Culture Club - Her TikTok Resurgence & Starting A Music Label With Jessica Mauboy

00:00:00.000 Her new stripped-back music, a nostalgic resurgence on TikTok, and receiving her flowers at the

00:00:13.000 National Indigenous Music Awards with musician Jessica Mowboy.

00:00:16.860 I'm Jasmine.

00:00:17.880 And I'm Maggie.

00:00:18.880 And you're listening to Culture Club.

00:00:20.660 This is our monthly interview with people we find interesting and that we think you

00:00:24.960 will too.

00:00:25.580 Today, we are on the land of the Wurundjeri, Woiwurrung and Gadigal people.

00:00:32.520 We would like to pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend this to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander listeners today.

00:00:43.820 In 2006, a teenage Jessica Mowboy auditioned for the fourth season of Australian Idol during the show's regional audition tour, finishing as a runner-up.

00:00:53.960 Fast forward nearly two decades and Jessica is one of Australia's most beloved and successful artists.

00:01:00.340 She's achieved six top 10 albums, including two number ones and 16 top 20 singles.

00:01:06.780 She's also been nominated for an ARIA a whopping 25 times and has won two.

00:01:12.140 And while we personally think Jess was robbed in the recent Triple J Hottest 100 Australian Songs Countdown,

00:01:17.860 she is receiving her flowers with her induction into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame.

00:01:23.960 Jess, how are you going? It is your birthday in August coming up very soon while we're talking

00:01:30.920 to you. Do you have any plans for that? Oh, I think my plan is to share that. I do this

00:01:37.740 sharing with my family every year and it's pretty much my kind of, I guess, yeah, my ritual or my

00:01:45.740 kind of what I love to do. I really love to spend my birthday with my family is really important to

00:01:52.420 me so I'm one of five girls we're all very close we grew up singing together and it's something

00:01:57.820 that we kind of do we go to nightcliff beach at the um at the wharf um or their kind of waterfront

00:02:05.100 there and we watch the sunset um together as a family um along with my parents and all my nieces

00:02:11.780 and nephews and brother-in-laws and yeah we just kind of sit there and watch and kind of cheers

00:02:18.000 away and yeah have a bite to eat family bring their food or whatever they like to eat we just

00:02:24.220 kind of that sounds so beautiful and calming and actually not to launch straight into it but it

00:02:31.640 actually does remind me of your new single I got time congratulations on the release thank you so

00:02:38.960 much it's a bit of been a uh you know it's I haven't been in the studio for a while and so

00:02:45.340 when I had the opportunity of bringing this project together it was yeah I was really nervous

00:02:53.260 I just I was two months in of being a mother and yeah I just I think all the kind of emotions

00:03:02.200 really flooded my heart and my mind and so yeah I think it was probably the perfect time to do that

00:03:10.280 and the way of being able to write that and, you know,

00:03:14.680 have that outpour and, yeah, I remember my mind just being flooded

00:03:20.800 with memories and photographs and, you know, and you, you know,

00:03:26.160 I do this thing where if I don't have a camera around,

00:03:29.960 I'm just like I take the actual photos with my eyes.

00:03:33.700 And so I lived through this Gwent thing.

00:03:36.240 And, yeah, it's writing the song and writing it with PJ Harding

00:03:41.840 was really super kind of authentic and we exchanged how we are

00:03:49.320 with our families and, I guess, what are the things we do want

00:03:52.860 to leave behind and what are the most important things in life really

00:03:57.240 and letting go, whether it's grief or that outpour of celebration.

00:04:03.700 along with grief and yeah it just it just seemed really kind of neutral and flowy and bringing it

00:04:12.640 back to basics of just friends hanging out having the same kind of values and sharing that and we

00:04:18.900 did it in half a day it was so crazy we had wow we we spoke at length we my version of writing as

00:04:27.380 an artist is I go in whether I'm collaborating I I talk first I have a conversation and

00:04:35.440 I make the space feel really welcome and comfortable and and safe and uh yeah um and

00:04:43.840 that's probably like two or three hours that's most of the day so by the time we wrote it it

00:04:53.240 We had already written the song in those two to three hours

00:04:57.980 of just talking, and when we found the chords

00:05:02.700 and when PJ Harding started, you know, I guess,

00:05:06.740 fiddling with the chords and he had it, I was like,

00:05:09.840 that's it, stop there, let's record.

