Post by Inside Australian Idol on Dec 8, 2003 1:11:33 GMT 10
Our kind of Guy
December 8, 2003
The Sun-Herald
Photo: Danielle Smith
The Australian Idol winner tells Christine Sams he has what it takes to make it in the music industry.
Guy Sebastian is surrounded by women, with his shirt off and trousers undone.
But Australia's Idol hasn't turned to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll just yet. The 22-year-old is standing in a change room in Chippendale, trying on designer clothes for his exclusive photo shoot with S.
"I feel a bit dressed up," the singer from Adelaide said after slipping into a new suit. But judging by his assured, sexy poses in front of the camera only moments later, Sebastian is feeling all grown up - and he's ready for the Australian entertainment industry to take him seriously.
On the verge of tomorrow's release of his debut album Just As I Am, Sebastian has already celebrated sales of more than 128,000 units in one week for his first single Angels Brought Me Here. The pre-sales for his album - and the number of CDs already shipped to retailers by BMG - is in excess of 280,000.
"I'd heard of the [single] sales while I was still in the studio recording the album . . . we were just jumping up and down and laughing, we couldn't believe it," Sebastian said.
"Then a few nights ago I got a text from a friend saying, 'Congratulations on your No. 1' and I didn't know about the No. 1 at that stage. It was just amazing, I don't think anyone can describe that feeling."
But the celebrations surrounding singles sales may well be overshadowed by the success of Sebastian's album. (The CD's chart position will be revealed by ARIA next Monday.)
The Australian Idol is the only likely contender to topple Delta Goodrem from the No. 1 album spot, with critics predicting his album will be one of the biggest debut CDs released this year.
"I hope she [Delta] doesn't hate me for it, if it does happen," Sebastian said with a coy smile. "But I still don't know if it will."
And it seems the fans aren't the only people anticipating the arrival of Just As I Am tomorrow. "I actually want to make a visit to the record store, just to see my album on sale," Sebastian said with a laugh. "That would be so cool."
Australian Idol provided an extraordinary marketing platform for Sebastian's music. The grand final television event (with Sebastian up against Condobolin singer Shannon Noll) was watched by a peak audience of 3.65 million Australians.
The hype is similarly enormous for Sebastian's CD, which he says was recorded in a record 5 days.
"It was crazy, it was very busy. But we got to day six and I didn't really do anything. We'd gone so hard in the five days, I didn't really use the sixth day. I guess I worked for about 5 days in the end," he said.
"But I'm stoked with the result. I didn't think I'd be very stoked with it because of the time constraints. I thought I'd have a lack of creative control and a lack of input. But I stayed awake a long time prior to the album, just making sure I was prepared."
There have been grumblings within the music industry about the Australian Idol recording process, with a number of hardworking musos irritated by the speedy process adopted by BMG in churning out Sebastian's songs. But the singer is unperturbed by the criticism. He was presented with more than 50 songs for the album before whittling the list down to the 12 that appear on the CD.
"I rejected lots," he said of the selection BMG offered. "I gave them grief, lots of grief. But if I didn't like something, I wasn't going to sing it on my album - that's stupid. But I really had a good support base, and had strength within myself to stand up for what I wanted.
"And BMG were really supportive of me. They really treated me like an artist, not the winner of a reality TV show. Now I am that artist."
Three songs on the album were co-penned by Sebastian - All I Need Is You, Something Don't Feel Right and i 4 u - and there are upbeat cover versions of classic tracks including When Doves Cry and What A Wonderful World.
With its overt pop and hip-hop sensibilities (and formulaic backing tracks), Sebastian's sound is a long way from Farnesy, Barnesy or even Goodrem. So is this a new direction for Australian music?
"It's definitely different to anything I've heard come out of Australia," Sebastian said.
"Anything R&B has come out with attitude, which isn't bad but it's indicative of that genre. My whole line was to still have the soul, but not the attitude.
"I don't want to be someone where people say, 'There's that singer, we'll never be like him. Look at the attitude, look at the bling, bling.' I believe there's two types of artists: the people who really connect with their audience, where you're not pretending to be better than them. You're not pretending to be a macho king.
"Then there are artists where you're in awe of who they are, you think you'll never be like them or have what they have.
"I definitely want to be the first kind of artist. I don't have any desire to be looked upon as someone who is better than the rest. I am on the same level as my audience."
But despite his modesty (which is refreshingly genuine when you meet him), Sebastian is aware of the impact his music is having on fans.
"It really means something to me, to write songs that landmark certain events in people's lives," he said. "Like if people say. 'I walked down the aisle to that song Guy wrote.' Or, 'I christened my baby to that song,' or, "That was the song playing at the club when I first met you.' "
Next week the singer hopes to be celebrating his own momentous occasion, when his album enters the Australian music charts for the first time.
