Q ’n’ A: Samantha Jade

Samantha Jade may only be a relatively new face in the Australian music industry, but she has been heavily entrenched in the American pop scene for years, signing to Jive Records in her teens, before a slew of setbacks saw her return to Australia and quit music. She chats to TMN about her years in the industry, what sparked her drive, and stepping into the smallest shoes in the industry, those of Kylie Minogue in the mini-series Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS.

Prior to entering X-Factor, you’d already been heavily in the industry, from a young age. What drove you towards this so early?

I always, always loved to sing, my whole life, and I just got a very lucky opportunity to play Louisa in the Sound of Music, in Perth, and I loved it. That’s when I thought, “I want this to be my job”. That’s when I took it really seriously, and it just became a whole different thing. From there I got signed when I was 15, so young, so I sort of fell into it. But with the opportunities I had, I thought, “Why not take advantage of all of this?”

Did it feel like the process was moving too quickly, because you were young, or slowly, because of all the eventual hold-ups?

At different ages there were different feelings. When I was younger, I just worked really, really hard and didn’t have any other thought: I only knew to work hard. That was all I knew, that was my life, and I was fully in the industry. You know, you can sing and do music, and you can be “in the industry” and they are totally different things, so my head was “industry” and just working hard – singing every day, and if you’re not singing, then working on singing, and working on being better.

Then, at 21 I lost my deal, so when I was around that age, I thought “Oh no, has this all been a waste of time?” But then, when I went on The X-Factor, thank God I’d done all that, because it just became the best training you could ever have had.

And you were very young when you signed to an American major label. Did you have any previous idea of what that world was about?

No. I loved music and I loved pop and I knew some producers’ names, but not at all. I’m from Perth, we don’t even have the kind of industry that even Sydney has, you know? So, I didn’t really know that kind of world.

And it was performing in a musical that made you want to be involved in music. Did you originally want to follow that path, before you got signed and deemed a pop artist?

I kinda did, because I did school plays and all that stuff, but I always wrote music. Not actual music, but lyrics and melodies; I had this keyboard that my cousin left at my house, and I started writing, and I kinda knew that pop was going to be my thing. I knew I wanted to be a pop singer but I knew it was going to be a hard transition.

After X-Factor was there the feeling that things were back on track, or did it feel like a different thing altogether?

No, that was when I was like, “Oh, okay, thank God it worked out.” Before that, I had given up on music completely.

What were you doing at that time?

I was working with my dad, in a mining warehouse.

Wow.

Totally different thing, but I need that: I needed to leave L.A. and Hollywood and that whole vibe, and I needed to come home, and I needed to be with family, and I needed to be completely out of that, to be able to love it again. I’d lost my love for music because it was such a job, and such a soul-destroying process at the end. I needed to go back to where it all started, which was loving to sing. So when I went on X-Factor, that was when I rediscovered my love for it.

It does have a lot of live performance elements as well. It’s show business in a more traditional sense.

Exactly! ‘Cos I was a studio artist. I was in the studio all the time, writing and recording. It is very different to performing live.

It’s building not performing.

Exactly. And for a singer, the best part is always just singing live.

And, after not doing that from 15 to 21. That’s six years of being in a studio.

And I never got to actually show the public. Which is who you want to get to, obviously: the people, and it was always the industry people, the gateholders and all that stuff. And that’s always harder, so it was nice to actually get feedback from people.

Were you ever scared of Hollywood or LA? You were thrown in early and it’s a big machine.

I didn’t have that feeling when I was younger, because you know when you’re, like, 15? I wish I was 15 again because you’re so confident and it’s all new.

The world is Disneyland.

“Oh my God, look, it’s amazing.” Exactly. I was in that mind-frame, so I never got scared of it. But at the end… Hollywood’s a great place when you’re doing well. Then when you’re not, it’s a really, really cold, harsh place to be. So at the end there I just wanted to get out. I was done with it.

