CREATIVE CONVERSATIONS 139: BONNIE ANDERSON ON RECOVERING FROM THROAT SURGERY, BECOMING A MOTHER, HER TIME ON NEIGHBOURS, AND HER UPCOMING ALBUM

Interview by Caitlin Dyson.

Following a four-year break from releasing music, Singer/Songwriter/Actress, Bonnie Anderson, is back with the release of Bad Advice, showcasing Bonnie’s luscious vocal prowess.

Futuremag Music sat down with Bonnie to reflect on what she has learned from herself during this break, including recovering from a throat surgery, becoming a mother, and landing an acting role on Neighbours.

Since winning Australia’s Got Talent in 2007 at the age of 12, signing a record deal with Sony Music Australia, and hosting The Masked Singer Australia, Bonnie continues to expand her horizon, teasing a new album.

FMM: Congrats on the new single. Your last release was around four years ago. How does it feel to be releasing music again?

Bonnie: Honestly, it's a relief. I feel like four years has been the longest time in history for me. It feels longer than four years, but I guess I've jam packed a lot in the last four years, you know? The feeling of having music back out again is pretty surreal and special. I feel like the music I was putting out back in the day, it never really felt true to who I am personally and as an artist. It just never really felt right until now. That's why it's all the more special, this release and this time around, because the music is rings so true to who I am. This song, Bad Advice, is it's the beginning of so much more music, and I'm just so excited.

FMM: I feel that's true for a lot of artists as well; their first work isn't sort of who they are as a person. You're still finding your feet.

Bonnie: Yeah, totally. right? It's just a journey. I mean, there's so much I love in music, so I was always willing to go down different avenues musically and experiment, and that was the fun part of it, but I was always just not super proud of what I was putting out. There was definitely a fun side, but then there was another side where I was just always unsure, and I was always battling against that, so now it's just a real relief.

FMM: Yeah, I can imagine. The song, Bad Advice, is quite empowering, and it gives off a very confident atmosphere, both lyrically and sonically. What was the inspiration behind this?

Bonnie: Well, the inspiration, it basically just makes me think about my past. It reflects on the past, going through all of the stuff I've gone through. Just the journey, really. There's a line in the song where it basically says, I'm not gonna let past mistakes or my own fears define me, and that's just the song in a nutshell. It's about overcoming that stuff, feeling on top of the world and feeling like you've overcome those moments. I mean, there's always hurdles in life. You're always gonna learn more, and forever we're learning, but I just feel like I'm at a point in my life where I feel super content and just happy that I’ve gone through those things and I'm not going to let them define me.

FMM: You wrote bad advice in LA earlier this year and recorded it back here in Melbourne. Is there any particular reason why you wrote it in LA? Was it because of the people you worked with?

Bonnie: Yeah, so I lived in LA on and off. Back in the day, when I was about 18, I was living over there. I just always felt that when I was in the States, I just felt so.. I don't know how to explain it. Like, I felt inspired. I felt like when I was there, I was able to really, really open up, really create, and there were so many incredible people around. You're surrounded by magic, you know, it's just like magic is in the air over there. So for me, I was like, if I'm gonna do this, I really want to go to where I know I'm gonna create some good stuff.

I love the songwriters that I was working with. I worked with them years ago, David Schuler and Leeanna James. I've known them for a long time. They've known my journey and they know me vocally and as an artist. I was really excited to just reconnect with them; people that I knew and knew me musically.

The reason why I didn't record over there is I was actually quite sick and was still sort of in recovery from throat surgery I had earlier in the year. It was just a bit of touch and go. When I was over there, I was able to obviously, write and record at a level that I was probably not really happy to release. That's why I ended up coming back to Melbourne, resting my voice and then recording back here, which was really nice, too.

FMM: Yeah, well, it's good that you got the actual songs sort of done over there.

Bonnie: Totally, and it was actually a special story because I was about 15 when I recorded my very first EP, and it's actually not out to the world. It's just something that I sold at gigs and things like that. I recorded it at the same studio back in Melbourne, so it was like a full-circle moment. It was really nice to be back there.

FMM: That's so nice and it kind of brings me on to my next question, what you said about your surgery. You revealed recently that you underwent the vocal surgery earlier this year. How was that whole experience for you? I can only imagine how terrifying it must have been to know there's something wrong with your voice when you're a singer.

