July 20, 2024 • 24 mins
Georgia Lines has quickly risen to prominence in New Zealand's music scene with her infectious personality and R&B-infused pop sound. In 2022, she won Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the Aotearoa Music Awards and was nominated for Best Pop Artist alongside Lorde and Benee. Her EP "HUMAN" debuted at #1 on the Official Top 20 NZ Album charts, driven by the success of 'Faith', which topped NZ Airplay charts for four consecutive weeks and amassed over 7 million streams.
In addition to her recording success, Georgia has performed multiple sold-out headline tours across New Zealand and supported international acts like George Ezra and Pentatonix. With features in Rolling Stone and Canvas Magazine, Georgia continues to garner both local and international acclaim, solidifying her position as a rising star in contemporary pop music.
Georgia's ability to connect with audiences through her soulful vocals and compelling songwriting has contributed to her growing fanbase and widespread recognition in the music industry. Her achievements on the charts and in live performances underscore her trajectory towards becoming a significant figure not only in New Zealand but also on the global stage.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk S ed B.
Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk S ed B.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You know, welcome to real life.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm John Cown and I'm delighted to be speaking of
Georgia Lines, a young New Zealand singer whose talent is
blasting her hire and higher, and I get the idea
that she's got a long way to go yet.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Welcome Georgia.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Thank you. It's a lovely intro.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I thought that'd be flattering for you, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I mean, you've been so successful and you must at
times you pinching yourself thinking this is going really well,
isn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean constantly this year has felt in particularly
quite big, andast few months have felt even bigger.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The best bits, well, I.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Released my debut album, so that's been a long time coming.
That was early early June, and you know, so that's
been in the process of I mean, I haven't had
any of my own children, but Musical Child since burfing
that into the world the last you know, two years
creating this.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
That's quite a that's quite a gestation. I've got a
lot of labor pains and getting that.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Out, a lot, a lot of terrifying fears.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You know, a cute baby, is it? Is it going well?
Is it doing everything that you hoped?
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I mean, it's a cute baby in the sense that
it's like everybody thinks their baby's cute, you know, babies argue.
I know, I love that we're going down this tangent.
But yeah, it's been going really well, and it's been
I think the most exciting and I guess affirming thing
for me is hearing the story worries and the the
(02:11):
response from people has felt very different, okay with this
record compared to previous work, and I guess giving some
context to that, you know, I feel like when when
you release things, people are like, oh, great job, you're
doing awesome, love what you're doing, and that's always really
lovely and affirming. But I guess I've had a lot
of very specific stories of how songs have spoken, you know,
(02:34):
directly into people's stories and into their journey, and that's
been really and I think lovely is the right word.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Because that must be great.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I mean, I imagine as a buzzer knowing that people
are humming tunes and entertained and everything like that. But
it must be something else when you know that your
music is actually doing what only music can do, and
that is winkle its way into people's hearts and resonate
with something.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, thank you. I mean, it makes it feel
like this is this is what I want to do
with my music and with my life, Like I don't
want to create noise for the sake of creating noise,
Like I want to make art and create bodies of
work or songs that mean something deeply to me, you
(03:25):
know that capture points in my journey or you know,
are things that I've learned along the way and hopefully
that then means something to something else. So that's been
really a big highlight.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I think that's something you could feel really proud of.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
And hopefully it's also receiving a bit of playtime and
getting getting the charts and translating into some MOLA back
into your pocket. That'd be all good too.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You really love got to pay for the record somehow.
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
You've also had some big gigs. He played with Brook Fraser.
That must have been a buzz how big was that crowd.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
I don't know what the end the final number ended
up being, because it was the big days for me. Honestly,
a magical moment where I was like, this is what
I've I've dreamed of this moment opening for Brook since
I was twelve years old and I saw her. She
was my very first concert I ever ever went to,
and I remember thinking, man, one day, I've really loved
(04:27):
to meet her. And you know what if I sang
before before her and opened to the show for her. So,
I mean it was full, they sold it out, so
I don't know how many thousands of people that is.
There was a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It was the sea of I wonder if it was
bigger than Eton Park. When you're saying there that was
the national anthem, wasn't it that you're saying there? That
must have been a buzz too.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Yeah, that was a buzz to. I mean, like I said,
I feel like the last two years have been pretty amazing.
It's it's been hard, and you know, I've been working
at this for ten years now, and you know, since
I left high school, and you know kind of see
and feeling like there's momentum that's you know, slowly snowballed
(05:12):
and you gain some movement, and then you kind of
pause for a little while and roll a few things
back and then carry on. It's been a wild few
years and I've played some amazing shows, and you know,
I think the Brook show was a real highlight for
me on so many levels. But I think feeling like
it was a significant moment for my younger self and
(05:35):
my current south of going like, look at how far
I've come. You know, I'm performing to a sold out stadium.
