Guy’s self-sabotage fears ahead of ARIA Awards hosting gig
Chart-topper Guy Sebastian is ready to host the 2019 ARIA Awards but he has one big fear before the main event: the voices in his head.
Confidential
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ARIA Awards host Guy Sebastian hopes his “self-sabotage” brain doesn’t switch on during the music industry’s night of nights.
Chart-topper Sebastian, in the hosting host seat for the first time, revealed he always has pangs of doubt before performances.
“It will hit me when I’m side of stage; ‘You’re not a host, you’re a singer.’ I’ve got to block all the noise. There are moments, sometimes when I jump on stage, where my brain is trying to self-sabotage.
“My brain goes, ‘Oh what if the crowd isn’t into it?’ or ‘what if your voice craps itself?’ or ‘what if you forget the words?’ You’ve got to snap out of it.”
Sebastian said he plans to celebrate the Australian music industry, and not his joke writers.
“You need to rip the p--- a little bit. I mean, it’s the ARIAs,” he said.
“But I’ve been yearning for this musical unity that’s happening in our country for so long. It’s a great industry to celebrate. But diverse and unique, but we’re isolated.
“It’s a tough country to succeed in, as a songwriter, as a producer … we don’t have a team of writers sitting there saying: ‘Guy’s doing an album, let’s write a bunch of songs for him.’ When do I ever get songs pitched to me ever?
“It’s not that country, whereas if you’re a big American artist, there are writing camps all over the world. It’s like, ‘Let’s get writing, here’s the brief.’
“Australia, we’re battlers,” Sebastian said. “We do it on our own and forge our own style. It’s a great industry to celebrate.”
The 2019 ARIA Awards will be held in Sydney on Wednesday night.