Samantha Jade rises above crushing grief and industry knockdowns to realise her debut pop record dream
It has taken "The X Factor Australia" darling Samantha Jade nine long years to make her record. And not even Adele releasing "25" on the same day can trump her triumph against all the odds.
The tears welled as Samantha Jade ran through a vocal take of "Nine".
The title track of her debut artist album, a record she has waited nine years to make, was inspired by her mother Jacqui:
“I got you here, i got you here with me”, she sings.
The melody popped into Jade’s head one day as she was driving back to see her mum in hospital, armed with decorations for the “little parties” she would throw for her as she underwent treatment for cancer.
She finished the song in Los Angeles about a year after Jacqui died.
The beautiful piano ballad closes the album and features her brothers Alex and T.J singing backing vocals and she will perform it for the first time tomorrow night at an "ARIA Week" showcase to launch her record. It’s going to be a tough sing:
“When i started getting teary, i could just imagine mum saying: "Excuse me. I want this song to be good". She went through so much and still had a smile on her face”, Jade says, “Nine" is not just a song for me and my mum, it’s for my family, for all of us. That’s why it says: "I close my eyes and i count to five" because it was always the five of us. All we need is each other and that’s the place i will go back to in my head when i sing it. My dad will be there too, so i will be looking at him.”
Even in the grips of heart-wrenching grief last year, Jade always had a smile on her face.
When she returned to work, the sweetly-natured pop star somehow managed to always keep her composure and put a positive spin on her anguish as she was asked time and again about how she was coping.
Jade has had almost too much experience at dragging herself back up after getting smacked down.
The talented teenager who wrote songs for other pop stars and then got signed to a major american deal had it all end in nothing when she was dropped after releasing a few singles.
She came home and found no one was interested in giving her another chance and got to work in her father’s factory.
Her family encouraged her to give her music dreams another shot, so Jade auditioned for "The X Factor Australia" in 2012 and mentored by her old friend Guy Sebastian, she won.
While she released the obligatory winner’s album of covers she performed during the series and her single "What You’ve Done To Me" smashed to number one on the "ARIA" singles chart, selling more than 200 000 copies.
She kept the singles coming — "Firestarter", "Soldier", "Up!" and "Sweet Talk" — with each expected to build to the eventual release of an album.
But when her mum died, everything was put on hold. Other opportunities such as her scene-stealing performance as Kylie Minogue in the "INXS: Never Tear Us Apart" miniseries kept Jade’s stocks high with fans and the industry.
And this year, she finally finished "Nine", titled for the number of years between that aborted american recording deal and the release of her debut album last friday:
“We had this planned for months and then Adele announces her album and i’m thinking: "Really? The same day?", Jade says, laughing, "I’m really happy with the record and for me, that’s enough. That and having the fans love it.”
Those fans have stayed loyal during the three years between winning "The X Factor Australia" and "Nine"’s release, the kind of wait that can kill the momentum of a career.
But this survivor somehow manages to defy conventional pop wisdom. She didn’t chase the trends for "Nine", preferring to write and record with producers she knew and trusted:
“I am a pop artist. Obviously, there is the political side of the business, trying to get radio airplay, finding a song that’s right for the time, but you can’t chase radio. Guy told me that if you chase radio, by the time you have written and recorded something in that vein, they are onto something else and that phase is over”, she says, “You can only do what is inspiring you at the moment. When i was putting this record together, i knew it would be coming out for summer so i just thought about what i love listening to in summer. I still listen to "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey, i still listen to "Survivor" by Destiny’s Child, so i went back to those influences. I kept thinking about the songs you sing when you are in the car with your girlfriends going to the beach.”
Now she can finally cross “debut album” off her to-do list, Jade hopes to explore more acting opportunities with her guest role in "Home And Away" finished shooting and scheduled to air early next year.
She is keenly aware that television is an essential medium for australian pop artists who compete for precious radio airplay in their own country against international superstars:
“It’s really hard for us because "The X Factor Australia" is one of the only big platforms for us where you can go on and sing your song”, she says, “Australia is a loungeroom culture, we watch you on television to get to know you. People feel like they know me. They will come up to you and say: "I’m one of the reasons you are famous" and they are, they are part of it. That’s why television moments work so well. The few moments we get are being given to international acts and that makes it even harder for us. Those people are already big in their own country, in the UK or Germany and radio is already playing you. A show like "Rove" or a late night entertainment show is a huge thing missing in Australia.”
Her other priority will be herself. Listen to "Nine" and even in the most upbeat pop songs on the album, there is a sense of yearning.
Jade wants to find love and she knows, she has to put herself back out there.
She jokes, she is a “great girlfriend” and there is someone out there who deserves that kind of treatment:
“The song Always was the last one i wrote for the record and it is about finding that person, your one, the one you keep falling in love with”, she says, “Last year was family year and it was hard core and this year was work year and for me, next year is love and life year. I’m not looking, because i believe if you do, you won’t find them, but i just want that time to put myself out there.”
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