Courtney Teixeira, 20, has self-funded her first pop single “Try” and will release it to the world on Friday via iTunes and other digital platforms.

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Miss Teixeira has been collaborating with producer Nitem Devalia, whom she met from entering talent quest Urbanstar three years ago. She’s hoping to release one or two more songs she’s written before releasing her first EP.

“I started singing when I was 10 and it was my primary school teacher who overhead me singing and concinvced me to join the choir,” said the former Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts student.

From there she took singing lessons and learnt the piano, although Miss Teixeira admits only picking up the basics of piano before “teaching herself the rest”.

The video for “Try” will also be released on Friday and was shot on location around Port Kembla, her proud home.

“I love it here, we have amazing beaches and I made an oath that the whole video had to be in Port Kembla,” she said.

“Some [passsers by] looked a bit confused, but I did have some locals … really excited.”

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As an artist the singer-songwriter feels it’s her “duty” to speak to people through song and says her ultimate goal is to be relatable so people can really connect with her music.

“To express myself in a way that can connect to other people,” she said.

“I always say there’s someone out there who feels in a similar way to you. So, being able to write and compose like that knowing that someone might just feel the same way, that to me is an awesome feeling.”

Find Courtney Teixeira on Facebook.