Interview: Vanessa Amorosi
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Talented Australian vocalist Vanessa Amorosi has just released her fourth studio album ‘Hazardous’ in the UK, following the release of her new single ‘This Is Who I Am’. It’s a collection of hard-edged, guitar pop and electro anthems that ache with attitude and was mixed in LA by Chris Lord-Alge, the studio genius behind much of Green Day, My Chemical Romance and Stevie Nicks.
To date Vanessa Amorosi has sold over 2 million albums internationally and the new album has already reached gold sales in her homeland Australia. Throughout her 10 year career, the APRA Award-winning singer songwriter has also been involved in many impressive musical collaborations most recently with Mary J. Blige and major international events such as the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Vanessa took some time to chat to GigJunkie about the new album ‘Hazardous’, her everlasting love for Prince and her impending plans for a UK tour.
INTERVIEW:
Q. First off congratulations on just having released your new album into the clutches of UK fans yesterday! How does it feel to be here?
Vanessa Amorosi: Thank you! It’s amazing, I love touring Europe and the UK, it gives me such a buzz and it’s so very different. We did two shows over the weekend and that’s just lit the fire for me, now I’m definitely coming back to tour! I’ve been in the UK for about three and a half months now and I leave tomorrow to go back to Australia for a month but then I’m back here in September.
Q. Are you looking forward to going home for a bit?
Vanessa Amorosi: It will be nice. I’ve got a new single coming out in Australia so it’s going to be a bit of running around the countryside, but you know, at least I’m sort of close to my family and friends.
Q. What can you tell us about the album ‘Hazardous’? How does it compare to your preceding record ‘Somewhere in the Real World’?
Vanessa Amorosi: This is the most rewarding album I’ve ever made. When I first started releasing records I used to write stuff about things that I fantasised about or that I Imagined, but this album is very raw and just talking about the things I’ve kept very private. This is the first connection for me and the people that support my career, it’s getting rid of that missing link that was perhaps evident in my earlier albums.
GigJunkie: I’m sure your fans will appreciate a more personal touch to your music.
Vanessa Amorosi: Yes it makes it so much more rewarding because it’s such a truthful album and it’s talking about my experience so it’s really nice to be embraced for being real.
Q. What song from the new album would you recommend to listeners? Do you have any personal favourites?
Vanessa Amorosi: Not really, there’s not really a specific song that I listen to and go “Yes! This is my favourite!” because it just depends on mood. The fact that all the songs represent a certain time in my life that was difficult makes you feel good because now I look back and laugh at it. I think it’s quite funny that I found those things so hard to deal with.
Q. What was the very first gig you ever went to?
Vanessa Amorosi: My first gig was Primus and my second was Mr Bungle. I loved rock music! I was in rock bands as a youngster but didn’t release a rock album as I was so young looking. I sounded really old but I wasn’t, so I started writing a pop record instead.
Q. What has been your favourite gig that you’ve ever attended?
Vanessa Amorosi: I would probably say Presidents Of The United States Of America. That was my favourite gig ever – it was absolutely wild in the mosh pit! I’ve also seen acts like Lady Gaga and P!nk and I love them all, but when The Presidents came out I was a young kid and it was my first time in a mosh pit and it was just so insane, I never ever forgot it. I don’t even think my feet were touching the ground throughout the whole show, I was just propped up by all the bodies around me.
Q. You have toured with many large-scale artists from Rob Thomas to Kiss, is there still anyone you’d love to share the stage with? Any musical idols?
Vanessa Amorosi: Prince! I love Prince. I think he is a genius. But in saying that I’ve also had great role models through travelling with people like Joe Cocker and Jimmy Barnes.
When I tour back home in Australia, I feel so lucky in the sense that I can jump in two worlds and I’m accepted in those two worlds. I can do those more rocky songs in front of rock crowds and be appreciated and then I can step into the pop world with like Katy Perry stuff and still be accepted there as well. It’s so wonderful how it is at home.
Q. Do you enjoy being a solo artist or do you sometimes wish you were in a band?
Vanessa Amorosi: No I love being a solo artist. I don’t have to ask anybody to approve the decisions of where I’m taking my production *laughs*. In saying that though, I also have a wonderful team, it takes a really strong and passionate team to get music out all over the world. But musically I like the fact that I’m responsible and that I have to deliver and the only person that can let me down is me.
Q. Do you ever find yourself battling pre-performance nerves when singing in front of large audiences or has it become second nature by now?
Vanessa Amorosi: Oh no, it’s so second nature! It’s so part of the routine now, I just don’t see myself being without it.
Q. You obviously go by your full name Vanessa Amorosi – if you ever decided to create a stage name for yourself what would it be?
Vanessa Amorosi: *Laughs* Ohh I remember in the beginning of my career a discussion with my old manager who asked me; “What is your stage name going to be?” and I think for nearly a year and a half we invented some of the craziest names in the world. In the end it just seemed much easier to keep my real name. As far as stage names go, I’d probably just have a symbol and try and do what Prince did. I’d have a really crazy, funny symbol – like a weird V with an elephant or hippopotamus underneath it.
Q. What is the best and worst thing about being a celebrity?
Vanessa Amorosi: Hmm.. I don’t quite think about it, I keep a pretty normal life, as normal as it can be. But I suppose the worst thing about being a celebrity would probably be being judged in a public way. That’s very difficult especially if you stuff up, because there’s nowhere you can go and everybody knows you’ve done something wrong. But at the same time, if I wasn’t famous I wouldn’t be making my own music and enjoying what I am doing now.
Q. Throughout your career, you’ve won many awards, been involved in musical collaborations and major international events – what has been the highlight of your career to date?
Vanessa Amorosi: I think it’s the journey that I have with the people that support me. I’ve grown up with them. I don’t like calling them fans because it feels insincere, I’ve gotten to know my fans really well and I’ve grown with them, they’ve got family and kids of their own and they come along and it’s like an adventure. That’s the best thing about making music; it’s a journey, not a one-night thing. It’s been 10 years in the making and I have a really great bunch of supporters out there.
In fact, at one of the shows I recently did here, my street team, which are my hardcore fans flew all the way out here to come to the shows and support me. I love it! I’m telling you it’s a journey.
Q. What advice do you have for people who want to pave the way for a successful music career?
Vanessa Amorosi: I would say perseverance – you have to work on it every day, nothing happens overnight. It may take you 10 years to get to where you want to be but if it’s really what you want it will be worth spending 10 years, it will be worth the sacrifice.
Q. What can we expect from you in the next few years? What’s in the pipeline for you?
Vanessa Amorosi: Travelling and touring. I really want to start getting a show on the road out here and that’s my aim for the beginning of next year. We’ve got some shows booked in for Germany now, but I really want to tour all of Europe and the UK.
Q. Any final words for your UK fans?
Vanessa Amorosi: Just please check out my new album and make your own opinion on what my music is like and whether it relates to you. And if it does you are more than welcome in any one of my shows and I’d love to hear from you!
www.vanessaamorosi.com/
By Shannon Andreucc
