Delta Goodrem on music and being compared to Taylor Swift
After three months of creative isolation of her musician boyfriend, singer Delta Goodrem has emerged with a new album and new resolve to pursue a deeper, more honest connection with her audience.
Stellar
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Delta Goodrem isn’t wearing a scrap of make-up, which is the first thing she mentions to Stellar.
With her high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes, she is, of course, genetically blessed – and like most of us, she’s had little choice but to embrace a more natural look of late.
Having been diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 18, Goodrem is considered immunocompromised and has therefore been observing quarantine restrictions for several months now.
However, the singer tells Stellar, she was already heading down this path long before lockdown meant easy access to beauty salons and hairdressers was no longer an option.
At the start of the year, she chopped her signature long tresses into a textured bob, and stopped relying on the fake lashes and overt make-up that have dominated beauty trends in recent years.
“I do think we’re moving away from that look,” she says.
That might not be the case for everybody, but I feel like it’s right for me. It’s been quite liberating, in retrospect, to take off the eyelashes and heavy glam and keep it natural. That’s at the core of who I am. I want to feel that connection to people and for us to see each other as our real selves.”
Australia, and indeed the world, has seen a lot of Goodrem in the first half of 2020, starting with her triumphant performance at Fire Fight Australia to help raise money for bushfire relief.
The gig saw her performing alongside national music legends Olivia Newton-John and John Farnham, and international acts such as Queen + Adam Lambert, k.d. lang and Michael Bublé. Now – given live music events will almost certainly be one of the last things to resume once pandemic restrictions are more broadly lifted – Goodrem tells Stellar that entire day in February “feels like a lifetime ago”.
“Even thinking about that concert now makes me teary. It was a very special moment of unity for our country, before we knew how much more we were going to have to endure and overcome.”
Last month Goodrem was at it again, performing for charity from within the walls of her own home. She says her answer was an immediate and enthusiastic “yes” when organisers Global Citizen and Lady Gaga invited her to join the talent line-up for One World: Together At Home, a festival to support the World Health Organisation’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund. As the only Australian-based artist on a roster that featured Elton John, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones, Goodrem was beamed to an estimated 270 million viewers around the globe – many of whom lavished her with praise.
Social media lit up with comments like, “I don’t know who Delta Goodrem is, but oh my God that voice!” and “Whoever Delta Goodrem is, she is astounding”.
Goodrem’s local fans made sure she saw the feedback from her new-found admirers.
She erupts in peals of laughter as she recalls one particularly effusive observation that stood out: “[It read] ‘She’s like a Victoria’s Secret model with the voice of Celine Dion, the songwriting skills of Taylor Swift and the heart of Princess Diana’. I said to my producers, ‘Just so you know, this will be my introduction from now on,’” Goodrem says.
“I want this to be my bio forever.”
It’s a strange time to be a celebrity, with many questioning their relevance as people look to frontline workers as role models during the pandemic.
Gal Gadot’s attempt at a roundelay of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ with her famous friends was met with ridicule, while several A-listers have been criticised for discussing the stifling nature of lockdown from their multimillion-dollar homes.
Yet Goodrem, who has copped plenty of backlash throughout her career, has managed to stay in the public’s good graces.
“I … I don’t know the answer to that,” she replies after a lengthy pause when asked why she thinks that is.
“All I know is that when real things happen in life, you have to go with your gut. I’m not really trying to do anything. With my heart and intention in the right place, I am just being myself.”
That’s certainly what she seeks to do every Thursday evening, when she invites followers into her home via social media with The Bunkerdown Sessions, wherein she sets herself up at her piano in front of a wall of ARIA Awards and performs 30-minute sets of her own hits.
This week, Goodrem surprised followers by performing her new single, ‘Keep Climbing’, from her upcoming album for the first time.
She says: “The song is about reflecting on the stillness of one’s first steps before starting a new journey. It’s the moment in between where you were and where you are going in your life, and that even if your journey hasn’t been perfect, you live in hope that it leads to a bridge over troubled dreams.”