Was it was pretty amazing?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It must be.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I haven't heard you perform in a live concert, but
I've been listening to some of your music and some
of it is so intimate. I mean I can almost
feel your breath blowing in my ear. You know, you've
found sounding so close and you mentioned before about how
impactful it is for people sometimes emotionally. Is that something
you can do in a big crowd. I imagine big
(06:08):
audience you want to just belt things out, but to
do an intimate, quiet song like you seem to specialize,
and can you do that for big crowd?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I mean, one day, when you tell me, when you
see me, maybe you can beat the judge with that
i'd like.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
To think tickets now.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
I would love to think that I can. And I
think it's been learning. A friend of mine actually said
to me, you know, when you are performing these songs,
you're bringing people are coming into your space, and remember that.
Remember that they're coming into the space that you've created.
And so I think I've tried in the last little while,
(06:51):
especially with a lot of those songs that feel, you know,
there's the very breathy, close, big vocal, to remember that
and go, people are coming into the space. I don't
have to prove anything other than be myself. And you know,
there are moments where you do about and you have
this big black singing in the stadium and you know.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
But and you obviously enjoy that too.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, it's amazing. And I think, you know, if we
look at the brookshow again, the song that I finished with,
which is the closing song on the album, Grain Delusion,
there's something about that song. When people have listened to it,
it's like.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
What is this?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
And it's the same question I'm like, what did I
just make here? Like this is a song that carries
that kind of intimacy and how you sing it and
the push and the pull of the malady and the
intensity of the lyrics in some part, you know. So
I hope that when when you are in that big
(07:53):
kind of setting, it still feels like thattmate intimacy. But
it does feel very different to playing in a room
full of twenty or thirty people, naturally.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Because I get the impression that the as much as
you enjoy getting in to people's heads and hearts with
the emotion of your lyrics, you also enjoy the performing.
And I'm just judging that by every music clip I
pull up of you. You've got a different costume on.
You must have a separate house just full of wardrobe.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I have lot of clothes. I love them.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Bright, bright colors usually, yes, yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Bright colors. My wardrobe is very colorful and full of
a lot of textures. And I think I may be
own like two or three black items, which has not
been intentional and isn't handy when you're like, I have
every color in the rainbow possibly to pull from, and
I can't look like a popsicle walking down the street
(08:54):
right now.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Well, it's a pity you don't have black, because I've
already picked the beautiful song that you sing for my funeral.
So look, I think it would have been very appropriate
if you dressed in black for singing there.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
But the one time I did perform that at the
art gallery, I did actually singing.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh there you go, there you go. That wasn't the museum.
I saw a clip of you singing it at the
Auckland at museum.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, what did I say today?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
And okay, oh that was appropriate? That that's great and
so deep. I was amazing. How I've heard a lot
of your songs. You you sing quite high, but that
one you start off, you know you start off and
huh where that voice come from? Hey, speaking of clothes,
(09:54):
I also watched a video clip of you filming a
video clip where you're where you're plummeting backwards into a
swimming pool, and I'm thinking that was to ruin that
dress and shoes. Did it survived the soaking?
Speaker 4 (10:05):
It survived the soaking And do you know what? I
did that three times, not in the same day and
not for the same thing, and it managed to survive
the dry cleaning and the chlorine of all three times,
which I'm amazed because I thought, sure, this is this is.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Kind of the wrong people bring people on board. And
it's a very striking video clip where you're standing you
fall backwards straight into a swimming pool, absolutely straight, very bravely.
You're looking very you look like you're having a lot
of grace and poise as you do it. I bet
it was terrifying because you knew how much it was
going to sting your back.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
It was absolutely terrifying. And I because I had done
it the previous two times for the album artwork, I
knew exactly what it was going to feel like, and
so leading up to that moment of the poise and
the grace, I was not feeling very positive and quite
grumpy and feeling really nervous, knowing I've got one shot
to make this happen. But it turned out amazing.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Does look great.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
But there is a little video clip of how you
did it. You can see a very very red back.
