With two degrees behind her and an enviable level of motivation and drive, Loe is excited to be able to put all of her energy into music at this point in her life. “It was always something that I wanted to do, really, so it’s been great to be able to focus on it for this past year and to get some progress with it as well,” Loe says. “I’ve always wanted to be completely within music and although there are other things I want to pursue in the future, music is the main thing at the moment.”
So why Australia’s Got Talent? “I was never really interested in doing a TV show to begin with,” she says. “What actually happened was that I had a YouTube channel that had gotten a significant amount of views and one of the casting agents saw me and asked me to come to an audition. At that point, I had already planned to release an EP, I already had people on board to produce it but I thought it would be a great way to get my name out there so that when the EP comes out I’d be able to get some traction with it,” she says continuing.
“If you do become a winner on a show like, if you haven’t had any prior experience within the music industry it can be very difficult to be placed in that position. Everyone’s telling you what to do, everyone’s taking control over your career and I can see why many winners don’t have enough experience to be able to keep going with it. Regardless of the fact of whether you have a manager, or a label, you still have to do all the work. Talent isn’t all that’s important about being in this industry. The show and the placing that I got was perfect for me to meet people, get my name out there and access people that I wouldn’t have been able to before.”
Maybe it’s a well-known fact, but casting agent? Aren’t those talents shows just awash with hidden and undiscovered talent that wander in off the street with a chest full of glorious melody and an arm full of emotional baggage? At least that’s what the ads say. “I think that, well they definitely do have some random auditions but they really do go out and look for something I think,” she says honestly. “Imagine if out of everyone they did audition they didn’t really have anyone who was able to win, they probably wouldn’t have a show,” she laughs and then goes on to clarify. “You still have to go through the audition process, so it’s not just a guaranteed way in, but they offer you to come and audition and they’re saying that they think you might have something.”
Loe’s talent is unquestionable and her motivation is unwavering but the one problem she faces is the reality that she exists within the cracks of the Australian music industry. She is neither entirely indie nor plastic commercial. She writes her own music but it’s filled with pop and grit, heart and soul. She’s never been on Neighbours. Despite all of these things, she looks set to overcome these hurdle with ability and will. “It would probably be easier for me if I could label myself as completely commercial or completely indie,” she admits. “There seems to be a divide in Australia within the music industry. If you’re an indie band it seems to be easier to play in that genre of music because there’s more venues available to you. Then if you’re in the commercial label, there’s complete radio airplay…There’s a lot of stuff on commercial radio that just gets repeated and it comes from the US. I definitely think, though, that there’s a gap in the industry for someone who makes pop music that doesn’t follow a particular, formula or trend or something like that. If Australians start to support more artists from Australia within that commercial genre, there would be space in the market. So many other artists just aren’t willing to do it because it is so difficult. Even though what I’m doing is hard, I don’t want to jeopardise my own taste in music or my originality just so I can have a career. I want to do this right for myself and my music.”
BY KRISSI WEISS
