Samantha Jade: ’LA left a big scar on me’

SINGER Samantha Jade talks to Stellar about Kylie Minogue, Eurovision and why she’d never return to the US music industry.

Samantha Jade admits to Stellar that she’s still never met Kylie Minogue after playing the pop icon in a mini-series. Picture: Peter Brew-Bevan

Singer Samantha Jade talks to Stellar about meeting Kylie Minogue, karaoke and why she’d love to do Eurovision.

Your fellow The X Factor alumni Dami Im and Isaiah have done well at Eurovision. Do you have plans to follow in their footsteps?

Of course, if I were asked, I wouldn’t say no. It’s such an honour to represent Australia on that European stage. I didn’t get to see it this year because we were on tour, but I Googled Isaiah’s performance and he was amazing. I love it; I love the costumes and the drama of it all.

Samantha Jade tells Stellar would love to try her hand at Eurovision. Picture: Stephen Cooper

Before you won The X Factor in 2012, you tried to break into the US market. Would you ever try again?

No, I don’t think I’d want to. It was a very tough situation. I had some really bad people in my inner circle, who I had no idea were bad. It’s left a big scar, so LA is just a holiday destination for me now.

Do you look back on that period with anger?

I did for a long time. Then when I lost my mum [to cancer in 2014], it put everything into perspective. I thought, “You can’t do this to yourself, as they’re walking around blissfully unaware and you’re angry and it’s bad for your health.”

When you moved back from the US, you worked at your dad’s mining factory. At that point, did you think you would have this success?

No way. I had completely given up and went through a phase where I couldn’t even listen to the radio. Being an artist, music is what you live, breathe and eat. So to go from that to working in a warehouse in hi-vis and steel-capped boots was like, “Where is my life going?” It was tough; I didn’t think I’d recover. But the thing about life is that you always do recover.

Pictured at the 2016 ARIA Awards, Samantha Jade reveals she wouldn’t ever try to crack the US market again. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

You played Kylie Minogue in the 2014 miniseries Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story Of INXS, but had never met her. Have you bumped into her yet?

I still haven’t met her! Can you believe it? She gave me tickets to her concert, so I’ve seen her perform. But I haven’t met her in the flesh. I’ve met Dannii [Minogue] and she’s so lovely. She texts me and is such a supporter. She’s always like, “We need to make this happen!” So, it’ll happen one day.

What’s your go-to karaoke song?

I’ve never done karaoke. My friends always want to, but because I’m a singer it’s not fun – it’s my job. But if I was going to, I’d sing ‘You’re The Voice’ by John Farnham.

This story appears in Stellar June 18.

Do you have an onstage alter ego, like Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce?

I do. I’m actually really shy if I’m not performing. If I go to a magic show or something and they ask for volunteers, I would never put my hand up. I’d be looking down at my phone thinking, “Please don’t choose me.” I’m different onstage because it’s my job to make these people happy. Even in my music videos, I look back and I’m like, “Who is that?” It’s you, but you just switch on, you do it, you switch off.

You’re about to launch your second cosmetics line with Models Prefer. What’s one of your earliest make-up memories?

My mum was a girly girl, and she used to give me her old make-up to play dress-ups with. I remember using her lipstick when I was five, getting to the door and Mum going, “God, we need to take that off before we go out.”

Samantha Jade’s new single ‘Circles On The Water’ is out now through Sony Music Australia. Samantha Jade For Models Prefer launches in Priceline on June 22.