The Voice winner Lachie Gill’s year of new music – and breakups
The Voice winner Lachie Gill tells Confidential his year since the finale has been “whirlwind” full of emotional turmoil and musical inspiration. Read this and more in Sydcon Unleashed.
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The Voice winner Lachie Gill tells Confidential his year since the finale has been “whirlwind”.
Gill had been dating now ex-girlfriend Yonja Hasan for about a year when he was crowned winner of the reality singing show in 2022
The Melbourne-based singer received $100,000 and a record label deal with Universal Music Australia, and on Friday has released his debut EP Write It Out, alongside his new single Happy It’s Ending.
The music is Gill’s experience of navigating the “massive high of winning a show like that,” while “and trying to enjoy that while working through the break up of my first serious relationship.”
He describes the genre simply as “acoustic and sad piano ballads”.
The 26-year-old said an element of his relationship breakdown was that he’d “entered into something that she hadn’t signed up for.”
“She was a little bit older and we were at different life stages. She was wanting to settle down and I was doing the opposite.”
He’s now single — but the former schoolteacher’s focus is entirely on music.
A less formal break-up that occurred after the win was with Gill’s onscreen musical mentor, Rita Ora.
“We had a few messages right after the show, but I haven’t heard from Rita since then. I haven’t reached out to her either, so I don’t know if she was respond. I’d like to hope she would but I never wanted to jump on her bandwagon to get there,” Gill said.
He added that he would have liked to have been coached by Guy Sebastian because of their common ground.
“He is Australian and I knew I’d see him around in the scene in future but he got blocked by Rita. I understand how busy her life would be. Sometimes I think it would be cool to chat to her, but it doesn’t bother me too much.”
However, Gill said that Rita was “genuine” and “down-to-earth” and often working in her pyjamas while having a cup of tea.
Gill’s next step may be a move to Sydney, to be closer to his record label.
CHAMPION SWIMMER HELPING OTHERS FIND COMFORT DURING TRAUMA
Paralympic champion Ellie Cole says the trauma of childhood cancer is something her family still carries to this day.
Cole, whose right leg was amputated as a result of cancer at the age of two, became Australia’s most decorated female Paralympian when she won her 17th medal at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The recently retired swimmer sees a great deal of herself in “vibrant” 10-year-old Isabelle (Belle) Northey, who she’s been spending time with at Ronald McDonald House in Westmead.
Northey is an aspiring ballet dancer who has osteosarcoma in her leg, while Cole had neurosarcoma that was wrapped around the nerves of her right leg.
Cole’s mother lived at the Ronald McDonald House for close to one year when her daughter was undergoing chemotherapy.
“I would wake up in the middle of the night crying out for my mum, and she was able to put her nightgown on and run across the road and give me a kiss on the forehead and tell me it was going to be okay,” Cole recalled.
“If we didn’t have that house there, my parents lived an hour away from the city, I wouldn’t have had that comfort as a child.”
Cole is one of several celebrity ambassadors for this year’s McHappy Day, which will be held across Australia on Saturday, November 18, and raises funds for Ronald McDonald House charities.
“I don’t have a lot of memories of the House myself because I was so young, but it was an interesting experience entering into the space and trying to see it from my family’s perspective and what they would’ve been through,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s certainly a place where you felt really warm and comfortable from the moment you stepped foot in the door.”
Young Belle taught Cole a few impressive dance moves and has been competing with her at arm wrestling and other games.
“She beat me in every single one, and I wasn’t trying to let her win by any means,” Cole said. “I told her that I’ll train and next time I’ll better, and she told me that I’ll never win. She certainly has a lot of drive and massive sparkle.”
Competitive spirit is something they share, something Cole attributes to being faced with such adversity at a young age.
“You want to prove to the world that you still have so much strength and resilience,” the 31-year-old said. “I have no doubt Belle will go on to do very big things.”
After dominating the pool for almost two decades, Cole hung up her swimming cap and plunged into the deep end of her advocacy and media work. She has signed on with Channel 9 to cover the 2024 Paris Paralympics and Olympics.
