The songs never left…
I just took a detour:
Recently, I've been telling people that I'm starting over in music.
The more I think about it, the more I realise that's not true.
I thought I'd fallen off the wagon.
Now I realise I wasn't failing.
I was becoming.
And there is a big difference.
The Girl Who Hid in the Library
When I was in high school, I was painfully shy.
My older sister was the singer. The extrovert. The confident one.
I never wanted to feel like I was copying her and, truthfully, I didn't have the confidence anyway.
I was the kid who disappeared to the library at lunchtime.
Whilst I had friends, I often felt like I didn't belong anywhere. Writing became my escape. I filled notebooks with poems, thoughts and lyrics long before I ever called myself a songwriter.
English was one of my best subjects, but I was also the student who got in trouble for questioning things, seeing things differently or approaching ideas from strange angles.
Sometimes people thought I wasn't making sense.
The funny thing was, it made complete sense to me.
Looking back, I think that perspective became one of my greatest strengths as a songwriter.
Music came later.
Discovering Songwriting
At college, we were required to write an original song as part of an assignment.
That was the moment everything changed.
I realised that whilst I enjoyed singing, what I truly loved was songwriting.
Not long after, I found myself playing in a church band, writing worship songs and eventually landing my first release on a Christian album. One of my songs appeared twice on the record — once as a full production and once as an acoustic version.
At the time, it felt surreal.
The shy girl hiding in the library now had her songs professionally recorded.
When Music Started Feeling Real
From there, I threw myself into learning everything I could.
I studied music business.
Then performance.
Then audio engineering.
I was one of the only women in a room full of aspiring engineers and producers. I topped my class, became a student supervisor, taught EDM production classes and eventually landed a role at Studios 301.
Those years shaped me.
The Studio Years
I worked my way from receptionist to bookings manager and spent countless hours around some of Australia's best producers, artists and musicians.
I would sit in the mezzanine watching orchestras record and dream about creating records of my own.
Then everything stopped.
A workplace injury took away my ability to play guitar, piano and spend long hours working on computers.
For someone whose life revolved around creating, it was devastating.
At the same time, I experienced the breakdown of what was probably the healthiest relationship I'd ever had.
I was in pain.
Physically.
Emotionally.
Creatively.
But I never stopped writing.
Every Monday, I would send emails to producers.
I would attend workshops.
Go to writer rounds.
Network.
Listen to new music and reach out to people whose work inspired me.
Whilst many songs went nowhere, some of them didn't.
I started getting cuts.
I was invited into songwriting camps across Australia and internationally.
A Universal Music camp resulted in three cuts in five days.
Opportunities started appearing.
Eventually, I found myself touring with EDM and hip-hop artists.
Almost by accident, I transitioned from songwriter to featured artist.
It was very much a case of, "Let's throw her in and see if she can swim."
I still get nervous before gigs.
I still battle stage fright.
Some things never change.
But I learned how to do it anyway.
Everything Stopped when I signed
Then life shifted again.
I moved from Sydney to the Central Coast to help my family build a wedding venue.
At the same time, I signed a publishing deal and thought music would continue moving forward.
Instead, my focus slowly moved elsewhere.
The venue grew.
We won awards.
The business expanded.
I learned more than I could have imagined about leadership, marketing, events, people and business.
Years passed.
Then more years.
The break became longer than I ever intended.
Music wasn't gone.
It was simply waiting.
Coming Back Different
At the beginning of 2025 I went to Tamworth with my sister and family and thats when I realised I was truely not following my purpose - I saw people singing their songs in the streets, I heard the sounds of creativity and it sparked something in me. IIt was almost a scream, WHY ARE YOU NOT WRITING MUSIC ANYMORE, YOU CAN WRITE JUST AS GOOD IF NOT BETTER THAN THIS”
So I decided I would write a song a day for one month and I haven;t looked back in a year and a half
For a long time I told myself I had fallen off the wagon.
Now I see it differently.
I wasn't failing.
I was becoming.
Everything I learned during that period has become useful.
The business experience.
The leadership.
The confidence.
The resilience.
The ability to guide people.
The understanding of story.
The understanding of people.
All of it.
I’ve taken lessons, I’ve literally done nothing else outside of work but music for the past year and a half and I’d say I’m close TO FINISHING PRODUCING AN ENTIRE RECORD MYSELF!
Now, as I prepare to step away from my role at the end of 2026 and return to music full time, I realise something important.
I haven't come back weaker.
I've come back stronger.
I'm a better writer than I've ever been.
A better collaborator.
A better producer.
A better leader.
My music used to live mostly in the shadows.
These days there's more light in it.
More humour.
More humanity.
More perspective.
I've spent years writing across singer-songwriter, EDM, hip-hop, country, pop, rock and soul.
Now those influences are colliding into something that finally feels like me.
For a while I thought this chapter was about starting over.
It's not.
It's about continuing.
Because sometimes the dream doesn't disappear.
Sometimes it waits patiently for you to become the person capable of carrying it.
And that's exactly where I find myself now.
I thought I was starting again.
But the songs never left.
I just took a detour.
What's Next?
🎙 Podcast launching next week
✈️ Nashville Song Camp – June 2026
🎵 Debut artist project in progress
🌻 Songbird Sessions coming soon