It’s all a sharp contrast to her last public performance – from playing to 70,000 people in a stadium to singing for a virtual audience in her own living room.
“It’s been a drastic change,” she admits.
“Especially for somebody who is so tactile, like myself. But I’ve always understood that change is inevitable, and I have been challenged with change often throughout my life.
“I took some time out to feel the anxiety of worrying about my fellow Australians and humans around the world. Then I started to do live shows, because my intent in life has always been to make people feel better and heal through music. I always have.”
The one person who actually is in the living room with Goodrem is Matthew Copley, her boyfriend of two years.
A fellow musician, he accompanies her on guitar, and when she is asked about his presence, the notoriously private Goodrem veers slightly off-script to open up a little about their relationship.
“I am pretty consistent with saying to people that my private life is my private life, but we are spending isolation together and, in our household, we’re both performers. It’s a relationship of respect. Matt is an incredible musician and we really enjoy working together. Music is how we met, it’s what we both do, so it’s really about just being creative in the household.”
Having been in the spotlight since she was 15, Goodrem is well aware that public interest in her personal life comes with the job.
Still, she decided several years ago that she wouldn’t let her love-life – or rather, anybody’s perceptions of it – define her.
“It’s also about me understanding who I was, without other people telling me who I was,” she says.
“At that time I felt there was a bit too much tabloid gossip in my life and I wasn’t driving that. I grew up always willing to give my heart and soul to everybody in public, but I realised that no longer included sharing that side of me and I don’t think I have to. I’m not that person and that’s not my vibe.”
Goodrem’s music will likely provide the clearest insight into that part of her life for the foreseeable future, particularly since she reveals that the pair worked on her forthcoming sixth studio album.
“I would say this is my first ‘woman record’,” she says.
“It’s the first time I’ve opened up and shared these stories. It’s a lot more straightforward with some of the lyrics, but at the same time, I have kept my slightly colourful piano because I love a bit of drama in songs. I always have, right from my Innocent Eyes days.”
A new album is usually accompanied by a tour, and Goodrem says she plans to play for live audiences again.
“I’m ready to go and was ready to announce, but obviously we have to wait and see what the guidelines are, stick to the rules, check in to see when it feels right and make sure we’re all safe.”
For now, she will stay busy filming Nine Network’s The Voice, which returns next week. With Kelly Rowland and Boy George unable to travel, adjustments have been made with coaches and team sessions held via satellite.
The blind auditions from the first four weeks of the series were filmed in February, so the usual competitive dynamic between the coaches will still play out.
With the return of all four coaches (fellow Australian singer Guy Sebastian round outs the panel), the only newcomer is Goodrem’s best friend, co-host Renee Bargh.
“It’s something we both dreamt of since I started the show,” she says.
“We would watch the episodes when we lived together, so I feel like she’s already been part of the journey with me for the past eight years. I think Australia is going to fall in love with her like I love her.”
And for those wondering what a socially distanced season of The Voice will look like, Goodrem is unable to shed much light as producers are still finetuning last-minute tweaks. She has, however, rethought her approach to personal style.
“It’s a glamorous, fantastic show, and I’ve learnt recently there’s a time and place for me to be that version of myself, but it’s also OK to let people see I can be natural.”
This year marks two decades since Goodrem signed her first record deal, and while the crises that have defined 2020 so far have meant celebrations were somewhat subdued or cancelled, the singer says she was not in the mood for wallowing in nostalgia, anyway.
When Stellar asks which career moments she’s proudest of, Goodrem thinks for a beat before she replies: “The next moment. Can I say that? I feel like I’m still becoming the best artist I can be, each year. I’m going to keep learning and growing. My new album is the best I’ve made. So hopefully, my next moment makes me the proudest.”
The Voice returns 7pm, May 24, on the Nine Network. Delta’s new single ‘Keep Climbing’ is available to stream now. https://smarturl.it/DG.KeepClimbing