Delta Goodrem: ‘The hate just washes off me’
SHE is as popular as she is polarising — and now after months of being trolled, Delta Goodrem has had her final say on those who criticise her every move.
Stellar
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In the same week that an Australian magazine claimed Delta Goodrem was locked in a bitter feud with Olivia Newton-John, the two singers were actually having dinner in Melbourne. Despite what was being reported — that Newton-John was “losing sleep” and “horrified” over Goodrem’s portrayal of her in the Seven Network miniseries Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You — Goodrem had in fact invited her friend and mentor to a meal at her dad’s house. It was one of several times the two caught up during Newton-John’s trip home to promote her Cancer Wellness & Research Centre.
“My relationship with Olivia is what matters to me,” Goodrem tells Stellar. “I do not play into the delusions of others. I do not play into the storyline being made. I can’t control them. And it is irresponsible. Where is the line between reality and illusion? There needs to be accountability — hypocrisy is rife.”
Around the same time more headlines flew — stories written by websites trawling Twitter to cherry-pick nasty comments about Goodrem’s performance in the series. As the program went to air, online commenters claimed Goodrem had sunk the first episode, despite not appearing on screen for the first 40 minutes. A few even claimed that actor Morgan Griffin, who played the young Newton-John, boasted a better voice than her older co-star. One small problem: she was miming to vocals laid down by Goodrem.
Others fixated on an interview in which Newton-John said she would not watch the show. Some pointed out the program’s low ratings compared to its juggernaut time-slot competition: the Nine Network’s The Voice, which Goodrem, 33, first joined as a coach when the series launched in 2012.
Goodrem now tells Stellar she foresaw the barrage of disdain that came her way. “The backlash was so predictable. I could have written some of the comments myself in advance they were so obvious. It would be nice if we had a little more oxygen towards people appreciating the hard work of Australian actors and the people who work on TV shows. Or any field. I’m not in the business of television programming, I don’t get a say of when things go to air. But I would have loved for there to be space around the project. We worked so hard on it.”
The dual airing of the programs came in the wake of Goodrem releasing a new single and having recently performed at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony. It all created a perfect storm for a little fatigue — and the kind of knee-jerk negativity that now makes her yawn.
“I totally get it,” Goodrem admits. “There’s been so much of me this year. It’s just that all these projects happened to come up or come out in the first half. It’s an amazing problem to have, 17 years into my career. I’m very proud of that. And I focus on that.”
Not surprisingly, she is sick of discussing what it is about her that rubs some people the wrong way. And she long ago stopped reading the more unforgiving commentary. “Unfortunately we’re living in a time when the negative view is what gets the most oxygen. It’d be nice if clickbait was positive. It’d be nice if it was even half and half — I’d settle for 50/50!” Still, she insists, “I know life can’t be a bed of roses. I take on the fact I’m always learning. I don’t profess to be perfect at anything. I just do my very best. I’m a hard worker.
“I was having this full circle moment with the Olivia project. When I got signed [as a teenager] they asked me who I wanted to be, and I said Olivia Newton-John. Now I get to sing these songs like ‘I Honestly Love You’, the first songs I remember singing — this was my childhood coming to life. Nothing was going to stop my heart being completely filled with love and appreciation for getting to do this.”
Goodrem’s career has, ironically, taken a similar trajectory to her mentor’s. The miniseries demonstrated how Newton-John suffered criticism in her ’70s and ’80s heyday for musical choices and acting decisions — she just didn’t have social media to contend with. Nasty comments were filtered out when managers read through fan mail; these days, they pop up directly onto the celebrity’s phone thanks to comment threads.
As with Newton-John, some struggle to accept Goodrem might just be that nice — surely there has to be a dark side. “I wouldn’t have been around this long if I didn’t genuinely have lovely connections with people,” Goodrem says. “The [backlash on social media] is actually quite boring; it’s not even a conversation for me anymore — except for the fact that I don’t get why people are wasting their time.
“I worry more about other people,” she continues. “I spoke to the people who worked on the [Olivia] show: ‘Are you guys OK? Me, I’m great...’ How lucky am I? The Voice is still killing it, Nine were amazing to let me work on [a separate] project that I was so passionate about. I got to continue to act, to find projects that challenged me and write the best music I possibly could.”
The latest season of The Voice will draw to its conclusion tonight. And six years in, Goodrem still takes her role as a coach just as seriously as she did when she first walked onto set. When she’s not with her contestants during the series she’s talking to them at all hours on the phone. “They’re stepping into a new world,” she explains. “It’s like you get to revisit the very start of your own career. You have to go back into your memory and help them walk through what they’re going through.”
