Guy Sebastian: Self Conscious
Multiple chart-topping albums, a stack of sonic variations, and a newfound inspiration,Guy Sebastian is (re)writing the tale of a meme-friendly Idol contestant.
What happens in Bali stays in Bali – unless you’re Guy Sebastian of course, whose recent retreat to the island was the birthplace of a stack of all-out radio hits waiting to happen.
He wrote so many bangers in Bali, in fact, that halfway through the interview he remembers one that completely slipped his mind – and consequently, off the final track list.
“I totally forgot about that song and I didn’t put it on the album!” he laughs, making a mental note to ensure the neglected track gets released one way or another soon.
Fourteen years after triumphing on the first season of Australian Idol, Sebastian is the only Australian male artist in ARIA Charts history to achieve six number one singles – the last being 2012’s Lupe Fiasco collaboration ‘Battlescars’ – which went 9x Platinum in the country. Only Delta Goodrem (eight) and Kylie Minogue (ten) can claim more overall.
His new single, ‘High On Me’, sees Sebastian emulate the sounds of past successes – a thumping, falsetto-glazed, Prince-sounding number with a distinct throwback nod to ‘Like It Like That’.
Taken from his upcoming 10th studio album, Conscious – due out in early October – Sebastian admits that the soulful earworm came complementary with some much needed life lessons.
“‘High On Me’ was the first thing that came out of my mouth,” he recalls of the six day sessions, which also spawned the tracks ‘Set In Stone’ and ‘Mind On You’ from 2016 EP Part 1.
“I needed to write something that was fun, that was literally about doing nothing. I get a fair bit of anxiety about doing nothing and I feel like I always have to be learning stuff or finding new sounds and synths, so this song has ended up meaning quite a bit to me.”
Longtime partner-in-crime M-Phazes (aka Mark Landon) produced the track, and what came out was music to Sebastian’s ears. M-Phazes has steered the ship on a handful of Sebastian’s biggest commercial hits in the past, as well as Amy Shark’s ‘Adore’ and Illy’s ‘Catch 22’.
“He’s got this really good way of making something sound really punchy, but still retaining the sensibility of it all. He doesn’t push it to a place of obscurity, he still keeps it pop, understandable and palatable.”
Sebastian took a step back from the noise during the three-year frame after the release of Madness in an effort to approach his art differently – working to master Nat King Cole tunes on the piano and get back to basics.
“There’s a danger in not self-reflecting as an artist – I needed to stop and fall in love with music again,” Sebastian tells TMN.
“I’ve gone away and totally switched software and instruments. I’ve even just got a piano teacher just recently.”
While the singer has embraced a unfetteredapproach to music and life in general, Sebastian is the first to admit his mastery and mentality has shifted dramatically since starting out in 2003, and for the better.
“I feel like only in the last couple of years I’ve really figured out [my] artistry,” he started. “I went into a TV show and got spat out the other side and I had the mentality of ‘don’t screw it up’.
“I needed that time to go, ‘Can I truly say at the end of this project that I gave everything to this on an artistic level, that I stretched myself and pushed the boundaries?’”
For Sebastian, the chance to release another album and depart on an upcoming Australian tour this November proves thathe’s taken many more good steps than bad along the way.
“I wouldn’t change the journey, I guess, because that would change the destination.”