Thissus really stung as he hit the water.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
And because it was so cold as well, it was
in winter, so it wasn't summer and lovely day like,
it was cold and so it looks like an ice
bath and there as well.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So for people that are listening that are thinking, yeah,
I wouldn't mind having an international career as a songwriter
and performer. Just realized that sometimes it involves plummeting into
ice cold pools and it really really hurts. Sometimes it's
just joined us. I'm having a lot of fun talking
with Georgia Lyons. We'll be talking more about her life,
(11:45):
her career, how she got to be where she is,
and some of the things that she holds close to
her heart. This is real life on newstalk s.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
EDB Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
news Talk ZEDB, The Grand.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
The Grand Sho.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
That's just.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Welcome back to real life.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I'm John Cowen talking with singer songwriter Georgia Lines, and
this is one of her songs and she's picked this
one for us. Beautiful song, what's the story there?
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Thank You? It's actually I think maybe one of my
favorite moments on my album. It was the last song
to be written. I felt like it had, you know,
a full, full, finished album, and I had been listening
to a lot of Billie Holiday the Solitude album, and
I felt like, in terms of representation musically, it's like
(12:49):
there's nothing in my album that kind of as directly
inspired or has been inspired by that record and that's
played a really significant part in the last few years
for me. And so Nick Manders, who produced my album
and I we wrote, sat down and wrote the song
and there was this line that I had been that
(13:11):
was rolling around my head a few months earlier, that was,
can I build a life that I want to live in?
And I remember thinking, do I want to buy things
and make myself a reality, you know, that I want
to escape from? And how can I live and create
(13:33):
a world where I am able to sit in the
hard moments and sit in the really beautiful moments and
learn to kind of hold hold both of them in
the same kind of sentence, and learn to live a
really beautiful life that's intentional.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
How do you? How do you?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
That's incredibly mature.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I mean, people go through life doing things like trying
to avoid grief, you know it, and getting distracted or
dulling themselves with alcohol or something, rather than realizing that
the way to get through life is to actually just
and actually experience it, feel it, move on. Well, you know,
I said, some wise people talking into your life or
(14:15):
you just.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Come up there that way? Yeah, I do, I really do.
I feel very grateful to have had you know a
lot of I mean, I've got an amazing family and
to have grown up in an amazing community of people
that have just loved me and you know, have kind
of just helped shape me. And also, you know, life
(14:36):
is hard and it's not black and white, and things
don't necessarily go to plan, and so you learn and
you have to choose how you're going to navigate through
those things. And I love the song and I think
it's such a beautiful way to end the album because
it kind of captures this point in my thinking and
the journey of this this end of the album, and yeah,
(14:57):
it's pretty special.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Digging back through your catalog of things that you've done
and recorded, I saw that you were involved in a
gospel album back in about twenty fourteen. I don't know
if they've done other ones as well, but at least
that one. And so I'm wondering whether a church and
faith has been part of that community that you've been
talking about.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Yeah, it's been been a big part for me. And
you know, I've grown up in church in community, and
you know, my first I guess like experience of the
stage and kind of a lot of performing and I
know it's very different, but was you know, being being
a part of the team there and singing on Sundays
(15:38):
and you know, songwriting, and there was a lot of
formative moments and formative years that I spent kind of
surrounded by these beautiful people that were amazing songwriters. And
I was obviously a part of that album in twenty fourteen,
which was ten years ago. I feel like that's ten
years has happened very quickly. I don't know where that
(15:59):
time has gone, but yeah, I look back at that
time and I think like I learned so much and
learned so much about songwriting and performing and engaging with
people and communicating and you know, although it's very different context,
I feel like I learned a lot and I use
(16:21):
a lot of that now. And you know, my faith
has played and still continues to play a really important
part and who I am and something that I will continue.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
To So, Yeah, ten years of growth and being in
a pretty turbulent industry hasn't knocked the faith out of you.
You're still it's still something that's a real.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Part of you.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, still something that's a real quod.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
To bubble up into your music at all.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know, I've had this question. Internally, I've thought a
lot about this and other people have asked me this
as well, And to be honest, I mean, everything feels
like it. Everything that I create is just a natural
representation of you know, what's who I am and what
I'm kind of navigating and how I'm navigating those things,
and you know, it's a natural outflow of who I am.
(17:14):
And so I've never been super intentional about going and
need to make sure that I'm you know, writing in
this certain way and bringing them to what I'm doing.
It's just I'm creating and I'm making music, and you know,
of course that's going to influence how how I think
and how I process things, and you know, maybe I
(17:35):
don't know, but it just feels like a natural Everything
that I've kind of created is always emanated from you know,
who I am.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Your professional career really is taking off, but I know
that it can be a tough industry on people. I mean,
it's not just the fun of being on a stage.
