Kate Miller-Heidke: It’s Already Tomorrow in Australia
On a smoggy Toronto afternoon on the patio of The Drake Hotel Kate Miller-Heidke is eyeing my beer mournfully. “That looks good,” she says dejectedly glancing at her raspberry ice tea. I offer to wait to start the interview while she orders one but she shakes her blond hair which at the moment is streaked with bright orange highlights. The day is slipping away and she has a plane to catch.
Her last stop with in North America for a while was the day before at Lilith (rebranded without the “Fair”) and she’s at facing as many interviews as she can humanly handled before rejoining the other side of the Atlantic. “I was taking to [singer-songwriter] Sia the other day and she said she was doing was doing so much promo that she was having a promo-coma.” This is one of the many little comments she can slip in without thinking about it that remind you that she is established in her own right in her home of Australia. “I’m grateful for everything I have in Australia. And everything is like a trampoline. I’m just starting at the bottom again. And playing at Lilith and opening for Ben Folds all through America and playing at Coachella I feel lucky to have been given those breaks and I keep being given reasons to come back.”
Miller-Heidke is in the midst of a promotional blitz in North America to promote her album Curiouser which was originally released in Australia back in 2008. Pop music took a serious turn that same year when her and her personal and professional partner Keir Nuttall won the prestigious International Songwriting Competition for their song and first single off Curiouser “Caught in the Crowd”. It was judged by Ray Davies, Tom Waits and Robert Smith among others. The prize included $25,000 and musical equipment “It was amazing. It happened at a time when I was feeling a bit disheartened. It was really validating and a lot of people say that those awards mean anything but occasionally it can really help. And the prize was pretty fucking good too. Lots of money and lots of musical gear. I’m still touring with the piano that I won from that competition.”
Caught in the Middle may be one of the most socially conscious pop songs to come out in recent memory. The song deals with bullying and the title refers to not being the guilty party but not doing anything to stop it. In an age of escapism when most popular music has to do more with fantasy than reality, Miller-Heidke took a risk which paid off. Now with official industry and musical credibility she seems to have come up with her own winning combination which follows no formula.
Her claim to fame this side of the equator is a little gem called “Are You Fucking Kidding Me” with the deeply timely lyrics “at times it really felt as though I'd never smile again/ you narcissistic asshole, oh you nasty nasty man/And now you wanna be my friend on Facebook... Are you fucking kidding?” It is ranked in the the top songs about Facebook and is a deeply simple, charming and irreverent take on the state of relationships right now. Miller-Heidke seems bemused but pleased with the song’s life. A bonus track on Curiouser it has become a sensation in it’s own right. “I think without the internet someone like me wouldn’t be her right now. That Facebook song is such a simple song. I wrote it in half an hour and I think it’s really paid a lot of dividends. I’m lucky to have people spreading the word and I think people like having that sense of discovery and the ownership that comes with that.”
What is particularly striking about Miller-Heidke is the dreaded G word. As in Gaga. Lady Gaga. Both share a penchant for over the top performance outfits with a bent towards theatricality. She is quick to point out, rightfully so, that her album came out first, albeit on the other side of the world. “I couldn’t give a fuck about her,” says Miller-Heidke dismissively. “She’s a pop star, Madonna did the same thing before her and someone will do the same thing after her.”
It is interesting, I point out, that by trying to be unique and express yourself and your vision you fall prey to comparisons. “Yes,” she concedes. “It seems to be a place to put artists into little boxes to understand them better. But it’s bullshit.” Her brand of progressive pop is a movement more in the realm of Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell than Gaga, not to compare. Miller-Heidke is producing a far more accessible form of pop music that anyone can listen to and has easily translated to a range of audiences. As for performing at Lilith she again dismisses the stigma of performing for a concert that has been written off almost completely. “I’m just happy to be playing. I’m happy that my music has been able to open so many door for me and been accepted so many places.”
As we’re wrapping up our brief meeting in which she has managed to chew through the better part of the straw connecting her lips to her ice tea and glancing at my beer I ask her about her next project which is a stint in a West End musical called Shoes in London. “I get to live in a completely different world,” she says excitedly. “It’s the second time I’ve done this since I started a pop career [her first was an acclaimed performance in Jerry Springer The Musical]. And it’s a privilege to experience [the theatre world] as an insider. It’s a novelty for me to have a routine and a rehearsal schedule. To not be the boss and not carry the show on my shoulders and be apart of a team. A cog. Sometimes it’s good to be a cog. And I love musical theatre. It’s a huge part of my songwriting style. I can’t get away from it.”
For someone who’s been in charge of their own career and trajectory for so long another performance run can seem like a break when you’re not constantly fronting your own ideas that make or break your future. She is someone who has been working quietly and consistently for many years and gets the rules of the game and is more interested in doing it her way because, let’s face it, it’s been working. We’re all just starting to catch up.
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