Latest / Mini Scroll / INTERVIEW: The Many Lives of Cody Simpson

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INTERVIEW: The Many Lives of Cody Simpson · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  Hi everyone, welcome to a special edition of Mini Scroll,
• 0:03
  where I am sitting here with millennial heartthrob icon Cody
• 0:08
  Simpson. Wow.
• 0:09
  How's the intro? Thank you.
• 0:10
  Welcome to mini scroll. Thank.
• 0:12
  You so much. OK, so we are an Internet
• 0:16
  culture podcast, so we like to ask our guests right off the
• 0:20
  bat, are you chronically online? Yeah, I'd, yes, I'd say so.
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  Probably too much so sometimes after really, like be conscious
• 0:31
  about getting off it. Yeah, yeah.
• 0:32
  You know, yeah. So you're a chronic scroller?
• 0:34
  I'm chronic scroller. Yeah.
• 0:36
  Chronic comment reader, chronic comment responder.
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  Oh my God, The whole deal. Probably more so in the last
• 0:41
  year. I've like, really like embraced.
• 0:43
  I don't know, I, I only got on Tiktok about a year ago.
• 0:45
  OK, well, I've been on it longer, but I've only said
• 0:48
  started actively using it a year ago, even six months ago.
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  And it's sort of, you know, it's a deep, dark hole that you get
• 0:53
  sucked into. And yeah, I've been a victim
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  lately. Well, I have seen that you do a
• 0:58
  lot of fit checks on. Tim, I've done a few fit checks.
• 1:02
  What is popping up on your algorithm?
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  What algorithm are you on right now?
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  God, a lot of comedy right now. Yeah, yeah, sometimes.
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  Sometimes dark comedy. My friends send me all kinds of
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  weird stuff and it just sort of like, just sends my algorithm
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  down the drain. Oh my God, inmates can do that
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  to you. But yeah, yeah.
• 1:23
  Fair, I know. I feel like I'm always on either
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  whatever is trending like the trending drama or dogs a lot.
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  Of dogs, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah However, my Instagram, my
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  Instagram algorithm is better than my Tik TikTok algorithm.
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  My Instagram algorithm is a little bit more like things I'm
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  into, you know, inspirational stuff or music or cars or, you
• 1:44
  know, like what other things TikTok, TikTok seems to be.
• 1:49
  A bit more. Of a dark hole, yeah, yeah.
• 1:50
  Yeah, yeah, fair. OK, so you have lived many
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  lives. Musician, swimmer, stage actor,
• 1:58
  fashion tick tocker. Like I mentioned.
• 2:01
  I want to take it back a bit. What did you see yourself doing
• 2:05
  as a kid? It's fun music, yeah, always.
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  Since I was like, since I picked up a guitar at age of 6, I think
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  I was like, it was always music for me.
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  I saw my dad play and sing and some family friends playing,
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  singing it barbecues and family get togethers and stuff.
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  And I was just like that that just saw the way music moved
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  people and brought people together.
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  And ever since I was, I remember telling my grandmother or mother
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  at like when I was like age of 10 or 11, I was like, I'm going
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  to be a famous musician and. And it happened really soon
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  after that. And it was, yeah, it, it, it, it
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  manifested probably three years later, you know, which is so
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  much sooner than I thought because at the time I was, I
• 2:47
  was, I just assumed it would come later on.
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  And, and my plan was that I, because I was, I was swimming
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  full time at that age. I got started really training
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  really seriously. And I was going to try and make
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  like the, the Rio Olympics, 2016 and all this stuff was like
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  really on that trajectory. And that was my life path.
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  And I was like, I'll play music later.
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  And then YouTube came along and I changed the whole game and
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  like, I started posting on there and it happened within six
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  months. It was like, very.
• 3:11
  That's amazing. Yeah.
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  Did you have strategy behind posting on YouTube?
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  Like did you have any idea what? You.
• 3:16
  No, no, absolutely. You know, And it was just like,
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  give my mom the camera like in my bedroom.
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  It was just one of those things that I got on early and I was
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  just in the first wave of kids doing it.
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  Like it was just one of those things.
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  It was right place, right time. Saw the opportunity early.
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  I didn't even see it as an opportunity.
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  It wasn't like I was doing it to get sign or get, you know,
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  whatever. It was just like a way of
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  expressing myself and sharing what I like to do with other
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  people because I thought it was a cool thing.
