Project Description
Interview with
ODETTE
Interviewer – Nik Solomou
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Hearing Odette discuss her debut record is the musical equivalent of a painter sitting before a canvas, brush in hand. She’s an artist prepared to make her mark. The 21-year-old may be a relative newcomer on the music scene, but her arrival has been a long time in the making.
Nik Solomou caught up with Odette today and asked some searching questions about life, and her new debut album.
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Hi Odette! How are you?
Hey! I’m very, very well.
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It’s lovely to speak to you! Thanks for taking the time.
No worries at all!
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As I was doing a little research into your story, I came to the realisation that Odette is actually your middle name. How did you come to the decision to use Odette as the persona for your music career?
It’s not a very romantic story…it’s literally just I was ten, and loved Rihanna. I found out that Rihanna was her middle name, and was like, ‘you know what! I love that!’ So I went to my mum and asked “do I have a middle name”, and she said “Yeah, it’s Odette”, and I was like ‘cool! Cool cool cool, that’s the go!’
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So, to your debut album ‘To a Stranger’; I must take a little minute to congratulate you for this beautiful work of art. It is truly remarkable, and I just loved it.
You actually began creating this album a few years ago though, didn’t you?
Yeah! Some of the songs on it are actually four years old, and really teen-angsty songs. But the actual album was in the works about two years ago now. That’s when I met Damian, who produced the record, and it kicked off from there.
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How did it feel to have such a long-term project finally come to fruition?
Oh gosh! So, so good! It’s been a long time coming, and I have just been through some things! So this is going to be fantastic to put out. I worked really hard on it, so I really hope people like it.
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I’m sure they will! Like I said, I loved it, so I’m really excited for everybody else to hear it! As I’m sure you are!
Definitely.
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The themes you explore in this album, (personal trauma, and the intricacies and complexities of relationships, loss and pain), are universal themes, but they’re really, deeply personal.
To construct music and lyrics around these themes, I would imagine, would take an incredible amount of reflection. What is your creative process when writing about such personal experiences?
In all honesty, I don’t think at all when I’m writing. Not at all. It’s almost like I zone out…zone all the way out. Some songs take a bit more thought and presence, but most of the time I just zone out, then I kind of come back, and I have to kind of figure out what it means. It’s good because it allows me to enter these kinds of concepts and things that aren’t necessarily easy to talk about in everyday life, without any inhibitions, or overthinking, which is something that I very much tend to do. I think my writing process is my only way of talking about these things, without kind of, stressing too much about them.
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Is it a therapeutic thing for you, to explore these life experiences without really thinking about them, creating them in the way you do, and then afterwards working out from the finished product what that means and how you got to that point?
Yeah definitely, that’s essentially it. I’ve never really understood it to be honest…It’s almost like I go to a place where I’ve just stored all my stuff, and I’m just like “cool, what am I going to take out and have a look at right now..?”
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So is your writing process then, born purely out of feeling, if not thinking?
Completely, yes. Often times I physically feel this kind of release after finishing a song. It’s so cathartic to be talking about stuff that is this inherently personal, and stuff that people generally find it quite difficult to talk about. …I’ve always had to talk about these things, as a means of overcoming, and I’m glad that’s something I can do through my music. I think that’s something I’ll always be doing.
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There is an immensity of feeling inherent in these human experiences, like in trauma, and in loss, even though they are universal. Your way of expression through this album, though, is one of incredible emotional maturity, especially for such a young person.
Do you feel like you are emotionally mature, or is it something that just happens without you really thinking about it?
I don’t really tend to think about it too much…I’ve had other people say that I’m emotionally mature, but my opinion is that usually people who have experienced a lot of intense things early on in life, come across as emotionally mature, because we’ve kind of had to be from a young age, to be able to get through whatever it is we were going through. I really appreciate that though, thank you so much.
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Absolutely. Credit where credit’s due!
And to that end, the first song of yours I ever listened to was ‘Watch Me Read You’. My sister had heard your song on the radio, shazaam-ed it, sent me the link, and just said “you have to listen to this”.
I was floored; not only by your distinctive and ethereal vocal quality, but by your incredibly clever use of imagery. Your lyricism, it would seem, is heavily influenced by poetry, with an audio sample from a Maya Angelou included in this track. What is your relationship with poetry, and how has it informed your writing style?
From a young age, I loved to read. I would ‘eat’ books, essentially. My Dad introduced me to poetry…he gave me a Keats book. It was an old, green-leather book, with a gold inlay, which was really nice. …That’s what originally drew me to that book, because I was like “this book’s pretty! I’m going to read it”. I read it, and it was a collection of Keats’ works, and it talked about ‘fields, and the dew drops on the lillies’, and I was about nine, just eating this up. I was just obsessed with this book, in fact I’ve still got it. It is my favourite book of all time. I’d carry it around at school…and surprisingly people did not give me a hard time about it! They probably though “alright, she’s just doing her”, so I’d be like “come and look at my poetry, everyone!”
But I’ve definitely had a love for poetry since I was young. It gets to the point quicker, I think. I have a lot of issues with staying focussed, so poetry’s great, because it gives you these short, snippets of just everything, all compressed into one. I love things that are very sensory too, that you can essentially go into, and look around.
