toxic’ music industry on Mental As Anyone podcast