There's a lot of post performance slump and you know,
what do I do of always adrenaline that's draining out
of my body is the travel. There's the business of
(18:06):
the business of the business of having to handle managers
and money and marketing and long hours to spent trying
to scratch up.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
An idea for a new song? Are you worried about burnout?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And yeah, I mean I'm constantly I'm constantly asking a
lot of questions in terms of going, where do I
Where do I say yes? Where do I say no?
We're constantly talking, not constantly talking about burnout, but between
myself and my team is looking at the calendar and
(18:42):
planning ahead and going when can I have a break
and have a holiday? And what does it look like
to say yes to these things? Or what does it
look like to say no to these things? And I mean,
for me, I work really hard.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Can you say no? Are you a person that can
say no?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
It's something I've really really struggled with and something that
I have and probably will continue to have to really
fight against. God Like, I don't have to say yes
to everything.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
But you've got a big time manager and agency on
board now, And yeah, I think it's amazing that you
used to do Coldplay covers and now you've got the
same agent that managers Coldplay, And so I imagine if
they are wanting to ring every dollar they can out
of you in your career.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
They could possibly be quite.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Pushy, and so yeah, I mean they The amazing thing
is is that I feel like everybody on my team,
including you know, my booking agency in America, they work
for me, and you know, for me, my goal and
my I guess looking forward into the future has always
(19:52):
been sustainability and how can I create a career that
is here for a long time and not just you know,
burning out within five years. And so trying to keep
that perspective in that way of kind of doing things
at the forefront and in the conversations. Sometimes it means going, actually,
(20:15):
we need to say no to this, even though it
feels like a big thing to say no to, it's
way more important that I am doing this or that
the capacity is spent for this next thing coming.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
As well as leaving space in your calendar. What else
refreshes you? What puts what puts the the juice into
you that can then be turned into songs later on.
What refreshes you? Are you a walk on the beach person?
Are you off cliffs and bungee jumping? And type person?
Speaker 4 (20:45):
I have done a bungee and a skydive and.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
You don't need to do them again.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
I love being outside. I love I really love the garden.
My garden looks very sad at the moment. It's been
a bit neglected. But I love being outside and I
love people. I find that if I'm by myself for
too long shiff, you know, even on the weekend, I
get bored very quickly, and I find myself, you know,
(21:14):
just wanting to be around people, or watch a movie
with someone, or have people around.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Hey, if you're one of Georgia's mates and you're listening
to this, give her a call. She's probably wanting to
go and have a cup of coffee with you.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
To me, always messaging being like, hey, I just wonder
what you're up to.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Okay, Hey, I've just got an indication from my producer
that we're getting towards the end of our time. I
just a final question. Even the best careers eventually come
to an end. And I hope that yours goes for
as long as you want it to and you have
a ton of success. But when your career finally is
wrapping up, what do you want to look back and
say that you particularly enjoyed out of your career or
(21:54):
what do you want to have achieved in your career?
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I mean, that's a really great question. I think for
me looking ahead and and going this is the person
that I want to be and continue to be. That's
more important. I think at the end of the day,
whenever my career finishes, is going, who was the person
(22:20):
that I was through all of this? Was I a
really great daughter, you know, friend, wife, all of the things,
you know, because I think those things are way more
important than your job. I really hope that I've helped people,
and I've helped encourage other artists, you know. That's something
(22:43):
that I've been really passionate about and hopefully will continue
to do that for the rest of my life, you know,
find ways to equip other artists and help people with
the things that I've learned along the way. And that
I was really present in all of the excitement and
the fun shows and you know, the albums and the
songwriting and the travel and all of the things that
(23:06):
feel really big. I hope that I was really present
in author.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
There is that theme that you had in that song
that we played before as well, that idea of not
running away from it but embracing life. And I'm sure
that your career is going to be absolutely stellar and
will survive it fantastically as well. Georgia, thank you so
much for being part of real life. And we'll go
out on another song that you've picked. What are we
listening to?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I Could Be a Florist by Olivia Dean, which really
she was a massive musical inspiration as I was writing
this album, and this was one of the songs that
really stuck to me. It was very simple and very
beautiful and musically is something that I just I really
wanted to create within my album. And even though I'm
(23:54):
not Olivia Dean and I would love to have been,
I just loved how she created this record that was
very much herself and yeah, beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I'm sure she'd be very proud knowing that she inspired
the music that you're creating. Georgia, Line's wishing you all
the beast. Thank you for being part of real life.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I'm John Cown. This is real life.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I used to be looking forward to being back with
you again next Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
When words don't come so easy.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Believe me, in need these They know just what to say.
Oh could be a foic. What's life for? Miss that
little something missing off fixer can misses harm Open every day.
(24:47):
That little something missing off Fixer ca miss harm Open
every day.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
For more from news talks, it'd be listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk S ed B.
Follow this and our Wide Ranger podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Real Conversation, Real Connection. It's Real life with John Cowen
on News Talk S ed B.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
You know, welcome to real life.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
I'm John Cown and I'm delighted to be speaking of
Georgia Lines, a young New Zealand singer whose talent is
blasting her hire and higher, and I get the idea
that she's got a long way to go yet.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Welcome Georgia.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Thank you. It's a lovely intro.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
I thought that'd be flattering for you, but it's true.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
I mean, you've been so successful and you must at
times you pinching yourself thinking this is going really well,
isn't it.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Yeah, I mean constantly this year has felt in particularly
quite big, andast few months have felt even bigger.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
The best bits, well, I.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Released my debut album, so that's been a long time coming.
That was early early June, and you know, so that's
been in the process of I mean, I haven't had
any of my own children, but Musical Child since burfing
that into the world the last you know, two years
creating this.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
That's quite a that's quite a gestation. I've got a
lot of labor pains and getting that.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Out, a lot, a lot of terrifying fears.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You know, a cute baby, is it? Is it going well?
Is it doing everything that you hoped?
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I mean, it's a cute baby in the sense that
it's like everybody thinks their baby's cute, you know, babies argue.
I know, I love that we're going down this tangent.
But yeah, it's been going really well, and it's been
I think the most exciting and I guess affirming thing
for me is hearing the story worries and the the
(02:11):
response from people has felt very different, okay with this
record compared to previous work, and I guess giving some
context to that, you know, I feel like when when
you release things, people are like, oh, great job, you're
doing awesome, love what you're doing, and that's always really
lovely and affirming. But I guess I've had a lot
of very specific stories of how songs have spoken, you know,
(02:34):
directly into people's stories and into their journey, and that's
been really and I think lovely is the right word.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Because that must be great.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I mean, I imagine as a buzzer knowing that people
are humming tunes and entertained and everything like that. But
it must be something else when you know that your
music is actually doing what only music can do, and
that is winkle its way into people's hearts and resonate
with something.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
Yeah, yeah, thank you. I mean, it makes it feel
like this is this is what I want to do
with my music and with my life, Like I don't
want to create noise for the sake of creating noise,
Like I want to make art and create bodies of
work or songs that mean something deeply to me, you
(03:25):
know that capture points in my journey or you know,
are things that I've learned along the way and hopefully
that then means something to something else. So that's been
really a big highlight.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
I think that's something you could feel really proud of.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
And hopefully it's also receiving a bit of playtime and
getting getting the charts and translating into some MOLA back
into your pocket. That'd be all good too.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
You really love got to pay for the record somehow.
You know.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
You've also had some big gigs. He played with Brook Fraser.
That must have been a buzz how big was that crowd.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
I don't know what the end the final number ended
up being, because it was the big days for me. Honestly,
a magical moment where I was like, this is what
I've I've dreamed of this moment opening for Brook since
I was twelve years old and I saw her. She
was my very first concert I ever ever went to,
and I remember thinking, man, one day, I've really loved
(04:27):
to meet her. And you know what if I sang
before before her and opened to the show for her. So,
I mean it was full, they sold it out, so
I don't know how many thousands of people that is.
There was a lot of people.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
It was the sea of I wonder if it was
bigger than Eton Park. When you're saying there that was
the national anthem, wasn't it that you're saying there? That
must have been a buzz too.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Yeah, that was a buzz to. I mean, like I said,
I feel like the last two years have been pretty amazing.
It's it's been hard, and you know, I've been working
at this for ten years now, and you know, since
I left high school, and you know kind of see
and feeling like there's momentum that's you know, slowly snowballed
(05:12):
and you gain some movement, and then you kind of
pause for a little while and roll a few things
back and then carry on. It's been a wild few
years and I've played some amazing shows, and you know,
I think the Brook show was a real highlight for
me on so many levels. But I think feeling like
it was a significant moment for my younger self and
(05:35):
my current south of going like, look at how far
I've come. You know, I'm performing to a sold out stadium.
Was it was pretty amazing?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
It must be.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
Now.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I haven't heard you perform in a live concert, but
I've been listening to some of your music and some
of it is so intimate. I mean I can almost
feel your breath blowing in my ear. You know, you've
found sounding so close and you mentioned before about how
impactful it is for people sometimes emotionally. Is that something
you can do in a big crowd. I imagine big
(06:08):
audience you want to just belt things out, but to
do an intimate, quiet song like you seem to specialize,
and can you do that for big crowd?
