Sydney’s No Frills Twins, Arna and Vanessa Rogers, have always been known for writing music that has a personal meaning, brought to life with their angelic voices. After releasing Big Heart and Paper Love, in 2020, the girls are diving back into the music scene with their latest single, My Body.

My Body is an open letter about Arna and Vanessa’s battle to overcome eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and all the things it took from them. Throughout this song, they reflect on how they can often be their own worst enemy and biggest hindrance in life. They question who and where they could be, if they only liked themselves more.

However, since writing this song, Arna and Vanessa are both proud to say they have undergone immense healing and restored themselves more. Futuremag Music caught up with the twins to talk about the hardships faced during this disorder, but also what recovery may look like.

For anyone who may be struggling with an eating disorder or body dysmorphia, please see the mental health resources listed at the bottom of this article.

FMM: Huge congrats on the release of My Body! How does it feel to have this song out in the world? It all seems so exciting!

ARNA: Thank you so much for the congrats. It’s very exciting because we have waited a long time to release it. However, the delayed release actually coincides with the monumental point we’ve reached in our recoveries to overcome our eating disorders. While it was a bit disappointing having to wait for a few unrelated reasons, it’s now definitely the perfect time to publish such a song and personally display the possibility of recovery.

VANESSA: As we release My Body into the world, we are personally celebrating how fiercely we’ve battled, how far we’ve come and what a great place we’ve reached in our recoveries! Releasing music is always a celebration, but this one is on another kind of level.

FMM: Well done on being so vulnerable and sharing something so personal with the world. How do you girls feel knowing that anyone can hear this song and then gain that bit of insight into your own personal experience?

ARNA: I personally find that it’s hard for me to be vulnerable in my everyday life, but when it comes to music, it helps me to express. I take on another form when I speak through music.

VANESSA: I’m naturally a very open and vulnerable person. I don’t shy away from talking about my struggles, fear and pain in life. But, I do acknowledge that Arna has difficulty showing her vulnerable side in everyday life. However when it comes to music, Arna is probably the one out of the two of us to really delve into the inner core of herself.

ARNA: It’s been less than a week since we've released My Body, and I’ve realised that the vulnerability has been worth it. There’s a lot of people that have said they’ve connected with the song, that it speaks to them and that it’s even their favourite song of ours yet. That makes it all worth it for me.

FMM: That’s something that I really admire about you both, because your earlier releases have also been very personal and from the heart about topics that relate to you girls.

ARNA: I think sometimes we don’t realise how personal our music is when we’re writing it. But when we look back retrospectively, we can notice the theme in our songwriting to be unguarded, vulnerable and sometimes painfully personal.

FMM: I was wondering if you girls might feel comfortable to share a bit about your eating disorder experience with me, and how that experience led to the release of My Body?

ARNA: In all honesty, the eating disorders quite literally took everything away from us.

FMM: I’m sorry to hear that.

ARNA: Thank you. With eating disorders, there’s the saying that ‘if you give it an inch, it will take a mile.’ This makes it so easy to slip or relapse. The success rate is also quite low. The statistics aren’t particularly on your side and from experience it is such a hard and excruciating battle. But a desire to get better is what it takes. A wanting. It doesn’t mean it will be quick or easy, but indeed possible. We both experienced a turning point mentally when Covid first devastated in 2020. We wrote ‘My Body’ during the first Covid lockdown.

FMM: Did you find that experiencing this during Covid, an already difficult time for many, made it feel harder, or more isolating?

ARNA: It was very hard battling with these mental disorders during Covid-19. It added an extra universe of stress. Whilst other people were worried about catching covid, already distressing enough, I was also caught in a vicious cycle worrying about food, weight, image, control etc. I was aware of how trivial it was in the greater scheme of things but I couldn’t seem to overcome these immense worries. It was all consuming and only heightened by the state of the world. There’s something very disempowering and discombobulating about having your rational brain at war with your disordered mind. It’s hard to describe living in a prison within your own mind. Despite the frightening and lonely nature of the Covid-19 isolation it was fortunately the wake up call that I needed. Witnessing peoples health deteriorating on mass I took a good hard look at myself and realised the inexplicable irony of the self-inflicted harm that I had done to myself for so many years. I realised it was now, more than ever, that I needed to get strong and healthy, instead of continue to fade away into nothing.

VANESSA: I had spent many years convincing myself that my self neglect wasn’t harmful enough to warrant the need for change.. I hadn’t really thought or cared too much about the health repercussions of my eating disorder before this point. But it became so apparent how not okay these behaviours were to do anymore. I knew it couldn’t continue and that was incredibly confronting, scary and overwhelming, yet simultaneously freeing and liberating. Sometimes the hardest part is choosing WHEN to make a change. Well, for me, the Covid-19 pandemic was that push. The PAUSE that the pandemic put on my life was also the mirror, reflection and microscope on myself.

ARNA: Would you say that you, for the first time were alone and still with your demons?

VANESSA: Yes, because I wasn’t able to ignore them anymore and I wanted to finally tackle these demons given the stand still opportunity. When we were in lockdown and when life completely changed, leisures that I had previously taken for granted or chose not to do more of like seeing live music or accepting invitations from friends…suddenly that choice wasn’t even there anymore. I realised that I may not ever be able to do these things again and how silly it was to have not been living. I realised the magic that life had to offer and how many opportunities I had missed in the past due to not allowing myself, believing in myself or liking myself. I knew that when or IF the world opened back up again, that I wanted to truly live this time, and do things differently.

FMM: That’s such a good realisation to have. Good on you for noticing that, and working towards that goal.

ARNA: < Arna was parked outside an Eating Disorder clinic at the time of our phone chat >

ARNA: Every single Tuesday afternoon, I go in for a psych session, so that’s where I’m heading right after this phone interview. The thing is, when you are getting help for your mental health, you need to show up even if you’re feeling great as well as when you’re feeling terrible.

FMM: Yeah, I agree. That’s very important. I’m also feeling a bit sad after hearing your comment that the success rate is really low in those experiencing an eating disorder. Perhaps you have some advice to someone who might be listen to My Body who may be struggling themselves and not be able to access the support that you girls have been able to reach out to?

ARNA: Statistics indicate that with eating disorders, the longer you’ve had your disorder, the less likely you are to recover from it. I’d say if you realise that you have a problem, if you have any kind of inkling that you have a problem, a fear of food or obsession over your body, to seek help down any lane you can think of. Honestly, if you go to Google and type in ‘eating disorder help,’ there will be plenty of direction towards support that come up. Please also look at the resources listed at the bottom of this article if you or anyone you know may need some help. I want to discourage anyone from going down the path I wasted 5 years on. It does not lead to happiness or self esteem like it may seem to pose itself as offering. It’s just not an option. In the present I am now focussing on loving my life instead of loving my size.

FMM: Yeah! I love that! I think choosing to live your life instead of your reflection is a beautiful outlook to have.

FMM: Thank you so much for sharing that. I guess now, looking into the sonic side of My Body, I see Lupa J, who has worked on other No Frills Twins releases, has put some work into this one, too. What makes them the perfect fit and addition to the unique sound that we all know and love the No Frills Twins for?

ARNA: Yeah, so this song we began writing on guitar, the two of us during lockdown. As soon as lockdown ended, we messaged Lupa pretty much straight after beginning to write this song, letting Lupa know that we had started a song and really wanted to record it with them. As soon as lockdown ended, we just knew that it was the perfect fit sonically and on a personal level, it felt safe. We knew we were saving this song for Lupa.

VANESSA: We were so excited to get together with Lupa J for this track because we knew that they would take it as far as it could go. Lupa is unconventional in their musicality and that would compliment the project. Lupa, like the two of us, is passionate about exploring personal and/or edgy topics in their own songwriting, and paired with their incredible production skills, we knew this was the right pairing for ‘My Body’.

FMM: Yeah, cool! I believe I also saw that Sean Miley Moore recorded a version of My Body and performed this at Eurovision. Is that correct?

VANESSA: We’ve been lifelong fans of Eurovision, so it was amazing to have a song we wrote selected to represent and compete for Australia in Eurovision 2022. Sean Miley Moore did his own rendition of ‘My Body’ and very much made the song his own. It was an amazing experience to sit in the audience at Eurovision on the Gold Coast and hear this artist take our song to the big stage.

FMM: So how did that feel hearing someone else sing a song that means something so personal to you?

VANESSA: It was beautiful to see another artist from a different walk of life connecting with our song in such a way. We love the relatability that our music seems to have with people. It was a cool moment to see such a big production behind our lyrics and musical composition.

FMM: I understand My Body was unreleased during this time, so how did this all come about? Did you have to submit the song? Or were you approached? Or how did this experience come about?

VANESSA: Yeah, we submitted the song on an online portal that was open to the public and I think there were upwards of like 70,000 tracks entered - a lotttt! Amazingly our song placed in the top 10!

FMM: Wow, that’s huge!

VANESSA: Yeah, in fact a few of our songs were shortlisted out of that huge pool, so that was great.

FMM: That’s amazing! That’s really huge. That’s something to be really proud of. Well, it sounds like the No Frills Twins are doing very well then, so what’s next for you both? Will we have a music video for this release? Or more shows around Sydney or even across Australia?

VANESSA: We’ve just released the lyric video/music video for ‘My Body’ to accompany the song on Youtube and Instagram. ALSO, this is our first mention of this ever, but we’re finally doing an album this year. We’re locked in to start next month, in July.

FMM: Oh, that’s exciting!

VANESSA: This will be our first album. It’s long awaited. We’re so enthralled. We also have a brand new single dropping in approx 5 weeks called ‘Machine’. So, keep your eye out for that.

FMM: I’m excited! Obviously, I’m mindful of Arna’s appointment time, so is there anything else you would like to share about No Frills Twins or this release?

ARNA: Yeah, I feel the need to give some more advice for anyone struggling with food or body image issues - please tell someone about it, allow yourself to be looked out for and held accountable. Change is uncomfortable, motivation is fleeting and resistance is real. If you feel like your eating disorder is all you have going for you, if you don’t know who you are outside of it and you can’t even remember who you use to be… well I can say that I’ve felt this way too, but through recovery I have felt my spark return, I’ve met myself again and I am better for it. If I can do it, so can you.

FMM: That’s really great advice! I’m so glad that you girls have been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but also recognise the struggles along the way too. It’s really good.

VANESSA: Thanks so much for the call and thanks for your time and understanding, and good questions as well.