Te Ao Māori News journalist Natasha Hill catches up with The Voice Australia finalist Jaedyn Randell (Waikato) for a Q&A in the lead up to this weekend’s grand final.
Q. You’ve made it to the finals, how do you feel?
I keep trying to think of at least one kupu to express how I feel at the moment, and the only one I can think of is surreal. I’m so grateful and it’s so much like a pinch-me moment. I think going on to the show, getting through the blind audition, that felt like success to me already.
Hopefully to inspire tamariki, rangatahi, even pakeke to chase their dreams. You know, growing up, I watched The Voice and I had always dreamed of being on The Voice, but I didn’t know that it was possible. And when the opportunity presented itself, I was like, why not? Because you don’t know if you don’t try. And I hope that by being on the show and doing these crazy things it inspires others to do the same.
How do you hold your Māoritanga in daunting spaces like The Voice Australia?
I’m so proud to be Māori. I’m so proud of my Māoritanga and I feel like I wear that all of the time. In The Voice environment, it is super different because they’re not Māori and so I think it’s just super important to me that I always held my Māoritanga whenever I had interviews. I spoke about it. I love I’ve got tā moko on my ankle. And so I loved when I could wear dresses with them and showing. It’s the little things that I could do to represent.
Can you share a memorable moment from your journey on the show?
I was able to share the whole Voice experience well, most of it with my māmā. I grew up watching it with Mum. We used to talk about it all the time, like we’d be like, what would your blind audition song be? And so to have the opportunity to drag her along, though she doesn’t like being on TV, that was super cool to share that with her. Another cool thing was to have so many people from Aotearoa in this season. So we had four and then in the semifinals we had three and they were all Māori which is so cool. And so to be able to have that kind of piece of home in those foreign spaces was amazing.
What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?
I think the biggest challenge is I can’t think of another word other than like demanding. It’s physically demanding, mentally demanding. The experience demands a lot of your time, not even when you’re in the studio but when you’re back in your hotel trying to relax. You’re just thinking about it all. You’re practising your songs. I was practising in the mirror to make sure I didn’t look so awkward. So I think the biggest challenge is you just always had to be on all of the time, even if there wasn’t a camera. You have to be switched on. You got to remember where you need to walk when you perform, what camera to look at and when you perform all of that kind of stuff. So it was a lot, but I think it taught me a lot as well.
How do you overcome the challenges?
I think it’s a lot of like self talk and finding pockets of time within the chaos to kind of sit with yourself and be like okay, you’re right. I think the imposter syndrome is pretty real when you’re in there just like, ‘oh my gosh, what am I doing here?’ And it’s just those moments of reminding yourself, like, no, you’re here for a reason. You’re picked for a reason.
Who has been your biggest inspiration during this experience?
In the blind audition when Guy Sebastian turns around and you’re making eye contact with Guy Sebastian. I grew up watching him - I love his voice and music. It’s crazy to be able to sing like they know what I sound like. Adam Lambert heard me sing before. It’s so surreal.
In terms of people who have inspired me or influenced me is my whānau. But a lot of our Māori artists here, Rob Ruha, Ria Hall, Maisey Rika, Stan Walker and just how proud they are of their Māoritanga and how they can bring that to the world stage. And that’s what I want to be able to do.
What’s next for you after the show?
The outcome of the show, whether I win or not. I really want to pursue music full-time. And so in the new year, I want to be releasing an EP, singles, albums, touring around but I also really want to give musical theatre a go. I’ve just moved to Melbourne and I think it’s a great place to get started. And so that’s something that I want to venture into next.