One Year Later: Jordan Rakei

Welcome to One Year Later, an Industry Observer podcast, presented by APRA AMCOS, where we revisit career changing moments, one year on.

In this episode, Poppy Reid chats to Jordan Rakei, who released his third LP Origin last year.

The discussion takes place at Lomond Rooms studio in London, two days after Rakei’s Songwriter of the Year win at the APRA Global Music Awards.

“The fact that [the award was] from a songwriting society like APRA and I was given Songwriter of the Year even makes it have more weight for me,” he said. “I’ve never won awards, I’ve never thought about awards, and I’ve never tried to write to get anything, but the fact that a community of songwriters and the team at APRA thought that my talent was award-winning is surreal.”

Since relocating to London in 2015, Jordan Rakei has been nominated for Best Independent Album at the AIM Independent Music Awards; he co-wrote ‘Ottelengi’ and ‘Loose Ends’ with UK hip hop artist Loyle Carner for his #3 UK album Not Waving, But Drowning, and he completed a 30 date tour of Australia, the US and Europe, selling out London’s Roundhouse and Melbourne’s Recital Centre.

During the expansive chat – which covers everything from his songwriting process, his ambitions for screen writing and penning children’s books, and how he ensured his move from Brisbane to London was successful – Rakei also talks about mental health in the music sector.

“I’ve been writing with a lot of young artists in the last few months, some who are 19, 20-years-old, and they’re like, ‘Yeah I chat to my therapist about this all the time’. It’s shifted so much in the last five years. But after moving from Australia to London I’ve surrounded myself with so many open-minded people like that. I feel comfortable to share that sort of thing.”

Stream One Year Later with Jordan Rakei below:

Listen to Jordan Rakei’s Origin LP: