DAVID ADAMS speaks with Brittany Cairns about how doors have been opening up after The Voice…
It was a friend of Brittany Cairns who sent the Sydney singer a link with information about online auditions for Channel Nine’s, The Voice. An audition which, it turns out, would lead to dramatic changes in her life.
“And at first I thought, no, that’s not for me, and then I kind of just palmed it off…But then I thought who cares if I make it, I’ll just try and see how it goes.”
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Brittany Cairns “It was such an amazing experience and I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity. I don’t think it actually settled in until after the show had finished…but it was so incredible and they taught me so much.”– Brittany Cairns on working with Keith Urban on The Voice. |
Well enough that Ms Cairns, then 19-years-old, made the finals and garnered a nation-wide following for her music as she’s gone on to produce a couple of chart hits and a tour in New Zealand as well as performances at various festivals around Australia. She’s also already seen some chart success with her rendition of Jes Hudak’s Different Worlds hit number one on the iTunes chart and number seven on the ARIA chart.
Ms Cairns – whose self-titled EP comes out in June with a second single from it to be released before then (the first was Behind the Scenes) – says she never imagined her singing would take her this far.
“Not at all – when I was doing my online audition, I just did it on my iPhone and I think it’s about the second take and you can hear my mum slamming the door, you can see my messy room and after that I went out with my friends and I didn’t even think twice about it.”
While music has always been important to Ms Cairns who, growing up in a Christian family, sang at her local church and while at high school, her time on The Voice during the show’s first season last year has opened up new doors – not the least in helping her to overcome her shyness. She says that working with mentor Keith Urban – something she has previously described as a “God thing” – has been a highlight.
“It was such an amazing experience and I feel so blessed to have had that opportunity. I don’t think it actually settled in until after the show had finished…but it was so incredible and they taught me so much.”
It’s been a busy time for her since finishing the show – among other things, Ms Cairns has travelled to Los Angeles where she worked with songwriters and producers including Johnny Severin who has previously worked with the likes of Lady Gaga and Usher as well as Lindsay Ray (co-writer of Mariah Carey’s Almost Home).
“LA was just unreal – it was such a good learning curve for me to work with people of such calibre…I can’t wait to go back actually and work with them again.”
She cites Brooke Fraser, John Mayer and Ed Sheeran as among her key influences when it comes to songwriting.
“It’s the story-telling that gets me,” she says. Other influences include jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
While she says she finds the process of song-writing hard, “when you get to the side of releasing the music, it’s so worth it and you feel like you’ve earnt something”.
Asked how she has managed to keep grounded in the midst of all that has been going on in her life, Ms Cairns said her parents have played a key role.
“If I ever walked into the house with a big head, I think it would last two seconds…It’s my family and my faith that keep me grounded. And my older brother, he works in the touring industry (with bands) so he’s very used to meeting famous people and when he’s telling stories, I’ve kind of realised that celebrities are just people too, you know. So for me, I don’t feel like I’m better than anyone or anything like that – this is just my job and this is what I do.”
One thing that her rise to fame has given her is a platform – something Ms Cairns takes very seriously.
“I’ve always had a heart to be a role model for the younger generation of women so I hope that not only they get the music side of it but they also get to see just what you don’t have to be, if that makes sense? Someone who shows modesty and something and things like that – that’s kind of what I hope to portray as well as my music.”
To that end, Ms Cairns recently recorded a video for C3 Church in Sydney on the issue of teenage suicide.
“I just think it’s so important to express how much they’re worth…That’s really important to me and it’s something that tugs at my heart strings…”
Underlying everything she does is her faith in Jesus Christ – she has previously commented that if something is meant to be in her life, God will open the doors. “I wouldn’t have anything if it wasn’t (for) my faith,” she adds.