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In addition to these poetic influences, you mentioned receiving the poetry book from your dad, but you also come from quite a musical background. How did your family shape your love, understanding and appreciation of music?
It kind of made me fall in love from piano. From a young age, I remember my Dad always playing, and I grew up listening to him play, but actually, it’s kind of weird – I play piano very similarly to my Grandfather, and not so much my Dad…which he’s never understood, but it’s alright, we’ll just go with it!
I went overseas when I was a kid, and my Granddad and I just ended up playing together, and it was incredible! And seeing him with the piano, and seeing his connection to it, even though he’s eighty-four and has arthritis, he’s still playing beautiful jazz, and beautiful melodies. Piano to me, is very grounding, because even in your old age, when your body is not doing what it used to do, it’s still there, and it’s still able to speak this ‘universal language’ with the music it produces.
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It’s incredible to me, that even like you said, when your body is no longer able to do what it used to do, the feeling is still the same, the music sounds the same, and the muscle memory is still present.
Exactly! And you’re also playing music from a different time. It’s like a time capsule, so I definitely think instruments, even if not the piano for everyone, are a way of preserving the moment – which I know sounds so cliché! But it’s genuinely how I feel about it.
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Speaking of playing the piano, last Friday, you performed on triple j for their very popular segment ‘Like a Version’. How did you find that experience?
I did! That was probably the highlight of my entire year! Oh my god, it was so fun. It was so good because I had heaps of close friends of mine, who were actually in my band. So James, who was on the pads – I’ve known him since I was thirteen, and we’ve been working together. My friend Leo who was on drums – I only met him a couple of years ago but he’s still one of my besties! I had my singing teacher, and a couple of other friends singing backing vocals, so it was just a beautiful experience.
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Following that, obviously people loved it! You quickly received such an influx of rave reviews following that performance, and rightly so! And it wasn’t long after Australia heard your hauntingly beautiful rendition of the Gang of Youths classic ‘Magnolia’, that you’d sold out all your shows. How did it feel to learn that all your shows were sold out?
That was crazy! That was actually insane.
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Does it feel real to you, this whole experience?
No! Honestly, no. I get asked “aren’t you ecstatic? Aren’t you so excited?” And I mean, of course I am! But also I’m thinking “what is happening? Is this real?” …I’m just still taking it all in at the moment. I performed a couple of weeks ago at tedx, and this one girl actually recognised me, and freaked out… but then I started freaking out, because I was like “what are you doing? I’m just here to look at virtual reality stuff. I’m a nobody!” It was very odd, but it was fun! It’s lovely to see that my music can connect people I’ve never met before. I think that’s a beautiful thing to me.
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It must just be a process, coming to terms with this whole experience. Maybe it will never feel real, but if you’re in the moment, and enjoying yourself, then I don’t there’s anything more you could ask for!
One hundred percent! I’m having a great time!
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So, you also dropped another track on Friday, ‘Lotus Eaters’. Can you tell me a little about this new track? Why did you decide to release this one next?
‘Lotus Eaters’ is kind of my baby. It was the first spoken word song I ever wrote. I was sixteen and still in high school. I was walking home, and I just saw these weeds growing out of the ground. That started this sentence in my mind, and I’d never written like this before…actually this is weird! I just realised I’ve never actually told this story before! I’ve never actually gone into detail about it! …But pretty much, I was walking along this pavement, saw the weeds, and I was like “the plants are growing along the road” and then I thought, “like an unquenchable love…I remember the times you use to think I was high…” and I just went on and on and on. I thought to myself, ‘how many words can I fit into a song?’ And then I was like ‘stop. Just write as much as you can, because you clearly have a lot to say!’
So I went home, sat down at the piano, and just wrote it, from start to finish. I was crying at the end of it, because I had never quite had that moment yet, where I’d written a song and thought ‘wow! This is everything I’m feeling.’
I’ve wanted to release this one for so long! So when we got the opportunity to rework it, I jumped at the chance. The actual song is actually a live take! We did it in a studio just outside of Gosford. So yeah, I’m really, really excited about it. It’s definitely my oldest song on there.
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Well it has been a privilege speaking to you Odette. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat to me. And I can’t wait to see you perform in Sydney! I will be in the crowd –
…Wave at me! I’ll know!
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I’ll be waving, for sure! …I’m pretty short though, so I may have to get on someone’s shoulders to wave!
Don’t worry! I’m short too…I’ll probably be eye level. See you there!
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TO A STRANGER
NATIONAL TOUR DATES
Tickets and info
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Friday 10 August
Ed Castle, Adelaide / Rocket Bar, Adelaide – SOLD OUT
Saturday 11 August
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne – SOLD OUT
Sunday 12 August
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne – SOLD OUT
Tuesday 14 August
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne – SOLD OUT
Wednesday 15 August
Northcote Social Club, Melbourne
Friday 17 August
Newport Hotel, Fremantle
Saturday 18 August
Amplifier, Perth
Friday 24 August
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney – SOLD OUT
Saturday 25 August
Transit Bar, Canberra
Sunday 26 August
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Friday 31 August
Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane – SOLD OUT
Saturday 1 September
Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane
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