00:05:12.340 We recorded that.

00:05:13.720 He did some picking on the track.

00:05:17.540 It was a very rough demo, got it done in half an hour.

00:05:20.300 we left that day and we just kind of we texted straight away and said I think we have something

00:05:25.820 really special um and it was a non like a huge trail of just texts back and forth going

00:05:34.180 this is great this is amazing it's so great to be back in the studio working with with each other

00:05:38.980 and yeah that's kind of how that really happened and and along with our amazing teams um getting

00:05:46.940 us back together and not really knowing the full the extension of what the song was for

00:05:55.340 we were just given a little small brief about you know I would love to hear a song about

00:06:00.940 you know maybe going away or grief or memories or looking back at photos or potentially losing

00:06:09.220 your memory both PJ and I looked at each other we're like oh we know we know that feeling like

00:06:14.560 with family members and you know that have that have you know moved on the other side of the world

00:06:19.300 and I guess mental health as well you know with my family and you know dementia and yeah it was

00:06:27.340 just something that we we knew and it felt so easy kind of riding it and really safe and I just

00:06:35.220 remember when I hit the note time while I get time it was like it was so vulnerable like I'd never

00:06:48.920 heard my vocal do that and it was it was like obviously an outcry an outbore of just you know

00:06:56.560 what's happening in the world and and I guess you know personal kind of breakthroughs and

00:07:02.480 for each other which was uh yeah which felt really hard at the beginning but then

00:07:09.400 listen to the song back it was like oh well that was easy

00:07:12.980 but yeah really cathartic for sure gorgeous and this will be the first single that's released

00:07:22.040 by your very own music label is that correct yeah it's really scary uh hearing it like that

00:07:28.360 I never thought in the years that I've lived that I would have my own label and a place where

00:07:36.980 I feel kind of satisfied in my artistic ability of writing music. I just, I knew in my heart,

00:07:46.420 I think there were changes that were happening in the last six years. And it just seemed right.

00:07:52.940 it just seemed really fitting that I would do this level of making music being really creative

00:07:59.920 and having that I guess giving myself permission or being in a different space where I know it's

00:08:07.840 a little bit more work but I know that my music is safe and it is sounding exactly how I want it

00:08:15.980 to sound and I'm working with people that I've always wanted to work with and there's just no

00:08:20.440 restrains there's it's really fully open and that can also be scary too um because there's so much

00:08:28.180 and so it's just about um trying to be authentic and remaining I guess the desire and the passion

00:08:34.880 to be the most focused on making music um what sparks me what excites me um and and building

00:08:43.020 that bringing those amazing people in even if I don't know them I've never worked with them I

00:08:48.380 I want to be that I want to be that person I want to continue um doing music that way

00:08:54.780 and is it called Jamali yes Jamali is the the record label um and it truly is that you know

00:09:02.320 it's truly a space um for now where my music feels safe and where all my little kind of ideas will

00:09:10.940 sit yeah you've said the word you've described it as safe and I know you've been signed to like

00:09:16.100 major record labels since you were about 16 years old. Why is it right now that you feel like this

00:09:22.220 is the right time to start this new chapter of independence? Yeah, I think I have all the tools

00:09:28.580 that I need. I have, again, the writing skills. I have a lot of friends, you know, and I think

00:09:38.960 along the way, it became a lot about what others thought and their political views and that kind

00:09:45.640 of messed with the music a bit and allowed it to a lot of the time stand like be standing and be at

00:09:52.380 a halt and for no reason sometimes I wouldn't would never know the reasons why but I think

00:09:59.080 yeah it's it was important for me to be able to do that on my own gather those things that I've

00:10:07.580 learned along the way the advice the you know those amazing friends that have been there from

00:10:14.960 day one. And, you know, to, to be as open as I can, and to be fair as I can. Because we know,

00:10:24.420 big machines aren't always fair, a lot of the time, have their political things and the people

00:10:30.820 that they work with. And unfortunately, you know, you do have to go with it if you want to be there.

00:10:36.240 And so, you know, I just didn't feel satisfied. I felt there was more. And I felt that I could do

00:10:43.280 more and I could make things go quicker um yeah so Jay Malley and this next kind of phase or

00:10:53.040 shouldn't call it phase but this next piece of art um that I want to be able to create is

00:10:59.220 going to purely be on my terms and in my control and um and not that I ever really wanted full

00:11:09.420 control over it but I just wanted it to breathe um to allow it to have its own time and take its

00:11:15.740 time rather than rushing things and just putting it out just because um I really wanted it to be

00:11:22.880 thoughtful and respected and um and and loved you know loved really genuinely loved completely and

00:11:31.980 you were talking also about like you know bringing in different people bringing in your people and

00:11:36.840 you've collaborated with a massive slate of first nations musicians recently your like a version

00:11:43.820 with Barker has been on repeat it's one of my favorites and oh my gosh you two together was

00:11:51.260 just incredible to watch especially the interview that you did with triple j speaking about each

00:11:56.020 other it was very heartwarming we'll link it in the show notes below if people want to check that

00:12:00.260 out as well but also you appeared on a song with three percent which is incredible what is it like

00:12:05.620 getting to work with other Indigenous creatives? Oh, it's really mind-blowing because we're all

00:12:10.800 very different. We all grow up differently. You know, we come from different, you know,

00:12:15.020 language groups and then also kind of our slang and the way that we talk is very different. So

00:12:22.620 yeah, it just, it really excited me to want to be a part of that and want to be a part of,

00:12:29.520 I guess lighting that that message up that not every Indigenous or First Nations person is from

00:12:36.100 the same language group or from the same group just in general and place and they're all very

00:12:42.440 different parts that speak differently that I guess gesture differently and you know you know

00:12:51.240 that's why I always you know kind of spoke about you know mob and and you know just saying different

00:12:56.580 slangs like deadly or, you know, different First Nations people say it very differently. And

00:13:04.600 I think for me, like working with 3% was just a dream. I love, I love those men, those incredible 0.96

00:13:12.020 gentlemen and, and their story and where they've come from, I think really tapped into that, that

00:13:17.420 connected me the most to have made that happen. You know, they came up with the song, they came

00:13:22.580 up with the idea and I um and I just felt so honored to very honored to just jump on and be

00:13:29.600 a part of this synergy um and the strength and power um that they hold for their community and

00:13:36.620 you know for for youth particularly and yeah I wanted to help drive that with my voice and

00:13:43.320 and just yeah just their swag I love it I love everything about um who they are and you know

00:13:49.020 Dallas I you know grew up in WA a lot doing a lot of work there and seeing him thrive. Angus

00:13:57.700 he's such an incredible vocalist and Nookie he's just he's just a beast I think you know he's so 0.98

00:14:04.900 driven and focused on I guess yeah community and yeah there was a lot of trust in in making that

00:14:14.560 and a lot of family came to the studio and it just felt like you know a backyard barbecue in a in a

00:14:22.240 in a small studio room. So nice. And Barker as well I think I've always dreamt of you know as

00:14:28.760 soon as she hit the industry and the scene I just I was knowing her story and where she's come from

00:14:34.340 she's just built so much and I'm so proud of her and you know it really does take such guts to

00:14:43.060 stand up for what you believe in and, you know, not back down. So that was something that really

00:14:50.280 inspired me and encouraged me to, I guess, make noise and be boisterous and really trust in that

00:15:01.620 voice. Yeah. I love that. And both you and your music are having a bit of a resurgence on TikTok

00:15:08.500 talk at the moment it's so nice to see because like obviously all Australians we grew up with

00:15:14.880 you we have been rooting for you for so long but I feel like the people in their kind of early to

00:15:20.520 mid or in their 20s 30s are really like no like we love our Jess we want to ask like how did you

00:15:27.980 first find out about this resurgence and how does it make you feel I was home on the couch

00:15:34.460 um I think I was I don't even know what I was watching but I was on my phone I think I don't

00:15:42.860 think I was watching anything it was just on my phone and um midway just by scrolling as we do

00:15:49.180 um when we have a day off oh when I have a day off uh I had a yeah mid call and so I was like oh

00:15:57.360 you know why would you know um management be calling me this is this must be something wrong

00:16:03.140 So I answered and my manager's Ken, he's like, Jess, are you watching, go on TikTok.

00:16:14.680 So I go on TikTok and I'm like, oh, my God, what's wrong?

00:16:17.280 Did I share something I wasn't supposed to share?

00:16:21.260 I was in shock.

00:16:22.320 And then all of a sudden I just saw this kind of flood of, I had been on TikTok,

00:16:28.540 So I just had this immense flood of just seeing people lip syncing to the song or singing the song or having their own versions.

00:16:37.580 And I don't know, I just kind of felt this like, oh, like, oh, wow.

00:16:44.300 I think it was more kind of like, yeah, I was shook.

00:16:48.500 And then I just felt an instant kind of love, but it was an emotional love.

00:16:53.580 And I just kind of sat there for a bit.

00:16:56.720 you know I tried to watch as much as I could I think I went through about 10 and then I watched

00:17:04.220 that I watched again yeah and I just felt wow what why is this what what's happening who's done

00:17:11.400 this and I tried you know when you kind of who did the first one I want to know who did this

00:17:15.880 but it just um it made me kind of realize how how affecting I think music and a time

00:17:23.020 and how it made someone feel it really took me back to that process of feeling what you want

00:17:31.000 and what you like and if that moves you then go with it and yeah I just couldn't believe it I just

00:17:39.000 I didn't know what it was it just felt like really powerful and I yeah I just felt a lot of love and

00:17:46.880 a lot of respect to the people back then when I wrote the record and when I wrote these songs and

00:17:52.780 when they came out and it was it was different music it was and it was that kind of what kind

00:17:59.580 of pop is it you know what is this music and I don't think it was even ready for it then um you

00:18:07.460 know so it's nice to kind of um have it kind of live and breathe again in a different time um and

00:18:15.440 how people are reacting to it really kind of got me and made me think yeah music is important you

00:18:21.780 know and how it is affecting and how we write it and who was listening at at the time and

00:18:28.380 what it meant to them I think really it took me back to that um and again not realizing even when

00:18:36.500 I when I jumped on the track and I put my vocals to it I didn't know how big it was going to be

00:18:42.440 then um going out and performing and I felt it when I would you know sing my lungs out on the

00:18:49.880 track and and I was performing to track we I didn't even have a band then it was it was really

00:18:55.320 about um using cds and um and like just it was different but it felt great then um as it still

00:19:06.280 does now yeah it's almost timeless like that song and I think that's why people have been also

00:19:12.100 saying that they feel you're robbed in the recent hottest 100 Australian songs of all time like I

00:19:17.420 I saw a few kind of promo sizzle reels of people being like,

00:19:20.360 my top song is Burned by Jessica Malboy.

00:19:22.760 Like I remember being in the backseat of my parents' car.

00:19:25.200 So, yeah, it's obviously made such an impact and, yeah,

00:19:28.920 so nice to see.

00:19:30.240 Yeah, and I thank all of those people, like, you know,

00:19:32.100 just for sharing, you know, their time of that song

00:19:35.840 and how they still feel about it today.