Speaker 4 (06:17):
I mean, one day, when you tell me, when you
see me, maybe you can beat the judge with that
i'd like.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
To think tickets now.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
I would love to think that I can. And I
think it's been learning. A friend of mine actually said
to me, you know, when you are performing these songs,
you're bringing people are coming into your space, and remember that.
Remember that they're coming into the space that you've created.
And so I think I've tried in the last little while,
(06:51):
especially with a lot of those songs that feel, you know,
there's the very breathy, close, big vocal, to remember that
and go, people are coming into the space. I don't
have to prove anything other than be myself. And you know,
there are moments where you do about and you have
this big black singing in the stadium and you know.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
But and you obviously enjoy that too.
Speaker 4 (07:16):
Yeah, it's amazing. And I think, you know, if we
look at the brookshow again, the song that I finished with,
which is the closing song on the album, Grain Delusion,
there's something about that song. When people have listened to it,
it's like.
Speaker 5 (07:32):
What is this?
Speaker 4 (07:33):
And it's the same question I'm like, what did I
just make here? Like this is a song that carries
that kind of intimacy and how you sing it and
the push and the pull of the malady and the
intensity of the lyrics in some part, you know. So
I hope that when when you are in that big
(07:53):
kind of setting, it still feels like thattmate intimacy. But
it does feel very different to playing in a room
full of twenty or thirty people, naturally.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
Because I get the impression that the as much as
you enjoy getting in to people's heads and hearts with
the emotion of your lyrics, you also enjoy the performing.
And I'm just judging that by every music clip I
pull up of you. You've got a different costume on.
You must have a separate house just full of wardrobe.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I have lot of clothes. I love them.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Bright, bright colors usually, yes, yeah.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
Bright colors. My wardrobe is very colorful and full of
a lot of textures. And I think I may be
own like two or three black items, which has not
been intentional and isn't handy when you're like, I have
every color in the rainbow possibly to pull from, and
I can't look like a popsicle walking down the street
(08:54):
right now.
Speaker 3 (08:57):
Well, it's a pity you don't have black, because I've
already picked the beautiful song that you sing for my funeral.
So look, I think it would have been very appropriate
if you dressed in black for singing there.
Speaker 4 (09:10):
But the one time I did perform that at the
art gallery, I did actually singing.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh there you go, there you go. That wasn't the museum.
I saw a clip of you singing it at the
Auckland at museum.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, what did I say today?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
And okay, oh that was appropriate? That that's great and
so deep. I was amazing. How I've heard a lot
of your songs. You you sing quite high, but that
one you start off, you know you start off and
huh where that voice come from? Hey, speaking of clothes,
(09:54):
I also watched a video clip of you filming a
video clip where you're where you're plummeting backwards into a
swimming pool, and I'm thinking that was to ruin that
dress and shoes. Did it survived the soaking?
Speaker 4 (10:05):
It survived the soaking And do you know what? I
did that three times, not in the same day and
not for the same thing, and it managed to survive
the dry cleaning and the chlorine of all three times,
which I'm amazed because I thought, sure, this is this is.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Kind of the wrong people bring people on board. And
it's a very striking video clip where you're standing you
fall backwards straight into a swimming pool, absolutely straight, very bravely.
You're looking very you look like you're having a lot
of grace and poise as you do it. I bet
it was terrifying because you knew how much it was
going to sting your back.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
It was absolutely terrifying. And I because I had done
it the previous two times for the album artwork, I
knew exactly what it was going to feel like, and
so leading up to that moment of the poise and
the grace, I was not feeling very positive and quite
grumpy and feeling really nervous, knowing I've got one shot
to make this happen. But it turned out amazing.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Does look great.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
But there is a little video clip of how you
did it. You can see a very very red back.
Thissus really stung as he hit the water.
Speaker 4 (11:16):
And because it was so cold as well, it was
in winter, so it wasn't summer and lovely day like,
it was cold and so it looks like an ice
bath and there as well.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
So for people that are listening that are thinking, yeah,
I wouldn't mind having an international career as a songwriter
and performer. Just realized that sometimes it involves plummeting into
ice cold pools and it really really hurts. Sometimes it's
just joined us. I'm having a lot of fun talking
with Georgia Lyons. We'll be talking more about her life,
(11:45):
her career, how she got to be where she is,
and some of the things that she holds close to
her heart. This is real life on newstalk s.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
EDB Intelligent interviews with interesting people. It's real life on
news Talk ZEDB, The Grand.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
The Grand Sho.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
That's just.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Welcome back to real life.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
I'm John Cowen talking with singer songwriter Georgia Lines, and
this is one of her songs and she's picked this
one for us. Beautiful song, what's the story there?
