Top 12 Australian Idol finalist TJ Zimba wants to change the world through music

IT’S rare to meet a 24-year-old who has never had a drop of alcohol – perhaps even rarer than finding your purpose at the same age - but top 12 Australian Idol finalist TJ Zimba has done both and is determined to change the world through music.

Exclusive: IT’S pretty rare to meet a 24-year-old who has never had a drop of alcohol – perhaps even rarer than finding your purpose at the same age, most 20-somethings would argue.

But WA’s top 12 Australian Idol finalist TJ Zimba has done both of those things and is determined to change the world through music – a goal that truly hit home after a skateboarding accident almost changed everything.

“I almost died longboarding down a steep hill,” he tells Insider.

“Through Covid, if you weren’t making banana bread, you were trying things that you shouldn’t be really trying because no one can really stop you,” he laughs.

“And I was watching YouTube videos of people bombing down hills on longboards and I was like ‘that looks so easy, what’s the worst that could happen, right? So let me just find the steepest street and I’ll jump on, no helmet, no padding, nothing.

TJ Zimba has made it to Australian Idol's top 12.

TJ Zimba has made it to Australian Idol's top 12.

“I go down and hit the smallest little rock … I fell off my board after hitting around 50kmh – I spent some time in hospital and not I lost sensation in my arm for weeks, with some fractures too.

“I think after that, I really valued my life a lot more – I saw how many people were dependent on me and how much I actually mattered to my friends and family.

“I changed from being a YOLO kid, to a make every day count advocate.

“I overcame my fear of longboarding eventually by realising that trauma is a long self-journey.

“The physical scars healed faster than the emotional ones.

“But with time, taking it day by day, I made it.

“I love skating now, but oof. I won’t lie, high speeds still scare me – maybe I need to face that hill again.”

TJ Zimba, who has made it to Australian Idol's top 12, pictured with older brother Kuda.

With his sights on a Grammy one day, TJ’s small town upbringing helped him make big goals – and he’s already turning heads on the Idol stage. First judges Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Amy Shark gave him a fast pass to the top 12, and this week he took on Justin Bieber’s Peaches, and with the crowd chanting his name, Kyle wasn’t shy to call him a ‘genius.’

Born in Zimbabwe, TJ moved to New Zealand and ‘all over the place’ until his religious family of seven – of which he’s the middle child – settled in Karratha in the dry land of the Pilbara, where they’ve lived the quiet country life for the last decade.

He’s loved music since his parents got him a Michael Jackson DVD as a young boy. A budding stylist too, he’s always loved creating music – but was 12 weeks from finishing his four-year physiotherapy degree when he auditioned for Idol – an experience that has already changed the trajectory of his life.

“It’s like, live this life like you don’t have a tomorrow, and I guess that’s how I ended up on Australian Idol – I was like, I have to take every opportunity I get,” he says.

“I wanted to be a scientist and help people … but at some point in my life, music just ended up taking over.

Australian Idol's Top 12 will compete live to fight for their place in the competition.

“I just felt like I was born to do this.

“Fast forward to being in Karratha and being like, why am I here, this is not it – and then my view changing.

“It was my mum – she was like, ‘if you curse the land you live in, you won’t reap from the food that it has to offer’ – and I guess that’s the way I look at life, no matter where I’m at. “I’ll always apply that and look at the beauty and everything.

“And honestly, I love Karratha because it was a place where I could be isolated in my thoughts, seek peace and find solitude.

“I guess that’s why I’m on this to show – it’s time for Australia to move forward and catch up with the rest of the world sonically, but also, WA always gets left behind – it’s always like ‘hey, I’m a big world touring artist and I’m going to go to every city except Perth’ – come on, just please, come to us.

“And doing that, and also realising that there’s a kid in every single small town who wants to be heard and wants to make it out – I’m doing that for them.

“That’s why I’m trying to bring light and unite the country.

“I keep saying it, but ‘dream big enough to take you out of your small town, so you can become big enough to feed them.”

For him, that means keeping his eye on the prize – and not getting swept away by things like alcohol – because he’s never had a sip – and doesn’t plan on it any time soon.

“It’s just self-control – my parents don’t drink – my dad’s never had a drop in his life,” he says.

“I’d go to these parties sober and be like: ‘Why is the floor sticky’?” he laughed.

“Honestly, it’s self control.

“Both my parents don’t drink so it wasn’t something that I grew up with.

“And the idea of not being in control of my body scares the living daylights out of me –

I feel like substance abuse is the destruction of diligence when you’re an artist, – I don’t want to be like those artists who end up becoming dependent on things.

“I’d rather be dependent on God and my family and my friends and my music rather than going down that slippery slope because I feel like once you start, especially as an artist, there’s just no stopping.”

So how’s he adjusting from a quiet life to one in the fast lane of one of the country’s biggest cities?

Australian Idol Judges, Kyle Sandilands, Marcia Hines and Amy Shark. Pic: Channel 7.

“Honestly, it’s just about grounding myself,” he says.

“I think if you’re not constantly reminding yourself, why you’re doing this, and where you came from – you get lost in the sauce.

“I’m not gonna let it distract me.

“I was insecure that everyone can sing better than you on the show – and then you’ve got all this noise – and it’s like no – because in 100 metre race, the more you keep looking to your side, the slower you become.”

And he says it’s not only his sound, but his sense of community – inspired by his life in Karratha – that sets him apart from the other finalists.

“When you live in a place that has nothing – but has so much – you have so much time to think … thinking like that is very hard in a city that’s so noisy because as you’re thinking ‘okay, tomorrow, I want to do this’ and something else pops up,” he says.

“And you have to do this to survive and make it around and not everyone around you is nice, not everyone is trying to get the same thing.

“But in a small city, you can’t be mean because your doctor is your neighbour and you go to school with your neighbour’s son – you learn to build community, and then you learn to look at things from an empathetic view.

The moment TJ Zimba makes it through to Australian Idol Top 12

“This world is not just about you – and realising it’s so much bigger than us.

“And there’s quite a big Indigenous population in my city and I was like man, how can I help y’all? Because it’s a borrowed land – it doesn’t belong to us, it belongs to them, and we can’t keep living here and not give back to the community and not give back to the people who’ve given us such a beautiful place.”

So … can he win?

“I do feel like I’m in my own lane, and that could take me to the grand final,” he says.

“Whether like Australia is ready for someone like me, we’ll see.

“But believe me, I’m going to put in my hard work to convince those who need to be convinced.

“And I really feel like it’s time someone like me won, because the music I make is the music that actually sells.

“I feel like I’m in that category and in that genre where I’m not just a singer coming on to go sing in Vegas – I’m an artist trying to get on Billboard 100, so I can win a Grammy, so I can start my own record label, so I can start a clothing company, so I could feed other countries. “So I can feed and build like hospitals – for me, I’m an artist.

“And I feel like it’s time an artist won it.”

Tonight the top 12 compete live to fight for their place in the competition from 7pm Sunday and 7.30pm Monday-Wednesday on Channel 7 and 7plus