00:19:38.580 I really have to thank the people who buy the music

00:19:43.140 and listen to the music because, you know,

00:19:46.500 that's what makes it move that's what kind of keeps the story alive is you know when someone

00:19:50.680 says oh you know that song oh my gosh yeah I remember I remember when I was like 10 oh my

00:19:56.900 gosh oh I went to you know I went to my friend's place and we played it or you know I would listen

00:20:02.500 to it at the skate park or I don't know it was yeah just things like that keep it breathing and

00:20:07.480 keep it moving and so I have all those all the amazing people to to thank for keeping it you

00:20:13.820 know a float and a lie yeah and now you know almost 20 years after you first appeared on

00:20:20.900 Australian Idol you are being inducted into the National Indigenous Music Awards Hall of Fame

00:20:26.020 for your contribution to music and culture so what does this honor mean to you um I have to say

00:20:32.800 it means um it means everything I you know it's such an it's an important um it's an important

00:20:40.560 recognition to me, you know, for the many years that I've, I guess, contributed to music and

00:20:48.740 and and being able to, you know, put that out to community and, you know, to people who want to

00:20:55.620 listen or, you know, how I've always dreamt of really kind of musing, I guess, that diversity,

00:21:03.040 you know, being a First Nations person, I feel like, you know, maybe my community

00:21:08.700 wanted me more to you know make country music or something like that and my passion was to

00:21:15.780 experience music and then be able to write it and be able to change the the way of thinking of

00:21:22.400 that it could be diverse that it could be um I could I could literally write anything and

00:21:28.760 and and then sing it um I wanted to prove that to myself that I could do that and so I think

00:21:36.480 that really filtered through you know the industry and you know created impact and um that I was

00:21:42.800 serious about it like it just wasn't a side thing it was what I wanted to do it was um I wanted to

00:21:48.980 create I wanted to you know fill a room with all different kinds of people and um and make music

00:21:56.260 whether or not it was for me or whether it was for somebody else um but uh that yeah this I feel like

00:22:03.080 that's what you know this award means to me is um being able to you know showcase music and then

00:22:10.720 also bring people together and allow them to have a voice and you know I think just shifting shifting

00:22:17.320 the mindset of it just doesn't have to be that it can it can be can be anything that you you know

00:22:23.420 put your mind to dream big um and don't settle for less um and I never did I never I never stopped

00:22:31.600 I've just always kept going because you know I like change and I like to be meaningful and I

00:22:40.020 love to be intuitive and I continue like to be inspired and so all of that has really helped

00:22:48.020 I guess bring the music to life and everything that I write. On that note I vividly remember

00:22:56.380 your Australian Idol audition in Alice Springs.

00:22:59.980 Like I remember watching it live on TV with my family.

00:23:02.740 Crazy.

00:23:03.420 It was such a moment.

00:23:04.900 The Australian music industry and reality singing competitions

00:23:07.280 have changed a lot in the nearly two decades since.

00:23:10.560 So where do you think young and rural people can find these opportunities

00:23:14.720 to have their voices heard?

00:23:16.840 Oh, I mean, there's so many platforms that we have, you know, today.

00:23:21.980 I never had that back in, you know, back in 2004 to 2009.

00:23:29.740 It was, you know, so I feel, you know, that we are so lucky as artists,

00:23:36.320 as, you know, independent as well.

00:23:40.740 You know, we can really utilise YouTube, Instagram, TikTok to really voice,

00:23:48.320 to really showcase your ability, your creative, your craft, who you are, you know, it's as easy

00:23:58.000 to use these tools to be able to reach the world now, like we are reaching the globe,

00:24:06.620 it's crazy, but it's amazing. And it just, it still freaks me out that, you know, we can go on

00:24:15.960 and directly send a message to, you know, being a fan of someone

00:24:21.060 or your favourite artist or whatever.

00:24:24.420 I think, I mean, I was back in the day of writing letters.

00:24:28.020 Yeah.

00:24:28.400 You know, so it's so nice to be able to see kids creating accounts

00:24:36.980 and, you know, and I guess sharing what they like

00:24:42.680 and what they want to do and connect.

00:24:44.340 I think engaging that way is, is safely is, is such a big opportunity to take on, you know, again, like I said, I, I came from a time of lining up at the, at the CD store and waiting to, you know, put those headphones up, you know, they used to have a wall and they used to have all these headphones.

00:25:06.620 And I would, you know, go finally get the chance to go out there and listen to like an album and and then, you know, see if I wanted to take it away with me or buy it or purchase it with my pocket money.

