INTERVIEW: Delta Goodrem celebrates Christmas with new album 'Only Santa Knows'
Image: Courtesy Sony Music Australia
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Australian superstar singer-songwriter Delta Goodrem needs no introduction. After first bursting onto the music scene 17 years ago, she has been one of the most inspirational and popular Australian artist of this century. She has scored a staggering nine number one singles and four number one albums in Australia, and charted across the world including five top 10 hits in the UK.
In November, she surprised her fans with the release of Christmas album Only Santa Knows. A collection of Delta’s versions of Christmas classics plus two original tracks, including a duet with Olivia Newton-John ‘Merry Christmas To You’, plus a ‘Silent Night’ duet with the late Gurrumul first recorded in 2014.
“The world has gone through so much this year, so bringing a lot of love and light at Christmas time was very important to me. I was sharing stories during lockdown about how much I love Christmas, and that inspired the writing of ‘Only Santa Knows’. From there, I went on to produce and record the album," Delta says of the album and in a year as traumatic as 2020, Delta’s Christmas cheer is just what we need right now. To celebrate the release of Only Santa Knows we recently caught up with Delta to chat more about the album and her upcoming national tour.
Hi Delta, so lovely to talk to you. Merry Christmas first of all - how are things with you?
Merry Christmas to you too. Good, good. Working away. It's been incredibly busy bringing home the end of the year, that's for sure.
And how good are you for releasing Only Santa Knows? I mean, the whole album launch was a total surprise treat for listeners who like I said were gob smacked by this gem of an audio stocking filler.
It was! It came from when we were in lockdown, when we were all in our homes. And obviously every city has been different, and every country has been different, but I was writing a lot and having a lot of music around and I wrote this song ‘Only Santa Knows’ talking about the fact that how much I love Christmas. And wow, Christmas is going to mean so much to us all at the end of the year reflecting on the year. And then that kind of snowballed this Christmas album. It's really something that I've had in my heart for years. I truly loved producing it. I loved bringing it to life and it's been a really, really fulfilling process.
Oh, it’s so beautiful. What a nice release. I want to talk to you about the title track ‘Only Santa Knows’, which is one of the ones you wrote. It’s got that beautiful line in it ‘and all the kids at school said you're not real, but I knew the truth’ and I just wanted to know, were you singing from experience? Did you did learn about Santa from the horrible kids at school?
Yes. This song is exactly my story. Now I still believe in Santa. Mine really was that I had the philosophy quite young. I was very strong headed because I believe and it really didn't matter to me if everybody at school was saying there's no Santa. I said ‘well, I do believe’ and everyone just couldn't believe that I would always say ‘well, it's okay, you all don’t. I do. Like Santa knows, that's okay’. Everyone was trying to force their belief system on me. I equate it to having that belief in me that anything is possible. It kind of comes back to my experience of believing in the magic of Christmas.
Oh, that's good. More songs need to say that, and more kids need to be able to fight that fight because it is a tough one.
Exactly. Remind them don't worry about it. It doesn't matter if everyone else doesn't as long as you believe. if you believe you're gonna be something in life or do something, you believe in it. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.
And it all started with Santa and look where you are today.
Exactly. That's what it did to me. Genuinely that song, even talking about saying, the carrots in the garden and it really reminds me of my Christmas growing up. It's just a very real authentic style to my Christmases.
It's gorgeous. And of course, then you have ‘Merry Christmas To You’ with Olivia Newtown John who is obviously, you know, a woman in pop hero. Total guru.
Yeah, she’s an absolute icon and hero, and she's been a mentor of mine throughout my entire career and a dear friend. I sent her the song and said I really hear your voice on this, and I would love you to sing this. And she was like, ‘I love it’. And she sang it in the studio straightaway.
It's such a beautiful message and such a gorgeous song. You mentioned she's your mentor and friend, you even played her in the television biography Hopelessly Devoted To You. How has that partnership shaped you as the artist you are today?
Very much so. You know, I have a characteristic in me, if people are good to me, I'm good to them for the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for people who have been my mentors, my teachers, my guiding light. Olivia comes from such a beautiful heart space, but with such talent. When I got signed to Sony Music, they said to me who do you want to be? I said I want to be Olivia Newton-John. I loved her so much and she makes an impact in the world in all her other aspects of life. So, yeah, I definitely have had a very, very big influence from Olivia, and lots of artists, you know? I love my woman mentors.
Beautiful, and speaking on that you recently kicked arse as the host of the most beautiful, socially distanced ARIA Awards, and performed a Helen Reddy tribute ‘I Am Woman’ with a squad to end all girl squads on stage, which was just incredible.
The energy in the room when we sang that was so palpable. I love Kate Ceberano, I loved the 1992 Jesus Christ Superstar [stage show] with her and John Farnham and when I first saw her, I said you know how often I've listened to ‘Everything’s Alright’, everything you sung on that record. Just everybody came together Marcia Hines and Montaigne and obviously Tones and I… just great voices part of a fantastic performance.
You’ve mentioned the likes of Olivia Newton-John being mentors to you. Obviously, you've been a judge on The Voice, you've been a mentor to other artists yourself. How important is that for you to pass the baton on yourself?
