Tina Arena: ‘You can’t just slam a border shut’

In an honest interview, Australian musician Tina Arena fires up about the state of the entertainment industry and why she refuses to cancel her nation-wide tour.

Tina Arena has gone bush for her Stellar cover shoot, road-tripping to a friend’s house in regional Victoria to soak up the sunshine and wide-open space.

She is thrilled to be out of lockdown, and even a sprained toe won’t stop the musician channelling her inner child and climbing a tree – in a designer gown, no less.

“You have to get off the couch at a certain point,” Arena says, drawing a line under 2020’s communal limbo.

“You can’t stay in trackies and Ugg boots forever. You can get horribly used to it – I am struggling getting into high heels again. It does feel strange getting dressed up, but I like that it signifies that I’m going back to work and doing something that I love and something that I’ve missed.”

“You have to get off the couch at a certain point. You can’t stay in trackies and Ugg boots forever.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

Rewind a year and Arena was ensconced in her Melbourne home, interviewing contemporaries on her Instagram page and dodging constant requests to sing. Watching the industry she’d been a part of since she was an eight-year-old on Young Talent Time grind to a halt and seeing friends suffer meant she wasn’t really in the mood to bust out a tune.

In any case, Arena had left her major record-label contract, was self-managed and had no particular desire to make music again.

By the time October rolled around, Arena had gone to France to see family and took a brief detour to Stockholm, where she wound up writing songs with Mattias Lindblom and expat Aussie Tania Doko (Bachelor Girl), who had worked on her most recent albums.

“Something clicked in me,” Arena recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘OK, I’m ready for this.’ It was an awakening. Pandora’s Box opened.” Armed with a handful of new songs and a headful of ideas, Arena signed off on her first national tour since 2017’s Innocence To Understanding Greatest Hits tour; at one point she thought that jaunt might have been her final hurrah.

“I’m not cancelling my tour. I refuse to. I don’t feel it’s fair to work on a concert under the guise it may not happen.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

If all goes to plan, May’s Enchanté: The Songs Of Tina Arena tour will be one of the first big-scale musical treks across Australia this year, with mostly indoor shows. Promoters may be sweating daily over possible border closures and venue restrictions, but Arena has nothing but confidence.

“I’m not cancelling my tour. I refuse to. I don’t feel it’s fair to work on a concert under the guise it may not happen. We need to get on with our lives. I miss live music. I miss looking forward to something.”

Musicians from around the globe have highlighted the many people and their families struggling as a result of their industry being at a virtual standstill for the past 12 months, and it’s with them in mind that the 53-year-old vows to forge ahead.

“It’s about the crew, the technicians, roadies, promoters, hospitality, venues, security – the whole infrastructure involved in putting a show on. It’s crucial that this tour goes ahead to honour what it is that we do.”

Naturally, the shows will follow all the necessary regulations in each state. But Arena expresses frustration at the slow return to live music in comparison to other events that draw crowds.

“You just can’t slam a border shut because someone’s sneezed. And I mean that respectfully.” (Picture: Damian Bennett)

“I just don’t understand why sporting events have been allowed to continue while major live-music events haven’t. The states need to be more measured and proportionate in their responses to what we’re going through. You just can’t slam a border shut because someone’s sneezed. And I mean that respectfully.”

When Arena returned home to Melbourne to launch her tour, a rumour – seemingly emanating from a real-estate agent – spread that she was selling her home and relocating to France. She isn’t, but that didn’t stop a reporter from knocking on her front door unannounced and firing off questions about her house plans and relationship status.

The crossing of a personal boundary saw Arena draw her own line in the sand, for the first time in her career.

“That was mind-boggling to me, that someone would do that,” Arena said. “It was the precise moment I thought, ‘OK, I need to protect my loved ones and my family.’ My private life is my private life now; it’s off-limits. I am a public figure, but I’ve never played that game. I’d hope people will now respect that.”

Arena’s new boundaries also extend to social media. While the singer upped her exposure on platforms such as Instagram and Twitter last year, she’s once again reverted to her hands-off approach.

“I was overwhelmed to the point where I had to stop; I was a bit fragile,” the singer admits. “That wasn’t my world and it still isn’t. I struggle with a teenage son, who, like all our teenagers, has developed an extraordinary addiction to social media and his phone.”

Arena plans on performing a few of the new songs she wrote in Stockholm on her new tour, which she says will delve into chapters of her career she’s never presented on stage before, as well as her classic hits like ‘Chains’ and ‘Sorrento Moon’.

“Social media will never stimulate you like a live concert does.” (Picture: Supplied)

“It’ll be wonderful to feel that human energy, to watch people immerse themselves in music and emotions again.” (Picture: Supplied)

“The new music is live, no computer programming,” she says. “It’s really special. It’s about as raw and organic as it can possibly get.” And while she may now have new management, Arena has no desire to rejoin the world of major record labels, and says she will release the new music independently.

“No-one really talks about albums anymore. It’s all about playlists. So, I’ll give you a song for your playlists if that’s what you want.”

She’s long fought for artists to have more control over their intellectual property and notes how Taylor Swift is highlighting how even the biggest acts, like her, can still end up in deals that force them to re-record their music so that they can own it instead of a multinational company. And Arena is proud to be a survivor, even with a few scars.

Tina Arena stars on the cover of this Sunday’s Stellar.

“Oh, believe me, I’ve been through a few tsunamis, I’ve had my fair share of questioning the role I play in my job. Through adversity always comes wonderful art.”

First up, her return to the live stage. She is acutely aware it will take some adapting to – for the audiences and for herself.

“I know I’m going to have to really focus so I don’t get overemotional. I’ll almost have to go into character a bit in order to preserve myself. But it’ll be wonderful to feel that human energy, to watch people immerse themselves in music and emotions again. Social media will never stimulate you like a live concert does.”

Enchanté: The Songs Of Tina Arena starts May 2. See tinaarena.com for more information.

Originally published as Tina Arena: ‘You can’t just slam a border shut’