00:25:17.780 So it's, you know, now we just scroll and we click on a link and it takes us directly to the artists and we hear it and we, you know, but it's, yeah, it was so the access is just endless.

00:25:35.460 And I try as an old artist to, you know, really tap into that and to use that.

00:25:48.880 Obviously now becoming independent, there's just so much to use and it is really exciting.

00:25:55.820 It hurts my brain a little bit, but it's so nice to have that to help and support.

00:26:02.620 i remember going to the library so often and just rinsing the cd section like i had borrowed so many

00:26:10.080 and they were full of scratches but things are coming back my friend was using a cassette player

00:26:15.020 the other day like yeah physical things are cool do we think we're going back you know i mean we're

00:26:22.120 still buying i mean we're buying vinyls now so it's like to collect i mean we're we're now going

00:26:27.700 back to a phase of collecting things yeah all these like um you know you know pokemon i remember

00:26:37.020 um tazos i don't know if you yeah i remember chips and we would collect the tazos the round

00:26:42.000 disc things and um that had all the cartoons and stuff on it so i think we we there might be

00:26:49.280 in the future where potentially we could have you know a tape here or there or a cd here there

00:26:56.720 I don't know um you know but um I'm digging the I'm digging the the vinyls

00:27:01.740 um yeah I I mean I love to collect things I think I've collected a lot of shoes and clothes along

00:27:09.260 the way um I need space you know any uh that is true I mean I love that you brought up the

00:27:17.960 Labubu toys Jess I have to ask are you team Labubu or against it what's you are they for you

00:27:24.620 i i well i haven't bought one so i don't know where that where that places me um i think they

00:27:32.640 are cute um i think they they remind me of uh kirby's um yes a kirby's or also gremlins like

00:27:42.280 i don't know if you remember the film but totally we have that very much um as a kid growing up in

00:27:49.860 80s and 90s and yeah it's uh guys we're going back there I think yeah yeah people just want

00:27:56.000 something tangible rather than everything on the screen and on their phones correct um yeah I

00:28:01.740 look I think they're cute so that that that puts me for them I think yeah Jess is team

00:28:08.660 we wish we could chat for longer but sadly we are at the end of our time with you so we have

00:28:17.120 one last question which we ask every guest on our podcast and every week when maggie and i are

00:28:23.640 chatting we give our listeners a recommendation on what we've enjoyed reading listening to or

00:28:29.040 watching recently can you share a recommendation that you've been loving lately oh yes um

00:28:35.800 it's just a really good question i have been well becoming a first-time mother

00:28:43.880 so if mothers are listening or to be mothers one day future there is a solid starts app

00:28:55.560 so that's kind of really been my educational kind of program for me because yeah I need to

00:29:05.180 take care of my baby Mia and she's growing so that's something that has really helped me because

00:29:13.700 it's um you know just kind of food groups and uh um how to feed them and at what stage uh you know

00:29:20.840 how big the portions are a very practical wreck i love it very it's it's it's really helpful i'm

00:29:29.740 i'm i haven't started her on any um i haven't sure she hasn't tried mango yet so that's my

00:29:35.300 up next love it so educational um but i am loving uh watching untamed um i haven't oh yeah

00:29:43.580 limited series um it's got me it was it's a little bit slow for now which i'm which is icking me but

00:29:51.680 um there is kind of suspense um and it's a thriller so if you like thrillers just putting

00:29:57.240 it out there it's yeah this is could be for you amazing oh i can't wait to watch thank you so

00:30:04.640 much jess again for joining us on culture club podcast today we are so honored to have you on

00:30:10.140 the mic and we can't wait to have you in our ears with new music soon hopefully as well yes I cannot

00:30:16.860 wait um yeah I've literally been in the studio and I cannot wait to share more so soon well thank

00:30:22.860 you so much for your time and all the best thank you Jasmine thank you Maggie thank you so much

Culture Club - August 25, 2025

Her TikTok Resurgence & Starting A Music Label With Jessica Mauboy

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