And what are your feelings now, a few years removed from it?

I don’t miss living in LA. I went back there a few months ago, and I was only there for a week, and I had a totally different feeling about the city and everything. I think living there is totally different to visiting. I will never live there again.

Where are you based now?

Sydney. Perth will always be home. I have all my family there, I still have the house I grew up in there. I miss it a lot. I try to get home at least once a month.

So, Kylie Minogue.

[hushed] I know!

How did that come about? There are obvious similarities; were you scouted for that role?

They asked me to audition, and I said to my management, “Are you sure, everything’s going good right now, I don’t want to wreck anything” and they were like, “no, no, no, just go” so I went in, got a few callbacks, then found out I got the role. But I was a little nervous to play her because of all the comparisons. But I think playing an Australian icon is such an honour, why wouldn’t you take it? And I’m obviously playing a part, and that’s going to show.

Did the acting side of things make you nervous, or was it exciting?

I’m excited now, I was really, really nervous before my first day of shooting – I was freaking out. But I actually really love it. I think I’ve kinda gotten the acting bug they say you get. I get it. I get why it’s fun.

It’s a whole different form of collaboration too, which must be fun?

Yes! And there’s no singing in the role, which I’m really proud of. I really like that.

How much research did you do into Kylie’s life?

I watched a lot of interviews, because obviously I have to play her. But there’s not a lot on her and Michael – she doesn’t really speak about it. She’s very vague about it. I watched her concerts, read how she answered questions [in interviews] and what she is like.

Were you worried the film might take precedence over your pop career, or at the least, halt it briefly.

No, I think it’s going to be another great element in building a career. Plus, I’m such a small role in the film.

How’s the shooting schedule going?

I’ve actually only got one scene left, and I’m shooting it tomorrow. So it’s nearly done. It’s gotten easier. I’m comfortable with the director and the actors and the set. Once you become comfortable in the atmosphere, it’s just easier. It’s not easy, but it’s easier.

Musically, what are you listening to at the moment?

I always listen to Beyonce. She’s my queen of all queens, I’ve been listening to a lot of Frank Ocean. A lot of old stuff, old R’n’B. Lana Del Rey, I’ve been listening to. Because I’m in songwriting mode, and studio mode, it’s good to have your ears open to everything. She’s amazing, she’s a great writer. And she’s been in the industry for years. Years. I heard about her years ago, and she’s changed her whole look and everything.

You must relate to her long stint in the industry working hard, before she “popped out of nowhere.”

I know. When I got signed, Chris Brown got signed, a year after I did! I went to his showcase, we shared a showcase, we both sang, and then his record came out and blew up, and obviously, mine didn’t – but it’s weird how you know these people from so far back, they’ve been in the industry for years and years trying to make it.

What do you think would have happened had your record blown up when you were 16? How would you have handled it, do you think?

I don’t know. I mean, and I can only say this now, but I’m very happy it’s happened now, because I don’t know… I think I would have been different. I’m glad I had that time to go back and work with my Dad and have that life. I’m actually really happy I did that, because I can appreciate stuff a lot more now.

It’s almost like a gap year.

Exactly. Because I never had that. I left and didn’t go to my school ball. Little things, but those things matter, you know? So, I think I had a nice time going, “I need to have a second” because I know what it feels like to have nothing. It’s nice.

Do you think it has informed your career decisions? As in, you know the traps, and that when you sign on to something, it may not materalise for five years, if at all?

Yeah. Still, even when I was talking about this single [Firestarter] coming out, I have such a fear that it’s not actually going to come out. Because that happened to me for so long, I did all this press in the States about my album, “I’ve got an album coming out”, and it never did. So that’s always going to be a fear in the back of my head.

Does it make it harder to appreciate things, like “this can all be pulled away”?

Yeah, that’s always a fear for me. Always: that it’s all going to be taken away from me any second.

That’s a shame.

I know. It’s terrible. I’m working on it.