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  And the Internet was still like a very, and social media was
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  still like a very, very infantile thing at, at, at that
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  stage. So I was just experimenting.
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  And then people realized how many people would actually see
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  it and discover. It's wild.
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  Yeah, yeah. That's honestly amazing.
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  When you have done these career pivots, what's your decision
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  making process behind that? Because it sounds like you've
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  done, you've had these thoughts as early as you know, 11-12
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  thinking, oh, can I do music? Maybe later I'm going to do
• 4:17
  swimming. Yeah, it's funny.
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  I just, I just have always followed my heart and my gut.
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  I don't know, like it's just been, I've, I've never had an
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  exact Grand Master plan. It's always just been year by
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  year trying to figure out what feels right to me and knowing
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  the things that I want to accomplish.
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  But you, you kind of have to be, I love the saying that like you
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  can, you have to be like firm on vision, but like flexible on, on
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  plan on on the way. Yeah, because it's, it's never
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  going to be the way you think. And for me, it happened the
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  opposite of the way I thought because I thought I was going to
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  swim and then I was going to retire and I was going to play
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  music. And it was like, there's no way
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  I would have known it would happen that I would have this
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  like 10 year career through my teens and early 20s as a
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  musician and then stop that and go back to swimming way later
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  than, you know, then I then would be considered possible
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  considering the amount of time I didn't train and, and be able to
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  go and do that. So yeah, it's just been, it's
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  just been a matter of following my gut, like.
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  Yeah. Have you felt more pressure
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  making these big pivots or decisions knowing that you're in
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  the public eye? Oh yeah, for sure.
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  It adds a layer of like, you know, of scrutiny and and
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  criticism and and just just like eyeballs on you is like is an
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  extra added element that you have to deal with.
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  I guess I've just been become so used to it because I started in
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  the public eye at like 13, you know?
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  Yeah. Nothing I've ever done has been
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  private. Yeah, really, you know, from in
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  my public and personal life, it's, it's very hard to to hide,
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  I suppose in that sense, you know, and, and it's just
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  something I had to get used to, but it, it's never stopped me
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  making the decisions that were right for me.
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  You know what I mean? Growing up in pop music, leaving
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  my label going and doing a more singer-songwriter kind of thing,
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  like going independent, doing all that was like a risk, but
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  and probably not considered the best commercial decision, but
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  like I had just did it because it was right for me.
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  The swimming thing, you know, having to kind of leave and fire
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  my team because I had to go and do something else for like 4
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  years and, and, and train and, and like move back to Australia
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  was like probably it was for me, you know?
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  So it was like, I've never let that stop me making the
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  decisions that I want to make for me.
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  So, yeah, yeah. Yeah, No, that makes sense.
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  What's your relationship to the public eye now then?
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  A lot healthier than it was at one point actually.
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  And my relationship with my, my past like self and my, my old
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  like errors and, and everything is a lot healthier than it used
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  to be as well. I think it's one of those things
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  where you know, when you're like, you're growing up through
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  your teens, like late teens, early 20s, and you kind of look
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  back at like your old Facebook pictures or like Myspace
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  pictures or whatever. And you're like, oh, the
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  hairstyles, the outfit, you know, and you just cringe and
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  you just, you know, you want to delete it all.
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  Like I couldn't, it was on Google, you know what I mean?
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  I tried to run from it and, and change everything and rebelled
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  and all this stuff. And then like now, and, and
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  because I just felt so trapped in, in the public eye and in the
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  in the media and in all that stuff.
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  And like now I feel much more like I embrace it all and, and
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  don't try and reject it. I'm like, that's really cool
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  that I did that at 14 or that's really awesome that, and I've,
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  I've been so grateful or to have the opportunity to be heard
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  because the, the alternative is like no one caring or not being
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  heard. So I'm like, I reframed it all
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  and I'm like so much happier because, like I am just didn't
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  have embraced the whole journey. Yeah.
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  Yeah, yeah, I I feel like it's an interesting conversation to
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  have with you because you experienced tea tween teen fame
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  almost pre social media. And now social.
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  Media has democratized fame for young people in such a different
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  way. Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.
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  It was like almost like back when I started, it was like J14
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  and like pop star liked all those magazines and they'd only
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  usually be like, you know, five or six faces on the cover.
