12 NEWS THURSDAY APRIL 11 2019 NOW YOU SEE ME Jessica Mauboy takes the reins of her career to get fierce and fabulous with the outstanding new single Sunday

JESSICA Mauboy has finally haps time-frozen her in their are sitting around, having a sip, ence of building a career, being found the confidence to do ex- minds as the adorable, shy that’s what we do. And I love a aligned or associated with actly what she wants, writes teenager who competed in wig. I will go to concerts and other people’s ideas, being KATHY MCCABE Australian Idol in 2006, coming wear wigs; I wanted to share moulded or made to fit, the second to Damien Leith. these spontaneous things I do meeting and the greeting, ab- It was three days into the But she ain’t that little girl in my personal life. sorbing all that information new year and Jessica Mauboy any more. “That was me experiment- and then taking it on board be- decided to go blonde. “I was a little shocked by the ing, testing waters to see what cause someone wants you to Enjoying a few champagnes reaction but I wanted that con- conversations would come up. and you will deal with all of with two of her closest mates, versation. How far do we go?” And what came out of that has this later … now is the later,” stylist Mikey Ayoubi and she says. made me really excited be- she says. make-up artist Victoria Baron, “I had never been that ex- cause now I can do what I want “At some point, I’ve really she dug out a short-cropped, treme when it comes to photos — I can play.” struggled to work out how to platinum wig from her “dress- but when me and my besties say what I want, what are my up box” and matched it needs and what is my mess- with a couple of sexy age? outfits. They posted “Now I feel awake and I do the Polaroids they shot know what I want. Then I have running barefoot in the dirt are “hit list”, he didn’t want to play to Instagram and had to figure out how to say it, two of her favourite things. that game. boom! without sounding diva, right? “Being barefoot in red earth Mauboy took his reaction to There were plenty of That was the hardest thing. … it’s a big deal. I would 100 per heart and spent the night on flame emojis and simi- “There have been so many cent live in Darwin if I could,” the couch. larly excited expressions moments when I’ve poured she says. “All I could think was ‘I’ve of approval, counterbal- out tears after storing up all of “I was home a few days ago been with you this long and anced by the objections that energy of being frustrated thinking about the fact I still you’re embarrassed to tell me of some fans and pundits because I just kept trying to go am completely in love with my your little childhood crush?’ I who were dismayed by with the flow.” home — the smells, the dirt, got so cut about it! Some of the provocative and sen- The images introducing the water, everything about it those feelings trailed into the sual depiction of the 29- Sunday, which she has shared is exactly what I am. next day, Sunday, because he’s year-old artist. with fans recently, tell the “It makes me very sad when my best friend and the fact he Mauboy knows there story of Mauboy looking in the I am away for too long; I need couldn’t tell me made me feel are people who have per- Those photos aren’t there mirror and figuring herself out. the energy.” awkward. any more, nor anything Scenes in a motel room are Sunday is partly about those “I bottled that up even else she has posted in re- symbolic of the quiet time she days when she is back home though I told him ‘let’s just cent years. Mauboy needs to do the figuring out; with family, and recalls the leave it, I’m cool with it’.” cleaned out her Instagram Mauboy often talks about happiest memories of her But she didn’t leave it; she ahead of releasing her needing to dream about her di- childhood when the extended wrote a song about it. Magripi- new single, Sunday, this lemmas. clan would gather to share a lis described it as “gutsy” the week. Car scenes suggest the jour- meal and good times. first time he heard it, which his It’s her first song in sev- ney to find herself, one that But it wasn’t actually in- girlfriend was very pleased eral years that is music for will culminate in the official spired by those cruisy vibes. In- about. They share a laugh music’s sake and isn’t tied video, shot a couple of weeks stead Sunday is the story of the every time she plays it in their to an acting project such ago outside Broken Hill. funniest “disagreement” she car. as her chart-topping Mauboy standing and danc- has had with her longtime “After all this time, I still feel soundtracks for the two ing in the red dirt of the Out- partner Themeli Magripilis. how much our love is growing. seasons of the television back is perhaps the most The pair were watching a We just got back from Darwin drama The Secret Daugh- potent version of this compli- movie at home on a Saturday on the weekend and there was ter or last year’s We Got cated young woman’s identity. night about “graduating and this little moment when we got Love for the 2018 Eurovi- She admits to getting stir dating” when Mauboy remem- home and I thought ‘I am still sion Song Contest. crazy if she doesn’t get regular bered the “hit lists” of crushes so freaking in love with you, The new song, like all visits back home to her family that she and her girlfriends man — I love you mate and I of those on her next studio in Darwin; fishing in croc- would write when they were would do anything for you at album later this year, will infested waters and teenagers. When she asked her the end of the day’,” she says. feature her writing credit. partner about his teen î SUNDAY IS OUT ON She had no hesitation FRIDAY directing her collabora- tors, the hit-making LA production duo The Or- phanage, to tweak the song in its final days of mixing and has set up the release with another set of sensual, and at-times wist- ful, images to give fans a clue to what comes next. This is Mauboy taking control in a way she never has and she admits it has taken her years to find the confidence to do so. “Having worked in the music industry for more than 10 years now — Idol was in 2006 — my experi-

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