Julian Simonsz is a Melbourne musician and contestant on this years season of The Voice, he has been described by Daily Mail as “Australia’s answer to Justin Timberlake.” Simonsz released his debut single last month and his EP is set to hit shelves November 21.
We found out a little more about him in this interview.
Hi Julian and welcome to Beauty and Lace
When did you know you wanted to pursue a career in music?
Honestly, ever since I can remember! More recently though in the last four years when I started building up my YouTube profile, started producing, did a Bachelor of Audio Engineering and started performing it really became the focus for me. I started to become more prepared as an artist and an individual to want to pursue music as a career.
How did you get started in the industry?
I think I’m still getting started! There’s so much to learn and know and releasing my first single I think is really the start of me entering the music industry. Being on The Voice was great because we were very guided in what to do but now releasing this single independently I have had to learn a lot about everything else apart from just the music! Getting started was really about meeting the right people, getting advice and learning the hard way. I’ve been so blessed to have some really amazing people working with me who have really guided me in getting started.
Can you tell us a little about your time on The Voice?
It was surreal! From the blind audition, to working with Will.I.Am to the whole television experience it was pretty incredible. It really opened doors for me with the exposure from the show and was the launching pad for me to doing what I’m doing now. Apart from that it was such a busy time in my life with the weddings either side of the blind audition and so much going on, but it all just worked out really well so I’m really grateful for that.
What do you think is the most important lesson you walked away from the show with?
So much! Being on a show and then being able to watch it back there is so much to learn, it’s endless. For me I think the most important thing I learnt was to just have fun and not be scared to push the boundaries. I think in the end trying to play it safe didn’t work in my favour so the show really taught me to come out on stage and just really let go, and most importantly to have fun doing it because it translates to the audience.
You recently released I Do It For You, can you tell us a little about the song?
This song was written mostly as a message to my wife who I appreciate so much. She is really my backbone and everything I do I owe it to her so I wanted to get that down on paper. But it also made me think that there aren’t many pop songs out at the moment that do appreciate women and all they do for us, whether its their profession, helping others or being a mum! I wanted to make this song almost like an anthem to appreciate all women, and really all those people out there who deserve to be celebrated. The song is about giving something back, hence I Do It For You!
Can you tell us about the film clip and where the idea came from?
I really wanted to portray the messages above in my video clip. Of course I wanted the love story and asked my beautiful wife to make a cameo but to me having the other stories tied in was so important. More than anything I just wanted to show what I mean when I say I Do It For You and how it can relate to people in everyone’s lives.
I understand you did a call out on your Facebook page for extras, can you share a little about that whole experience with us?
I thought it would be really nice to involve my fans, after all their support is what makes an artist. So I did a call out on my facebook page and wanted to hear about some inspirational stories. We had a few different scenarios in mind and in the end we found 5 groups of fans who to me showed the whole range of what I Do It For You is about. There was a pregnant lady and her partner, an elderly mother and her daughter, a dance teacher with her student with special needs, a school teacher and a professional career woman. To me this just showed all the ways that this song can relate to the community and meeting these amazing people and their families really made the music video experience such a special one for me.
Your debut EP releases this month, can you tell us about it?
This is probably the work that I am most proud of. I think from the show and my first single it’s pretty obvious that I am a romantic, so naturally the EP is about love! It works through different themes in love though from appreciation to that really passionate love to just throwing everything aside and having some one on one time. The slow acoustic version makes sure that there is a ballad in there too. I wanted something where each track was different so could be listened to in different moods but something that also gelled together to listen to from start to end as well.
How did you come to be working with MSquared?
Michael Paynter, who was also on The Voice last year, makes up one of the M’s in MSquared! He happens to be under the same agent as me and when I mentioned that I wanted to work with a producer who was a bit different to me and had a lot to offer I was introduced to Michael. From there I met with Mike Delo also and really the rest is history! They are such a phenomenal team and working with them has been the best experience and I am so proud of what we came up with.
The launch show is November 23, what can audiences expect?
The audience can expect variety! I will be performing with a band for the first time and they are all such talented musicians so they can expect a very vibrant show musically. I will be performing my full EP and also a range of my favourite covers. I wanted to cover songs from artists who inspire me so they are from such a broad range of genres so hopefully there’s something in it for everyone.
What’s next for Julian Simonsz?
For me now the focus is the EP launch. This has been my project for the whole year really so once the EP is out I will have to see how that goes and hopefully next will be a tour and possibly a second single release. I have a lot of projects in the works too so there’s plenty up my sleeve!
Thanks for your time and good luck with the launch.
You can follow Julian on JulianSimonsz.com and Facebook.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!