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  And I just remember they'd put them on a circle and it was
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  like, the goal was to like be one of the faces on the on the
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  cover, you know what I mean? It wasn't very democratized, as
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  you say. It was like very gate kept by
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  like the record labels and stuff.
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  And so I was just very lucky to like have, I guess gotten in at
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  that stage, but there were much less people doing it.
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  And so now it's like everyone's got a platform and everyone's
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  got a way of being heard. And that's like a blessing for
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  so many people to give people more opportunities.
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  But like, at the same time, it's like a lot more people are
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  having to kind of deal with it and, and aren't necessarily cut
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  out or like like taught how to, you know, I was lucky to have
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  like the family and, and to, to get prepared in a way, in a
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  weird way. And like now it's like, you can
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  go viral tomorrow. I know it's actually so.
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  Scary. I feel so bad.
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  I'm so glad that I did not grow up as a team.
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  It's. Crazy with like tik?
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  T.O.K, I'm so glad you'll be. A 14 year, you go viral tomorrow
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  and the whole world knows who you are and like, what do you
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  like? I know you and then you just
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  ostracize in school and like you like that's not right for a kids
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  brain, you know, 100% that's crazy. 100%, yeah.
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  So did you have in any of your endeavours, I guess like a made
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  it moment? What would you say Was your made
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  it moment or have you had? One that's crazy.
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  I've been so lucky to have had so many of those.
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  Yes, which is awesome. Definitely starting to play
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  shows that were quite large. Like I jumped on the Justin
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  Bieber 2 and I was like 15 and I toured well with him and we
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  played stadiums in South America and 60,000 people and all that
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  stuff. And I'm just like, I'm not even,
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  I mean I'm homeschooling, you know, in the, in the back of the
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  tool bus. Like before I go out on stage in
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  front of 60,000 people, I'm doing, I'm literally doing math
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  class with my teacher going, why are we doing this?
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  I get like all these people out there screaming for, you know
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  what I mean? It's so trippy and like that
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  those are these made of moments of like just the the strange
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  contrast of like walking out from doing your homework to
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  putting on like your stage outfit and going out in front of
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  like all these, you know, thousands of screaming,
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  screaming girls. It's like the craziest thing.
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  And and so there was definitely all these made-up moments of
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  standing up on stage in front of that many people that were
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  singing along to your lyrics. And Oh my God, like, yeah, that
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  must be. Three years.
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  Ago I was in Australian middle school, you know, making the
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  Australian swimming team was 1 was a big one for me because
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  that's something that I grew up wanting to do and it was a dream
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  I gave away. When I went to play music, I was
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  like that's I'm going to have to kind of like park that one that
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  was not happening. So to have been able to come
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  back and actually do that and I have that to my name now.
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  And like you have these, you get these things when you make the
• 11:01
  Australian swimming team called a dolphin number.
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  And it's like your number of the amount of people that have made
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  the team, you kind of are assigned a number.
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  And it's there's I've been been only say 800 and something over
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  the history of the team. And I have the little emblem
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  right here with the Australian coat of arms and 838, which is
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  my number. And my mom actually is like #400
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  and something, something so like from back in the 80s.
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  So it's like really special. We have have that together.
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  And just to have been able to compete on the world stage as an
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  athlete and it, you know, is, was, was such a dream and and
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  such a, a crazy thing that was definitely made at moment for
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  me. Like competing at the
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  Commonwealth Games and doing all that stuff that I just never
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  thought I would do, especially after this whole career as a as
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  a musician that I've had. So yeah as well so.
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  You are back in entertainment full time, Yeah.
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  Yeah, what can? We expect from your music.
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  God, I'm really excited. I've been in the studio all
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  year. I've been back in LA most of
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  this year, recording very close to having a fair, a fair amount
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  of music done. And so we start next next year,
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  probably early next year, starting to get back in the
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  game, which is exciting. And it's it's nice.
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  It's like a blend. It's kind of a blend of
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  everything I've ever been as an artist, like all my errors and
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  everything. It's kind of like doing justice
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  to and, and service to like all of those things and like
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  wrapping it up into something totally new and fresh.
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  So I'm excited for people to hear what that is and, and to be
• 12:33
  able to be able to go out and start playing live again.
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  Like, I'm so excited to do that. So yeah, it's cool.
