I am such a defiant woman: Tina Arena

Australian singer and songwriter, Tina Arena, performs in Dubai and talks to City Times.

WHEN TINA ARENA walked into the room for her interview, she came without an entourage. There was no assistant, make-up artist or stylist ensuring that she was the vision of the perfect pop queen, a title she rightly deserves. Dressed casually, she asked for a cup of tea, preferred to drink from her own water bottle and called everyone 'darling'. Her presence in a room, or on stage, is undeniable for such a petite woman. Equally fascinating is how her small frame is able to project that amazingly strong voice and those strong opinions. In fact, seeing her transition on stage later that night at the Grand Hyatt where she performed for fans was incredible. Ethereal, elegant and powerful, Tina performs with poise and feeling that only a woman of her experience could.
A mother, a thinker, an observer, a singer, an artist, Tina is a storyteller. At the height of her success she disappeared for a decade. Tina decided to leave it all, the fans, the fame and her home in Australia for France. Away from the spotlight, Tina met the love of her life, had a child and never stopped singing. It was, in many ways, the right thing to do for the singer who had basically grown up on Australian television where she was a regular on the show Young Talent Time from 1976.
During her career, Tina has sold over 10 million records worldwide. She sings live and records in English, Italian and French, as well as in Spanish and has earned international and national awards, including seven ARIA Awards, and two World Music Awards for Bestselling Australian Artist, which she received in 1996 and in 2000. In 2009, Tina became the first Australian to be awarded the Knighthood of the Order of National Merit presented by the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy for her contributions to French culture and ceremoniously awarded by Frédéric Mitterrand, the Minister of Culture and Communication of France.
"The fame thing has never interested me," Tina says, "me art interests me, the evolution of art interests me. But certainly not the celebrity cache that comes with it. I find it daunting."
Alert, articulate and insightful, Tina spoke to City Times honestly about her role as a woman in an industry obsessed with youth, her family, and being a storyteller.
How did you manage the transition from child star to an adult singer that wanted to be taken seriously?
That's a great question. I was never seduced by the fantasy because I knew that the reality was going to take me down. My family were very pivotal in educating me about that very early on. Because I was so young and I was unbelievably privy to seeing a lot of things up close and watching a lot of people have extraordinary fame and also seeing a lot of those people decline as well. It was a very brutal reality for me and it's never what I wanted to be.
I'm such a defiant woman. I think you have to have enormous defiance in order to really succeed and not be pigeonholed and I was pigeonholed as a child. I knew that the transition was going to be a tough one. But I had the character and the love and support of my family to be able to combat that. Because I knew that, ultimately, the thing that fascinated me more was the art.
The support of your family was obviously essential to your career as an adult.
Well, my family never wanted to be stars. My mother wasn't interested in being a star, my mother was interested in raising daughters to give them independence and strength to be able to face a world out there that was full of beauty and challenges. She raised us with fundamental values.
I'm the daughter of two Sicilian immigrants who came to Australia in the beginning of the 1950s with a trunk full of linen and a few wedding gifts. That's all they had. They started from scratch and had a huge language barrier but they had a tremendous work ethic. They realised they had the opportunity to have a wonderful life after having left Sicily where there was no work, there was no opportunity and they weren't able to further their education. So they searched for the Eldorado no different to what many immigrants and many people are encountering today.
Is your family very musical?
My family are certainly appreciators of the arts. They have always loved the theatre and there was a lot of music that was played in the house and I was also raised by a woman who was Italian-Egyptian who spoke seven languages. She was our neighbour who took care of me while my mum worked. She had a beautiful voice her name was Gisela Safratages, she's dead now and has been for quite sometime . . . but Gisela was one of those lights in my life who introduced me to the arts and beautiful music and certainly music in different languages. So I grew up listening to Italian music, French music, Italian folk singers and English stuff - I was really lucky.
You've mentioned that your last Album Eleven is really the voice of a woman who's lived. Can you elaborate on that?
I was lucky enough to be inducted into the Australian ARIA Hall of Fame recently. It was a real revelation for me because I guess I'm one of the longest sort of serving, female musical veterans (in Australia) and you know, when you get to my age and when you've served the time that I've served, I got this sense of people wanting to tell me when my used by date was up and that really disturbs me. I find it deeply disturbing that automatically when you're over 40 an industry feels that you're no longer viable. What on earth perturbs you about a woman who has lived? Good, bad, indifferent, a woman that is ready to be honest, don't you think that there is something genuinely beautiful to learn from that, to share, that people can identify with?
What's on your playlist right now?
I've had the most exquisite musical references Joni Mitchell, Dusty Springfield, Barbara Streisand, Otis Redding, Curtis Mayfield . . .amazing voices but storytellers too. People that have lived and lived a lot of pain and were prepared to share that pain.
You started off on a TV talent show Young Talent Time. Would you ever host something like The Voice or X-factor Australia?
Funnily enough, I was supposed to be a judge on the very first season of The Voice Australia but it became a little bit political, as things do get. And . I stepped aside. Anyway, I think the universe does things for a reason and I'm grateful for that. Mentoring has always been a big part of what I do. I don't need it to be televised to validate something that is a very instinctual and very natural part of what it is that I do. I get a lot of people talking to me about it. I love the discussion, I think it's a fascinating subject and . . . I'm pretty honest.
How does writing a song come about for you?
There is not one set process. There can be a line that you read, there can be a certain situation that's going on. There might be a melody that comes into my head that triggers the start of the process. it might be a collaborator of mine that says 'I've got this title what do you think?' And I go 'Oh my God that's great!' and that inspires me and then conversation starts and then from that conversation we are able to construct a story and a melody.
How has being a mum changed you as a singer?
It's completely changed me. I was terrified after giving birth. You'll speak to most women and they will tell you the same thing. After giving birth I was terrified to go back to work although I was working, I was very deeply questioning myself. I've always questioned myself, it's my job to question myself. In a sense I am a stronger singer and in a sense I became a little more vulnerable, because 99 percent of my life has been archived for my son to be subjected to and you're not always . . . you look at some things and think 'I wish I never did that', or 'I wish I'd never said that.' My son is kind of like this mirror that perpetually follows me and says, 'Mummy, why did you say that? What do you mean by that?' It's quite fascinating when you're confronted with that. They are like little mirrors. They are always following you.
What do you enjoy about performing live?
The connection with the person in front of me. Sensing their energies, sensing how it's affecting them, good, bad or indifferent.
What do you think of Dubai?
We've holidayed here before as a family. It's lovely. It's extraordinary to see what man is capable of doing. I think it's rather fascinating.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
I cook. I love food, that's why I love Dubai. Because for one thing or another I'm always experiencing something amazing . . . last time I was here I was lucky enough to go to Greg Malouf's restaurant Clé - the best lamb I've ever had in my life.
What advice do you have for young singers?
You have to understand that it's a business. Ultimately the template of the business has an enormous amount of flaws that you can only hope will get better. But that depends on the artist and how vocal he or she is going to be. You can only do that as a collective. I've been very vocal about it for a long time. I don't think it could possibly get any worse. It's only the collective conscious and the collectivity of the communities putting their hands up and going OK . this is the way it should be. There are many changes, to be made. But I have faith. I have faith.