And it doesn’t end when the show does — Goodrem still chats with previous contestants such as season two’s Celia Pavey, who has blossomed into the internationally recognised recording artist Vera Blue. “I tried my best to choose artists who are like-minded souls to me,” Goodrem says. “If they’re an open person, you’re a mentor for life. I’ve got mentors — whether I speak to them once a month or once every six months, I know they’re there, and I can talk something through with them. So I take the role as mentor very seriously as a human, not just as someone who is part of a TV show.”
The show may throw around terms like “superstar” freely, but Goodrem is the first to teach her team about how tough the music industry really is. “I know how utterly heartbreaking it can be for kids,” says Goodrem, who signed her first record deal at the age of 15. “I’ve experienced both sides. I wouldn’t change that. It’s made me who I am today. I’m intuitive because I’ve been tested. And how cool to be able to pass that on to other people.”
Goodrem continues this hands-on relationship with her fans: earlier this year she embarked on a string of in-store appearances to sign copies of the soundtrack to the miniseries. In an era of digital downloads and streaming, face-to-face promotion of physical albums is practically a dying art.
But it is one Goodrem is happy to keep practising — in the past, she’s stayed at shopping centres for seven hours, not wanting to disappoint anyone who’s waited in line. Some artists do a quick, clinical signature and remain aloof; Goodrem is a hugger who takes photos, remembers people’s names and life stories and tries to make the meet-and-greet as personal as possible.
“People share these beautiful stories with me. Phones are great, but the real human touch is something I cherish. People can’t imagine the connections I’ve made over the years that I’m so thankful for. So I just don’t understand why people would want to try and suggest there’s anything but love there. Love is stronger. That’s my everyday.”
She is wary of talking about it for fear some may feel she is merely exploiting it, but Goodrem also speaks to cancer patients around the country on a regular basis. As a survivor of Hodgkin lymphoma, she knows what they’re going through.
“Of course I’m going to reach out,” she says. “I’ll spend 40 minutes on the phone with a kid in a battle with cancer. I get so many messages about [people] going through the battle. If I can slightly improve someone’s day by talking to them, having a real conversation and hopefully giving them some strength, that’s a beautiful thing. It’s an incredible gift to be able to make someone feel better, even if it’s for just a day. That’s real life. The other stuff is not real life. The other stuff — the hate — it just washes off me. Part of me wants to thank those people who made me this strong to be able to brush it off — because it’s really freeing.”
She has been inspired by the legacy of Newton-John, a fellow survivor who created her Cancer Wellness & Research Centre and fully committed to supporting it, even during her latest health battle. (In May 2017, Newton-John announced her breast cancer had returned after 25 years in remission.) “I’d love to make a difference and have the kind of impact she does — it’s incredible,” says Goodrem.
For now, though, she plans to make more new music and spend time at her house in LA, where a team headed by A-list music manager Irving Azoff (Bon Jovi, the Eagles, Christina Aguilera) is based. “It’s been a huge year already,” she says. “I look forward to putting my feet up for a second.” She’s even spoken to fellow The Voice coach Kelly Rowland, who she also counts as a good friend, about a collaboration. The only hurdle: “We just have to find the right song.”
In April, her single ‘Think About You’ became Goodrem’s 21st top-20 hit. The lyrics — about picturing a man naked — were seen as her ‘Physical’ moment, as when Newton-John’s image matured overnight.
“I’ve taken a relaxed approach this year,” Goodrem admits. “There doesn’t have to be so much gravity on every single thing you do. I maybe haven’t been so playful in my music before. Even back at school I remember being silent when I was doing singing and dancing because I just wanted to learn, but for the rest of the classes you couldn’t shut me up. Now I feel I’ve finally merged all sides of my personality. I’m free to be exactly who I am. It’s a great bridge to the next phase of music for me.”
While she reveals she’s about to become an aunt for a second time (through brother Trent and his wife Carly), Goodrem — who was once engaged to Brian McFadden and has been linked to everyone from Nick Jonas to Harry Styles — still politely declines to discuss her love life. “Most people are fine with that, but it has meant some magazines now just make up their own versions, which my family don’t really find that amusing. So I don’t know which worked better!”
The Voice airs at 7pm tonight on the Nine Network.
Originally published as Delta Goodrem: ‘The hate just washes off me’