Just As I Am is released through BMG today.
www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/07/1070732062687.html
December 8, 2003
The Sun-Herald
Photo: Danielle Smith
The Australian Idol winner tells Christine Sams he has what it takes to make it in the music industry.
Guy Sebastian is surrounded by women, with his shirt off and trousers undone.
But Australia's Idol hasn't turned to sex, drugs and rock'n'roll just yet. The 22-year-old is standing in a change room in Chippendale, trying on designer clothes for his exclusive photo shoot with S.
"I feel a bit dressed up," the singer from Adelaide said after slipping into a new suit. But judging by his assured, sexy poses in front of the camera only moments later, Sebastian is feeling all grown up - and he's ready for the Australian entertainment industry to take him seriously.
On the verge of tomorrow's release of his debut album Just As I Am, Sebastian has already celebrated sales of more than 128,000 units in one week for his first single Angels Brought Me Here. The pre-sales for his album - and the number of CDs already shipped to retailers by BMG - is in excess of 280,000.
"I'd heard of the [single] sales while I was still in the studio recording the album . . . we were just jumping up and down and laughing, we couldn't believe it," Sebastian said.
"Then a few nights ago I got a text from a friend saying, 'Congratulations on your No. 1' and I didn't know about the No. 1 at that stage. It was just amazing, I don't think anyone can describe that feeling."
But the celebrations surrounding singles sales may well be overshadowed by the success of Sebastian's album. (The CD's chart position will be revealed by ARIA next Monday.)
The Australian Idol is the only likely contender to topple Delta Goodrem from the No. 1 album spot, with critics predicting his album will be one of the biggest debut CDs released this year.
"I hope she [Delta] doesn't hate me for it, if it does happen," Sebastian said with a coy smile. "But I still don't know if it will."
And it seems the fans aren't the only people anticipating the arrival of Just As I Am tomorrow. "I actually want to make a visit to the record store, just to see my album on sale," Sebastian said with a laugh. "That would be so cool."
Australian Idol provided an extraordinary marketing platform for Sebastian's music. The grand final television event (with Sebastian up against Condobolin singer Shannon Noll) was watched by a peak audience of 3.65 million Australians.
The hype is similarly enormous for Sebastian's CD, which he says was recorded in a record 5 days.
"It was crazy, it was very busy. But we got to day six and I didn't really do anything. We'd gone so hard in the five days, I didn't really use the sixth day. I guess I worked for about 5 days in the end," he said.
"But I'm stoked with the result. I didn't think I'd be very stoked with it because of the time constraints. I thought I'd have a lack of creative control and a lack of input. But I stayed awake a long time prior to the album, just making sure I was prepared."
There have been grumblings within the music industry about the Australian Idol recording process, with a number of hardworking musos irritated by the speedy process adopted by BMG in churning out Sebastian's songs. But the singer is unperturbed by the criticism. He was presented with more than 50 songs for the album before whittling the list down to the 12 that appear on the CD.
"I rejected lots," he said of the selection BMG offered. "I gave them grief, lots of grief. But if I didn't like something, I wasn't going to sing it on my album - that's stupid. But I really had a good support base, and had strength within myself to stand up for what I wanted.
"And BMG were really supportive of me. They really treated me like an artist, not the winner of a reality TV show. Now I am that artist."
Three songs on the album were co-penned by Sebastian - All I Need Is You, Something Don't Feel Right and i 4 u - and there are upbeat cover versions of classic tracks including When Doves Cry and What A Wonderful World.
With its overt pop and hip-hop sensibilities (and formulaic backing tracks), Sebastian's sound is a long way from Farnesy, Barnesy or even Goodrem. So is this a new direction for Australian music?
"It's definitely different to anything I've heard come out of Australia," Sebastian said.
"Anything R&B has come out with attitude, which isn't bad but it's indicative of that genre. My whole line was to still have the soul, but not the attitude.
"I don't want to be someone where people say, 'There's that singer, we'll never be like him. Look at the attitude, look at the bling, bling.' I believe there's two types of artists: the people who really connect with their audience, where you're not pretending to be better than them. You're not pretending to be a macho king.
"Then there are artists where you're in awe of who they are, you think you'll never be like them or have what they have.
"I definitely want to be the first kind of artist. I don't have any desire to be looked upon as someone who is better than the rest. I am on the same level as my audience."
But despite his modesty (which is refreshingly genuine when you meet him), Sebastian is aware of the impact his music is having on fans.
"It really means something to me, to write songs that landmark certain events in people's lives," he said. "Like if people say. 'I walked down the aisle to that song Guy wrote.' Or, 'I christened my baby to that song,' or, "That was the song playing at the club when I first met you.' "
Next week the singer hopes to be celebrating his own momentous occasion, when his album enters the Australian music charts for the first time.
Just As I Am is released through BMG today.
www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/07/1070732062687.html