Speaker 4 (12:26):
Thank You? It's actually I think maybe one of my
favorite moments on my album. It was the last song
to be written. I felt like it had, you know,
a full, full, finished album, and I had been listening
to a lot of Billie Holiday the Solitude album, and
I felt like, in terms of representation musically, it's like
(12:49):
there's nothing in my album that kind of as directly
inspired or has been inspired by that record and that's
played a really significant part in the last few years
for me. And so Nick Manders, who produced my album
and I we wrote, sat down and wrote the song
and there was this line that I had been that
(13:11):
was rolling around my head a few months earlier, that was,
can I build a life that I want to live in?
And I remember thinking, do I want to buy things
and make myself a reality, you know, that I want
to escape from? And how can I live and create
(13:33):
a world where I am able to sit in the
hard moments and sit in the really beautiful moments and
learn to kind of hold hold both of them in
the same kind of sentence, and learn to live a
really beautiful life that's intentional.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
How do you? How do you?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
That's incredibly mature.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I mean, people go through life doing things like trying
to avoid grief, you know it, and getting distracted or
dulling themselves with alcohol or something, rather than realizing that
the way to get through life is to actually just
and actually experience it, feel it, move on. Well, you know,
I said, some wise people talking into your life or
(14:15):
you just.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Come up there that way? Yeah, I do, I really do.
I feel very grateful to have had you know a
lot of I mean, I've got an amazing family and
to have grown up in an amazing community of people
that have just loved me and you know, have kind
of just helped shape me. And also, you know, life
(14:36):
is hard and it's not black and white, and things
don't necessarily go to plan, and so you learn and
you have to choose how you're going to navigate through
those things. And I love the song and I think
it's such a beautiful way to end the album because
it kind of captures this point in my thinking and
the journey of this this end of the album, and yeah,
(14:57):
it's pretty special.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Digging back through your catalog of things that you've done
and recorded, I saw that you were involved in a
gospel album back in about twenty fourteen. I don't know
if they've done other ones as well, but at least
that one. And so I'm wondering whether a church and
faith has been part of that community that you've been
talking about.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
Yeah, it's been been a big part for me. And
you know, I've grown up in church in community, and
you know, my first I guess like experience of the
stage and kind of a lot of performing and I
know it's very different, but was you know, being being
a part of the team there and singing on Sundays
(15:38):
and you know, songwriting, and there was a lot of
formative moments and formative years that I spent kind of
surrounded by these beautiful people that were amazing songwriters. And
I was obviously a part of that album in twenty fourteen,
which was ten years ago. I feel like that's ten
years has happened very quickly. I don't know where that
(15:59):
time has gone, but yeah, I look back at that
time and I think like I learned so much and
learned so much about songwriting and performing and engaging with
people and communicating and you know, although it's very different context,
I feel like I learned a lot and I use
(16:21):
a lot of that now. And you know, my faith
has played and still continues to play a really important
part and who I am and something that I will continue.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
To So, Yeah, ten years of growth and being in
a pretty turbulent industry hasn't knocked the faith out of you.
You're still it's still something that's a real.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
Part of you.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Yeah, still something that's a real quod.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
To bubble up into your music at all.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
You know, I've had this question. Internally, I've thought a
lot about this and other people have asked me this
as well, And to be honest, I mean, everything feels
like it. Everything that I create is just a natural
representation of you know, what's who I am and what
I'm kind of navigating and how I'm navigating those things,
and you know, it's a natural outflow of who I am.
(17:14):
And so I've never been super intentional about going and
need to make sure that I'm you know, writing in
this certain way and bringing them to what I'm doing.
It's just I'm creating and I'm making music, and you know,
of course that's going to influence how how I think
and how I process things, and you know, maybe I
(17:35):
don't know, but it just feels like a natural Everything
that I've kind of created is always emanated from you know,
who I am.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Your professional career really is taking off, but I know
that it can be a tough industry on people. I mean,
it's not just the fun of being on a stage.
There's a lot of post performance slump and you know,
what do I do of always adrenaline that's draining out
of my body is the travel. There's the business of
(18:06):
the business of the business of having to handle managers
and money and marketing and long hours to spent trying
to scratch up.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
An idea for a new song? Are you worried about burnout?
Speaker 4 (18:19):
And yeah, I mean I'm constantly I'm constantly asking a
lot of questions in terms of going, where do I
Where do I say yes? Where do I say no?
