Review’s Isolation Room: Dami Im covers Norah Jones from her Brisbane home
With Greater Sydney now four weeks into a winter lockdown, we’re rebooting Review’s Isolation Room for a second season | WATCH
In the depths of the national lockdown from March to May last year, The Weekend Australian launched a unique video series in which some of the country’s best performing artists turned on a camera, turned on their talent – and let us inside their intimate, creative spaces for the first time.
Named Review’s Isolation Room, the series of 39 exclusive performances from artists including Missy Higgins, Vika & Linda, The Wiggles, Ian Moss and Sarah Blasko offered beauty, comfort and humour – and sometimes all three at once.
Our readers thrilled to these unique takes on well-known hits and surprise cover songs, with the series notching up more than 300,000 views on YouTube.
With Greater Sydney now five weeks into a winter lockdown whose ending is unwritten, we are rebooting Isolation Room for a second season – with the goal of shining a little light into a dark and uncertain time.
First up in the hot seat is chart-topping pop singer-songwriter Dami Im, who this week filmed a stirring solo piano cover of a Norah Jones hit single from her home in Brisbane, complete with an audience of plush toys sitting beside her on the couch. “Come Away With Me is a song that I really enjoy singing, but it also brings back memories of when I loved music for no reason,” says Im, 32, of her selection.
“It wasn’t my job; I just loved it. It’s a special, pretty song that is very uplifting for me, and I wanted people to feel that joy that I feel in it.”
As the title track from the 2002 debut of the US singer, songwriter and pianist, Jones’s signature song has always come across as deeply romantic and enchanting, and Im’s take heightens those sensations.
“When I feel down, I don’t necessarily want to hear a really happy song, or one that’s motivational – I just want to hear something that transports me to another place,” she says. “For me, this song is one of those.”
Thinking back to the national lockdown last year, when all of our plans were scattered to the wind, Im found solace in the art form that had been her full-time profession since she won The X Factor Australia in 2013, signed a record deal, and went on to place second while representing the nation in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest.
“Music became a little purer for me,” she says of that time. “It wasn’t me trying to make something to sell, or thinking about what’s going to work on my album, or anything like that. It was coming from a really pure place of expression.
“I guess people have their different outlets. For me, writing and singing helps to bring meaning to a seemingly meaningless time,” says Im. “It gives value and validation for your existence.”
Like all performing artists, her solo touring plans have been disrupted by viral outbreaks and border closures. During the hiatus, Im has been working on her sixth album, due later this year – her first with ABC Music, after leaving Sony Music last year – and she recently filmed an appearance on Celebrity MasterChef, which will screen in October.
From today, Review’s Isolation Room will publish one new video and story each week.
To revisit our archive, visit theaustralian.com.au/arts/review/isolation-room
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