Emma Birdsall understands the excitement and anticipation Dapto’s Cyrus Villanueva must be going through after winning The X Factor 2015.
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Like Villanueva, Birdsall shot to fame at age 19 when competing on the first season of The Voice in 2012. While she didn’t win, she was still “thrust into the spotlight” and signed to a record deal soon after with Island Records.
“It’s been an interesting roller-coaster ride,” she said. “It’s crazy going from zero to 100 in a matter of weeks.”
The now 23 year old is in the midst of releasing her first EP, has launched into the acting world with a regular role on the WIN Network’s Love Child and is now touring with Australia’s Brandenburg Orchestra.
Her advice to Villanueva is to stay grounded but enjoy the ride, and recalled some wise words from international recording star Seal during her time on reality television.
“He said remember everything is illusion with this industry, so the hype is just what people are perceiving of you. So if someone says something bad, that’s illusion too so just trust the people who know you,” she said. “Keep your head screwed on and enjoy the music, never take your eyes off the music and what you’re doing it for.”
She said she loved watching the former Kanahooka High School student on the show as he seemed to have heart of gold.
Birdsall admitted her journey has been intense but she’s learnt a lot about herself as a person and an artist. She’s done a lot of writing for other people and has released a single of her own “Lovers & Friends” but is taking things slow with an album because she’s still trying to “nail the sound”.
“I don’t want to put something out I don’t love,” she said.
Regardless, the singer-songwriter is keeping herself busy and plans to hit the road heavily in 2016 touring in the style of Love Child where she played a jazzy nightclub chanteuse “Blue Moon”.
She’s also ecstatic to be travelling around the country (Wollongong on December 9), for a Christmas tour with the Brandenburg Orchestra and Choir, infusing soulful jazz tones with traditional 17th century baroque instruments.
“It kind of blows my mind i’m doing this,” she said. “I think it will be a lot fun … it’s nice to inject a bit of colour into the program and give people something that they wouldn’t typically expect.”
Brandenburg’s Noël! Noël! concerts, in their 17th year in 2015, are a feel-good festive tradition and will come to Wollongong’s St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on Wednesday 9 December.