Thelma Plum shares pain of bullying and harassment on new record I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back

Plums’ deeply personal songs help the artist to heal from past traumas, but she never expected they’d trigger a former bully to reach out to her.

Thelma Plum releases her new record I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back on October 18. Picture: Supplied

Thelma Plum is always nervous about putting her personal songs about racism, sexual harassment and bullying out into the world.

The award-winning singer and songwriter whose debut record Better in Blak propelled her to national acclaim once received an apology from a former school bully after he heard her heartbreaking musical truth bombs.

“I had a boy write to me to say he was sorry for how he treated me at school – it’s mainly the boys. I’m certain it’s because they want … free tickets to a gig,” she said, laughing.

“It’s funny to think about how sexual harassment happens from such a young age and it’s just so casual.

“I was called Thelma Plum with the big fat bum and they would pinch my butt and it was such a normal thing. It’s crazy how insidious it is from such an early age.”

Thelma Plum releases her new record I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back on October 18. Picture: Em Jensen / Supplied.

As the Gamilaraay woman, musician and creator releases her second record I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back next week, she hopes no young Indigenous girl ever has to relate to her brutally raw songs about her struggle to belong.

She draws from the trauma of her childhood, her experiences of racism and exclusion, in the deceptively pretty pop song All The Pretty Horses.

Plum sings how she was only five when she “found life was a little less black and white” and at age 10, she “taught herself how to live more like her friends. They had these big houses and pretty little horses, she never knew how to fit in.”

The songwriter is proud of her work and recognises creating art out of pain is a cathartic exercise and gives her “ownership over the story.”

The woman who has to sing the song worries how sharing her personal struggles will affect her mental health.

“Trauma seeps into every single part of your life, especially when it’s intergenerational trauma, and it sucks sometimes when things keep happening,” she said.

“I’m sure everyone would just get over it if they could but I’m definitely a mentally ill girly, that’s who I am and that’s life.

“It would be my dream that if one day, nobody relates to that song.”

Plum limits her interactions with social media after years of copping more online abuse than most pop stars.

It’s a very different experience when this big gig specialist stands on stage with her sheer talent, resilience and star presence thrilling thousands of fans, as she did opening for Coldplay in Perth last year.

Plum rips open her diary for the ultra personal songs on her new record. Picture: Em Jensen / Supplied.

Ahead of her album launch tour which kicks off on October 24, Plum said she is pumped about reconnecting with her community of music lovers.

“I do feel really lucky. Not to toot my own horn but every time we play festivals, the promoters will say ‘Your fans are very nice,’” she said. “They’re very sweet and respectful and I feel like I would happily have dinner with them.”

Many of those fans in her hometown of Brisbane will be delighted to find some Easter eggs in the lyrics inspired by reading the work of another of the city’s favourite sons Trent Dalton.

“I love Trent Dalton; he inspired one of the songs when I was reading Lola in the Mirror!” she said.

The new record is likely to further boost her considerable presence in the streaming ecosystem where her songs have generated more than 182 million plays on Spotify alone.

Her biggest hit on streaming is Homecoming Queen, the song which makes her cry every time she hits the bridge “Cause in 1967 I wasn’t human / And in 1994 I was born / I’m still here / We are still here.”

I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back closes with the track I Don’t Play That Song Anymore.

So fair warning that song is probably How Much Does Your Love Cost, the breakthrough single she released as an emerging teenage artist back in 2014.

“I just don’t like singing it … I was different then,” she said.

I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back is out on October 18 and you can pre-order or pre-save the record via https://thelmaplum.lnk.to/ImSorryNowSayItBack

For all tour and ticket details, https://www.thelmaplum.com/shows