Bonnie: It was. I don't even know. It was just shattering, I guess. I've had my days where I'm super emotional and then other days where I'm just like, oh, you know, this is just part of it, which it is. It's just been a part of it, and I think it was just an old injury was sitting around for a long time, obviously progressively getting worse because I was obviously using my vocals. I really started to notice it last year. I did a really intimate tour around Melbourne, and I just kept losing my voice. Even in three songs into the set, and I was just thinking, this is not right, I'm not doing anything out of the ordinary. I was looking after myself. You know, I wasn't out at late nights. I mean, I have a child now, so I go to bed super early. So it's like, there was nothing that I could think of. There has to be something more wrong here. So, I went and got it checked. Unfortunately, I had two cysts on my vocal cords, and I really wanted to be open and talk about it because it's just a part of life.

And since I did open up about it, a lot of people came out that I would never have thought of. Even non singers came to me and were like, oh, my God, I've had the same surgery or something similar. It's been nice, actually, to have people to sit with and chat with because it's been really challenging, the fear behind that. I mean, after having the surgery, I wasn't able to speak for a few days, and then it was sort of like, when's it gonna be okay to sing? And it was weeks and weeks and weeks and even months, and I was so scared of never being able to sing again. I'm just so lucky that I am here, and I've got music out. I still think I'm really going through a little bit of recovery right now. Like, I'm still learning a lot about my voice, and I've heard that it can take up to a whole year to have your voice completely back, but it's been pretty cool. I mean, I've had other parts of my voice that wasn't there even before the surgery. My falsetto is a lot stronger and some different things, so it's kind of exciting. I've got some new parts to my voice that I didn't even know existed.

FMM: I guess there's a good side to it, then. You've found new things that your voice can do.

Bonnie: Yeah, and you just learn in these situations. I just tried to take the positive out of it because it was like, you know, what am I going to take from this? The thing is, I've got to look after my voice so much better, even though I did. At the end of the day, it's my muscle. It's like, you know, an athlete has to look after their muscles. This is my everything, so it was a good wake up call in the nicest way.

FMM: Yeah, exactly. You gave birth to your son at the end of 2022. How has your perspective on music and the craft of songwriting changed since becoming a mother?

Bonnie: Ah, yeah, well, it's all come from him, really. I feel like since I had Bobby, he's definitely giving me the kick up the bum that I needed. It was like, once I became a mum, I saw life in a different way, in the best way possible. It was just like looking at life through his eyes again for the first time. It's pretty special. So being a Mum, I guess I'm just so grateful, and I just feel so… Like I said earlier, I do feel really content and, you know, just being able to create and write, it's like I want to be just a better version of myself daily because I am a Mum, and not that I didn’t beforehand, but it’s even more so enhanced that feeling.

FMM: I've heard a lot of people say having a child can affect you in that sort of way.

Bonnie: Yeah, totally, and it's quite interesting because you sort of have that feeling of, oh, my gosh, what's it gonna be like when I become a mum? Is it going to be really hard to have a career? But, I feel like it's done the opposite for me. I've just gone, ‘Right. This is really what I want. Let's do this.’

FMM: That's great to hear you've got that motivation.

Bonnie: Yeah, absolutely.

FMM: You were on Neighbours for a few years. Did you find being on the show prevented you from putting time into your music career?

Bonnie: 1000 percent. It was so time consuming. It was a lot of hours. I was very, very lucky to be able to actually sing and release music as a part of my character on Neighbours, which was really cool. But, it was still just really hard to really put the time into my music. I was able to do that, but then I really had to focus on the job I was doing because it was just so time consuming. But, it was such a great time in my life because I had never acted before. It was such a good learning curve for me and I love my time on the show.

FMM: Yeah, it seems like a fun show to work on, but I can imagine how stressful it could be, because there'd be a lot of time pressures and all that.

Bonnie: Oh, my gosh, yeah. And I mean, even things like with that sort of job, you're on call at all times. So even if I was to go, hey, I want to go over here or do this on this day, it's like, well, I might be called in at any moment, so it was a lot of time spent in those studios just up the road from you, actually.

FMM: Yeah, exactly. Okay, so last question; you mentioned a few times that you have an album in the works. What can we expect from that?

Bonnie: It's actually so crazy to even say it because I feel like I've been saying I've got an album in the works for so long, but this time I'm actually serious. I feel like I'm just being a fraud for all these years, but I am. I actually have, and I've been working really hard on that this year and there are going to be a few singles that are released before the album as a little bit of a showcase of the album. Once Bad Advice comes out, I feel like people will get a really nice feel to what's to come. But, you know, this is the beginning and the album is just going to be quite… I think Bad Advice really sets it up in a good way. But I'm still writing, so I feel like I might change my direction. You never know. Like, not direction in sound, but you never know what more experiences are going to come into that album.