• 12:38
  Yeah, why do you say thank God when I said you're back in
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  entertainment full time? Because I love it so much, you
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  know? Yeah.
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  I, I missed it a lot when I was swimming and.
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  And towards the end there, I was really, really excited to get
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  back in. And so, like when I got back in
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  the studio, I just felt like a kid again.
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  Like going back to LA, it was like I felt the way I did when I
• 12:56
  was 14 going there. Yeah.
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  And it was just really cool. It was like the full circle
• 13:01
  thing. Yeah.
• 13:02
  Yeah. Well.
• 13:02
  You've accomplished so much since you left, right?
• 13:06
  Yeah. I suppose so.
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  Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
• 13:09
  OK. So circling back to your TikTok
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  fit checks. Yes.
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  Yes, fashion has been woven through different areas of your
• 13:15
  career the entire time, and now you're partnering with Uber and
• 13:19
  Red Cross to help Aussies donate their clothing this weekend.
• 13:22
  Tell me a little bit about that. Yeah, it's.
• 13:24
  It's an amazing, I'm, I'm wrapping the T-shirt today, if
• 13:26
  you couldn't already tell, it's an amazing initiative.
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  I, I was approached by Uber and Red Cross to be a part of it and
• 13:34
  kind of help be a megaphone for the cause.
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  And I find like with a, with a platform like I've been given,
• 13:41
  it's, it's so important to use that for good things and, and,
• 13:45
  and to help people. And so when they approached me,
• 13:47
  it was like kind of a no brainer thing.
• 13:49
  And I'm I'm a culprit of, of, of storing a lot of clothes and
• 13:53
  then getting a lot of clothes, being given a lot of three
• 13:55
  wardrobes like it's, it's quite embarrassing, the dream.
• 13:58
  And so. Well, yeah, until you kind of,
• 14:01
  you know, move house and you're like, jeez, you know.
• 14:03
  And so I think we all, we're all, we're all guilty of, of
• 14:07
  having the, the boxes or the bags in the back of the car or
• 14:10
  in the garage that you, you know, have been wanting to
• 14:12
  donate for months, but you just never have the time to go or
• 14:15
  whatever. So basically Uber, you can order
• 14:17
  an Uber Courier and that will come to your house and, and pick
• 14:20
  it up for free. And so you can order one for
• 14:23
  free this Saturday and they'll take it to Red Cross for you.
• 14:28
  Is that? Anywhere across Australia.
• 14:29
  Yeah, it's all major cities, I think Brisbane, Sydney,
• 14:31
  Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth from like 10:00 AM to 4:00 PMI
• 14:36
  believe it's it's free from 3:50.
• 14:38
  If you order it, you know, I'll come and grab it and take it off
• 14:40
  your hands and give it new life, which is cool.
• 14:44
  Yeah, yeah. The last thing that I would love
• 14:47
  to know is like, what's next? I know you said music.
• 14:49
  Do you have anything else on the horizon that you can sneakily
• 14:52
  tell us? Oh yes, I'm in a I'm in a series
• 14:59
  TV series coming out streaming on Stan next month.
• 15:04
  I believe it. I believe it.
• 15:05
  I don't know exactly when it premieres.
• 15:07
  It's coming out really soon. I have yet to post that or
• 15:09
  anything so Oh my God. I love that.
• 15:11
  The exclusive Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's called He Had
• 15:13
  It Coming, which is a a sort of a mystery drama set in a set in
• 15:20
  a college. And so that's that's sort of an
• 15:22
  Australian screen debut for me, which is cool.
• 15:25
  And then also did a funny film for Netflix called Zombie Plane
• 15:30
  in which I play a young Vanilla Ice.
• 15:33
  No way. Baby vanilla ice and he's also
• 15:35
  in the film and I think it's it's Sophie Monk, Chuck Norris
• 15:39
  like it's the weirdest and most wonderful mix of of people in
• 15:44
  this in this movie and that that's that's premiering next
• 15:47
  month. So I'm in that as well.
• 15:48
  And then aside from that it's it's music.
• 15:50
  So top of next year, we'll be starting to to hopefully roll
• 15:54
  out a ton of music. So I'm excited to you're doing
• 15:57
  the. Most like.
• 15:58
  Absolutely. Always.
• 16:00
  Wow. Well.
• 16:01
  Thank you so much for joining me, of course.
• 16:03
  Thank you.