We're constantly talking, not constantly talking about burnout, but between
myself and my team is looking at the calendar and
(18:42):
planning ahead and going when can I have a break
and have a holiday? And what does it look like
to say yes to these things? Or what does it
look like to say no to these things? And I mean,
for me, I work really hard.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Can you say no? Are you a person that can
say no?
Speaker 4 (18:59):
It's something I've really really struggled with and something that
I have and probably will continue to have to really
fight against. God Like, I don't have to say yes
to everything.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
But you've got a big time manager and agency on
board now, And yeah, I think it's amazing that you
used to do Coldplay covers and now you've got the
same agent that managers Coldplay, And so I imagine if
they are wanting to ring every dollar they can out
of you in your career.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
They could possibly be quite.
Speaker 4 (19:30):
Pushy, and so yeah, I mean they The amazing thing
is is that I feel like everybody on my team,
including you know, my booking agency in America, they work
for me, and you know, for me, my goal and
my I guess looking forward into the future has always
(19:52):
been sustainability and how can I create a career that
is here for a long time and not just you know,
burning out within five years. And so trying to keep
that perspective in that way of kind of doing things
at the forefront and in the conversations. Sometimes it means going, actually,
(20:15):
we need to say no to this, even though it
feels like a big thing to say no to, it's
way more important that I am doing this or that
the capacity is spent for this next thing coming.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
As well as leaving space in your calendar. What else
refreshes you? What puts what puts the the juice into
you that can then be turned into songs later on.
What refreshes you? Are you a walk on the beach person?
Are you off cliffs and bungee jumping? And type person?
Speaker 4 (20:45):
I have done a bungee and a skydive and.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
You don't need to do them again.
Speaker 4 (20:52):
I love being outside. I love I really love the garden.
My garden looks very sad at the moment. It's been
a bit neglected. But I love being outside and I
love people. I find that if I'm by myself for
too long shiff, you know, even on the weekend, I
get bored very quickly, and I find myself, you know,
(21:14):
just wanting to be around people, or watch a movie
with someone, or have people around.
Speaker 3 (21:19):
Hey, if you're one of Georgia's mates and you're listening
to this, give her a call. She's probably wanting to
go and have a cup of coffee with you.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
To me, always messaging being like, hey, I just wonder
what you're up to.
Speaker 3 (21:30):
Okay, Hey, I've just got an indication from my producer
that we're getting towards the end of our time. I
just a final question. Even the best careers eventually come
to an end. And I hope that yours goes for
as long as you want it to and you have
a ton of success. But when your career finally is
wrapping up, what do you want to look back and
say that you particularly enjoyed out of your career or
(21:54):
what do you want to have achieved in your career?
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I mean, that's a really great question. I think for
me looking ahead and and going this is the person
that I want to be and continue to be. That's
more important. I think at the end of the day,
whenever my career finishes, is going, who was the person
(22:20):
that I was through all of this? Was I a
really great daughter, you know, friend, wife, all of the things,
you know, because I think those things are way more
important than your job. I really hope that I've helped people,
and I've helped encourage other artists, you know. That's something
(22:43):
that I've been really passionate about and hopefully will continue
to do that for the rest of my life, you know,
find ways to equip other artists and help people with
the things that I've learned along the way. And that
I was really present in all of the excitement and
the fun shows and you know, the albums and the
songwriting and the travel and all of the things that
(23:06):
feel really big. I hope that I was really present
in author.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
There is that theme that you had in that song
that we played before as well, that idea of not
running away from it but embracing life. And I'm sure
that your career is going to be absolutely stellar and
will survive it fantastically as well. Georgia, thank you so
much for being part of real life. And we'll go
out on another song that you've picked. What are we
listening to?
Speaker 4 (23:34):
I Could Be a Florist by Olivia Dean, which really
she was a massive musical inspiration as I was writing
this album, and this was one of the songs that
really stuck to me. It was very simple and very
beautiful and musically is something that I just I really
wanted to create within my album. And even though I'm
(23:54):
not Olivia Dean and I would love to have been,
I just loved how she created this record that was
very much herself and yeah, beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I'm sure she'd be very proud knowing that she inspired
the music that you're creating. Georgia, Line's wishing you all
the beast. Thank you for being part of real life.
Speaker 4 (24:15):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
I'm John Cown. This is real life.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I used to be looking forward to being back with
you again next Sunday night.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
When words don't come so easy.
Speaker 5 (24:24):
Believe me, in need these They know just what to say.
Oh could be a foic. What's life for? Miss that
little something missing off fixer can misses harm Open every day.
(24:47):
That little something missing off Fixer ca miss harm Open
every day.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
For more from news talks, it'd be listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio
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