I value it because I didn't grow up in a musical household. I had a journey without a map. My family are the most amazing, supportive, wonderful loving family, but they didn't know anything about music. They knew nothing about music. When I stepped into the scene and I was signed by the time I was 15 years old, those type of mentors or artists that gave you that sort of knowledge and wisdom, I took and would always listen. Doing The Voice for nine years, I've definitely been proud of sharing the knowledge, anything I learn I tell my artists. I'm an open book, I'll tell you anything you want to know from my perspective. That’s just my path that I can share, you know, because I'm still growing and learning and still learning as an artist every week. I really valued the artists that shared with me. I also observed any artists that weren't great, too. I remember when I first started a couple of moments you go past and go, wow, I would never do that! You definitely learn.
You've been in the industry for almost 20 years now. Can you hear the changes, the maturity in your voice, your sound and even your songwriting now? Do you listen to your early work now and go ‘woah!’, or do you go, ‘you know what… I rocked it! I was 15’?
I embrace all the different chapters. You know, I can go back and remember the choices I made on some of them and the only thing that sometimes I think an artist might look back and listen to unreleased songs and think why didn’t I choose this song or why didn’t this song make the cut? Because at that certain time, you think to yourself ‘oh, it was because these were the messages I wanted to share through the lyrics’. There are so many aspects to putting an album together but I do hear my younger soul in them, but I love that that's who I was at that time and that's a total chapter marker for that record and, you know, that part of life. And I love the evolution of now I'm here.
And you know what, that's another great moment of being a role model. It's such an important message to put out to go ‘Do you know what, all of that stuff makes me who I am now.’
For sure. It's about owning your own story. We’re in a really transparent era where you can own your story and you can step into it, and people are going deeper with this communication. Just going, ‘okay, here’s what I’m observing in this part of life’. You got to own all the parts of it.
I wanted to talk to you actually about ‘Paralyzed’ which is such an incredible song and beautiful video as well by the way. There’s a real change to your sound and I know that there was a huge story that came with it regarding your surgery, and your inability to speak which must have just been so horrific. If you turn to music as your solace, and you struggled to create it, that must have been intense.
Yeah, I shared it for two reasons. One as an artist, because a lot of people were sort of going ‘oh maybe this is about when she was younger’ and I sort of knew in my heart well, it’s definitely not that story right now. It’s a different story of my life. And two, the general consensus of you really don't know what someone's going through that had kind of hit us all in the middle of the year. I kind of hadn't imagined ‘Paralyzed’ was going to be a single from the record. But, I thought well, a lot of people are going through this reset, and all of their plans have been silenced overnight. The lyrics literally say “Doctor paused this life / He told me, ‘You won't fly
Cancel everything’”. I was like wow… I think I should probably send this song out to people!
You broach the subject of rebirth with regards to even pulling away from the glamorous camouflage of your public persona, because you suddenly had this realisation that ‘hold on that's not me’. How has that recovery and change panned out for you?
I think there was a huge reset. I was really open about the fact that obviously losing my speech had a huge impact on my life and it was a time to be quiet and a time to work hard at getting the details back. It was the start of the entire new record. I worked really hard at bringing it back to life and being able to sing and speak again. But people, you know, go through a lot worse. There are a lot of people who are still living with communication disabilities. I'm grateful to be on the other side. But it was definitely an incredibly challenging time for sure.
Of course next year we have your Bridge Over Troubled Dreams tour. I can see your face all around Sydney so, I’m like… that’s happening!
Yeah, it's going ahead. 8th of May next year. We will be in the arena. We will be singing the songs everybody knows from all the different past records, and we'll be bringing the new ones to life.
How incredible. And I see that you'll be donating money from ticket purchases to your Delta Goodrem Foundation?
Yes, every dollar of the ticket sales will go to the Delta Goodrem Foundation.
Your Christmas album is injecting some joy into our lives and that’s what we all needed. Of course, the last 12 to 18 months really have been one disaster after another. You also penned a song for the bushfires last year which was beautiful. There has also been some gold in amongst all these disasters and I just want to know… what were some of those moments that just warmed you in the collective consciousness of the last 12 months?
So much has changed. It really has changed, and I don't think we're going back to anything the same anymore. We keep moving forward. Basically technology and I have become really good friends! We're learning how to coexist together and work hard together. I think Zoom has become one of my best mates and live streaming and just breaking down that new dimension. I'm a very in-person and very present kind of human and to be able to kind of learn how to still reach out to people through technology has been a huge lesson for me this year. I didn't know if I knew how to do that. I was such an in-person, performing-wise, it's come from the school of a different space and I'm going okay… how do I get myself through this device in the way that feels right for me?
Well, you've done very well. Your videos are beautiful. So well done. It keeps you young, seriously. It's got to be done!
Exactly! I'm just grateful that I’ve definitely learnt a lot like that. Obviously, there's been special moments like singing ‘Down Under’ with Colin Hay or releasing music or ARIAs hosting. There’s been obviously career things, but I think what I’m most looking forward to right now is genuinely just being with my family because this year I haven’t got to be with them. That’s all I want this Christmas.
Only Santa Knows is out now via Sony Music Australia. You can buy and stream here
To keep up with all things Delta Goodrem you can follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.
Tickets for Delta Goodrem’s Bridge Over Troubled Dreams tour are on sale now
Thursday 8 April 2021 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane
Friday 9 April 2021 Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre, Gold Coast
Saturday 10 April 2021 Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney
Tuesday 13 April 2021 Royal Theatre, Canberra
Thursday 15 April 2021 WIN Entertainment Centre, Wollongong
Friday 16 April 2021 Adelaide Entertainment Centre Arena, Adelaide
Saturday 17 April 2021 RAC Arena, Perth
Thursday 29 April 2021 Townsville Entertainment Centre, Townsville
Saturday 1 May 2021 Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Newcastle
Sunday 2 May 2021 Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne
