Interview by Brooke Gibbs.

From performing at various community events, to her Darwin Festival debut, and her upcoming set at Rock the Bay, Heidi Barker will leave you speechless with her bewitching lyricism and honest storytelling.

At 16 years old, this contemporary folk singer/songwriter has made strikes in the music scene with both originals and covers.

Catch Heidi perform tonight at GENERATION Z at Bastard Town.

FMM: Thank you so much for joining me. I'm really excited to see you perform at GENERATION Z. How are you feeling leading up to it?

Heidi: I'm really excited. I think I've been a part of a few sort of youth-led gigs recently where it's just been lots of young artists and musicians playing. But, I think this is one of the only ones I've done that's been organised as well by young people, which is super cool.

FMM: Yeah, it’s such an amazing opportunity. I'm so excited to see something like this happening in Darwin. How are you preparing for it? Have you been rehearsing?

Heidi: Yeah, so just because I'm a solo artist, I just rehearse in my own time whenever I feel like it, really. We haven't done any group rehearsals with all the artists, but we had a meeting, actually at the McDonald's conference room a couple of days ago, which is pretty funny.

FMM: That's exciting, though, you’re getting out there, and you know you’ve made it when you have a meeting in the McDonald’s conference room. What does having an opportunity like this mean for you as a young performer in Darwin?

Heidi: I really enjoy playing gigs where it's a show. It's not just playing background music, so I really enjoy having that sort of set up for success when so much promotion and advertising has gone into this. I'm really excited to see how many people turn up and hopefully everyone really enjoys it.

FMM: And as you said, it's great that it's organised by young people as well because obviously they get it and Kesh is a musician as well, so they really understand what it's like trying to break into that scene and perform. Are you dressing up? I've spoken to some other artists on the GENERATION Z lineup and they've got some cool outfits planned.

Heidi: Well, I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan and lots of the promotion, I guess, that Kesh and Jules have done for me has been like, ‘this is gonna be the Eras Tour, guys.’ So, I'm actually thinking of doing a Taylor Swift themed costume.

FMM: Are you going to do some Taylor Swift covers?

Heidi: We have a Taylor Swift cover on the set list, yeah.

FMM: Can you tell us which one or is it a surprise?

Heidi: It's going to be a surprise mainly because I haven't decided which one yet. There's too many great ones to pick from.

FMM: I'm definitely all here for that, like this is a Taylor Swift tattoo, and you perform with your acoustic guitar too, so I feel like a Taylor Swift costume would really suit your vibe.

Heidi: I reckon that the biggest compliment I've gotten from people is “your song sounds like a Taylor Swift song.” I'm like, “yes!”

Heidi: I was gonna ask who inspires you? I'm guessing Tay Tay is one of them. Is there any other artists that you draw inspiration from?

Heidi: Yeah, artists like Vance Joy and Olivia Rodrigo. I've definitely sort of got some similarities in style and themes as well from the artists.

FMM: Can you tell me a bit about what got you into music and how this all came about?

Heidi: Yeah, well, my first instrument was actually trumpet, and I started that, I think, six years ago. I still play that today, and then from trumpet I moved to piano. Then, from piano I started ukulele because we'd always had guitars in our house because my dad and my brother both played guitar, but I was, like, six strings. I'll just start with the little ukulele, and that's how I wrote my first song on the ukulele. And then a couple of months later, I picked up the guitar and continued to teach myself to sing and eventually got into some lessons for singing and it's just gotten better ever since.

FMM: Amazing. What was your first song about? What inspired it?

Heidi: My first song was about a place where my family has gone a couple of times in Tasmania. It's sort of a separate property that my family owns down there and I just find it so peaceful and such an escape to go there. I wrote that song about that place and because we only go there on holiday, hopefully the next time that I could go back there and perform it. I actually got to perform that song this year at the entry music schools beat festival.

FMM: Oh, awesome!

Heidi: And there it was arranged for a full concert band, and there was a 300-piece choir and dancers, so your first song can go places.

FMM: Wow, a 300-piece choir. That's incredible. I can just imagine what that would have sound like. It would have been so surreal to have that many kids singing your words. Are you performing that song at GENERATION Z?

Heidi: I wasn't planning on it, actually, but I haven't fully set my set list yet, so maybe.

FMM: How long is your set list? How many songs are you able to perform?

Heidi: I'm performing roughly five. I think we've planned out 20 minutes for the soloists who say myself, and then I think half an hour for the bands.

FMM: I’ve seen you perform at other events such as Darwin Festival. How do you balance this while also doing school?

FMM: I think being a soloist makes music a lot easier in regard to that because I just practice when it suits me, and I write songs when it suits me. I sort of don't have arranged practices like you would with a band, so I find it really manageable and I make sure everything I do in relation to music is enjoyable and that I find it fun. I guess that's the whole point of it at the moment, so I actually had to stop playing gigs where I was just background music, like lots.

Alot of us singer/songwriters, we play at cafes and restaurants just as background music, but I found I enjoyed performing a lot more when it was at shows like a GENERATION Z when people are coming there, not necessarily to see you specifically, but to listen to music. I really, really enjoy that and I’m so excited about this gig. I love that's for youth by youth and just a safe place that people can come out. There’s definitely a common ground with our music.

FMM: And lastly, beyond this gig, how can people in Darwin continue to support you? Do you have any upcoming gigs, or music people can listen to?

Heidi: I've got a few gigs coming up at Happy Yess, which is a great. I love playing there and lots of the gigs I’ve done there have been mainly youth gigs where the lineup is all young bands and all young people coming to watch. Darwin’s young music scene is definitely growing and it’s great.

So, I hope at the GENERATION Z gig that if there are young musicians from Darwin who come to watch that they realise, oh, yeah, this can be me.

FMM: Do you have any advice or tips for young people who may want to do what you're doing but don't have the courage or the resources?

Heidi: Um, yeah, I would just say if you enjoy it, why not, like, it's only going to get better from your bedroom to actually playing for people in public spaces and at gigs. I think it's just such a rewarding experience, so I think you should definitely put yourself out there. It is scary, but it's 100% worth it.