Despite all of her successes, though, she said: “I know my family carries a fair bit of trauma. It is really scary when you have a young child and you’re not entirely sure if they’re going to survive or not. When they do – and the chances of that are so low – you still spare a thought for the children that don’t.”
Other celebrities involved in this year’s McHappy Day, with McHappy Time kicking off officially on Wednesday, include Amy Shark, Dylan Alcott, Josh Kennedy and Isaac Heeney.
ARIAS APOLOGISE TO RAPPER AFTER ‘EMBARRASSING’ FAIL
The ARIA Awards has issued an apology to Aussie rapper Kerser after he slammed the recording association for making out he was there.
The bizarre call out came just after the winner of best hip-hop/rap artist was announced and the camera panned to all of the nominees including Tkay Maidza and Flume, OneFour, Kahukx and Kerser.
As the winner Genesis Owusu was announced for his critically acclaimed song Struggler, a shot was shown of someone labelled as Kerser clapping.
ARIA labelled the mix-up as a “production issue”, and said it was never their intention to infer that Kerser was at the awards night.
“A production issue in last night’s live broadcast unfortunately caused two cameras to be on one nominated artist, Kahukx, during the presentation of Best Hip Hop / Rap Release,” an ARIA spokesman said.
“We absolutely respect his position to not attend the Awards and apologise for an error that would imply otherwise.”
It comes after a bewildered Kerser lashed out at ARIA on his Instagram account for “makin out” he was in attendance at its 2023 awards night “when I wouldn’t be seen ANYWHERE near there.”
“I said in 2017 I would never attend an event run by the same industry figures who tried blockin me my whole career,” the Aussie rapper said on Instagram. “They (are) the same ones who hand picked the winners of each award.”
The Campbelltown rapper then called out the recording association for depicting another person as him.
“But mannnnn, they just put on air another artist at a table with a mask on with ‘kerser’ under it acting like im there, and clapping along!”
AWARDS PARTIES KICK ON UNTIL MORNING
The party kicked on well after the ARIAS on Wednesday night, with all the major record labels hosting lavish invite-only after parties around Sydney’s CBD for their staff and stars.
Sony Music hosted their bash at The Ivy, with ARIA Award winners Forest Claudette and Fanny Lumsden celebrating alongside Cosmos Midnight, Marcia Hines and The Wiggles.
Meanwhile, G Flip hosted their own kick ons at The Lansdowne Hotel in Chippendale; UK DJ Joel Corry and pop singer Kita Alexander performed at the 24/7 venue Abercrombie for Warner Music; and Mushroom Records hosted a party at Ace Hotel.
Universal Music painted the town red with a soiree at Shell House, with presenter Christian Wilkins — in an even skimpier outfit than the one he wore to the awards — among the attendees who also included Dermot Kennedy, Baker Boy, Styalz Fuego, Matt Corby, Salty, Charley, and Zia Jade.
Four times crowned ARIAS prince Troye Sivan – who won best solo artist and song of the year – dressed down to a white tank top.
“The ARIAS are always a special night for us,” UMA President Sean Warner said. “It is the one night we can all come together to celebrate the contribution homegrown creativity makes to the music industry in Australia and the rest of the world.”
DJS’ NEW ERA
Fridayz Live is gearing up to bring its electric night of nostalgic hits to Sydney on Saturday night, featuring artists such as Jason Derulo, Boys II Men, and Australian DJ and singer Havana Brown.
Brown said she was very excited to bring her performance to Sydney, calling last year’s Sydney leg of the tour “wild”.
“People were having so much fun, so much dancing, and also I just have a lot of friends there,” Brown said. “It’s just always a great time.”
She said the tour had been “a whirlwind of fun” going straight from the stage to afterparties, and the airport.
“I feel like the vibe of the entire tour is giving me a lot of energy.”
She said audiences could expect to sing, dance, and generally have fun belting out hits, including her new song, Forever Young.
“If you’re on a certain side of the stage, I’m always dancing with the crowd, I love just sucking up the energy,” she added.
Fans won’t have to wait long for even more new hits, with the Australian singer teasing that new music is coming soon.
“It’s a new era for me, I’ve got so much more music coming out,” she said.
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