Read our interview with the Australian Idol contestant below!
Image: Supplied.
With the top twelve taking to the stage for the first time over the weekend, last night we said goodbye to not one, but two Australian Idol contestants. Both Jasey Fox and Maya Weiss came to the end of their Idol journey, but it's just the start for their budding music careers. We caught up with Fox to chat about ther Idol journey and what the future holds.
Having wowed the judges and Australia with their audition, taking on Queen's classic hit Bohemian Rhapsody, Fox went from strength to strength throughout the competition. “Everyone’s naked” they say standing in-front of judges Grammy® award-winning artist Harry Connick Jr.; Grammy® award-winning singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor; beloved eight-time ARIA Award-winning singer-songwriter Amy Shark and top-rating broadcaster Kyle Sandilands, shaking off the nerves before they audition. Immediately their undeniable talent shone through, hitting soaring falsetto nights and delivering a memorable audition.
Scoring a place in the top fifty, Fox performed Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball in the 'chorus line' round, before joining forces with Piper Butcher, Amali Diamond, Angelina Curtis, and Sash Seabourne to form the group 'Honey'. Fox says their group is compatible astrology-wise, and they perform Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time. All five contestants progressed through the group round, making it through to the top thirty two.
In the next round, Fox gave one of his best performances on the Idol stage. Their energetic and engaging take on ABBA’s Does Your Mother Know was probably one of the most exhilarating performances of the competition. They darted across the stage, feeding off the audiences energy, and vocally was so fun. Fox says the performance was a return to form, having felt inner doubts that led to conforming to what others thought they should be doing in their last few performances.
As they progressed to the top twenty four, Fox kept up the energy and for their performance of MIKA’s Grace Kelly. There’s no doubt Fox has great stage presence, and once again showed us their range with those hard hitting falsetto vocals. Sandilands said he hopes his newborn son grows up to be entertaining and fearless like Fox, which is quite a wholesome remark from the tough judge, and Trainor seconds the sentiments. Connick Jr. said Fox will “strike fear into the hearts of everybody else in the competition,” with their fierce abilities as a performer.
And just like that... Fox had earned their place in the top twelve. Debuting a mini make-over, having dyed their hair a fiery orange, the singer kicked off the show with their rendition of 5 Seconds of Summer’s Youngblood. Seated on a stool metres away from the judges, their clear and precise vocals cut through the songs pulled back arrangement. The band then kicked in and Fox pushed the chair to the side of the stage, darting across the stage engaging with the audience and proving just why they have made it to the live shows. “You have something I’m so jealous of, you’re so fierce and you look so comfortable,” Trainor shares, impressed with what she’s seen on stage. “I’m also jealous, because you find the camera better than I ever will,” says Shark, adding of their swift move of the chair, “I would’ve thrown that into someones face accidentally.” Connick Jr. admires the restrained choreography and loved the arrangement, with Sandilands thinking it was the ultimate performance to kick off the top twelve. “This is your life, this, you need to be on the stage,” he says. It truly was a great way to kick off the live shows.
Unfortunately, Fox found themselves in the bottom four, alongside Ben Sheehy, Maya Weiss and Noora H. The four contestants got one more chance to perform on the Idol stage, with Fox taking on one of their most beloved songs, Katy Perry's Waking Up In Vegas. Whilst Australia's votes didn't pull through this time, with Fox and Weiss eliminated from the competition, the musician is already looking towards the future with plans to return to the stage with new music.
Read our interview with Jasey Fox below!
I'm Vasili from MILKY. I've actually been writing MILKY's Australian Idol recaps over the past several weeks. I don't know if you've seen them, but it's been a super fun time!
I've definitely seen them!
I'm not gonna lie, I'm a bit shocked I'm talking to you and both, but you know, I guess that's Australia for you [laughs].
[Laughs] Exactly, you know, I haven't won a popularity contest in my life ever. .
Neither.
I guess the truth is that I knew that this would happen at some point. What I do is pretty different. Same with Maya, we do quite similar things and I always kind of knew that I would stand out and maybe not always in a good way, and that I would eventually pay the price to the way that I perform and that's just how the cookie crumbled last night, and that's totally fine.
I think both you and Maya were are two of the more prepared contestants for when it comes to having an immediate post-Idol career. You both have that performance value and the vocal talent, you both seem like super lovely people and I loved your performance. I thought it was a great way to kick off the top twelve live shows. Ultimately, how do you think you did?
I was really happy with my performance. I worked really hard on it for a really long time, Maya is exactly the same. The two of us love kind of nerding out over staging and all of those different things and costuming and, and everything. It's all of that to us. I felt I did what I was here to do and I stayed true to myself the entire time. Yeah, I'm really happy with it. The judges were happy with me at the time too. I guess they changed their mind a little bit later. But no, I feel really happy and grateful. You know, there's worse things going on in the world than me getting eliminated, honestly.
Now it has been like fourteen years since Australian Idol ended. How do you think the show can change the trajectory of someone's life and career, especially in current times, and how do you think it's done so for you so far?
Well, like for starters in the Sydney scene, it was difficult for me to book gigs because, you know, this whole industry is about who you know. Breaking the glass ceiling was almost impossible for me for quite a long time. I can go back to my house and kind of sit with the knowledge that I'll never really have to worry about gigs ever again. Which is something that I was always worried about [laughs]. So that alone, I'm very grateful for. I've met really amazing people, everybody's so talented. Even just being in the space, the same breathing space as the judges is something I'm very grateful for.
I love that. And I mean, it must have been super nice hearing Megan Trainor say that she would love to take you and Maya on tour. That's pretty reaffirming!
Yeah, no, I, like, I adore her. It's actually crazy that we have her at this time. Like she couldn't be a bigger artist, [laughs] and it's a stars aligning moment and I'm very grateful that I even got to like, look at her in person, let alone have conversations with her.
I know, it's crazy. I remember when the filming for auditions commenced, Made You Look went viral. So it's so great to have her here for the show. Had you stayed in the competition, what was the one song that you would've loved to have performed?
Well, what's eerie is Waking Up In Vegas is my favourite song of all time. It's been my most played song on Spotify for years. Maybe that's a little embarrassing, but I don't mind. So that was actually the song that I felt I needed to do on the show. I was absolutely terrified while doing it, so I'm not sure if it went the way that I pictured myself doing it. But the next thing I wanted to do actually was sort of stand still and deliver a ballad. Because I feel like I hadn't shown that yet. I can do more than just like, dance around on the stage but people will be able to see that with what I'm coming up with anyway. It's gonna be all good.
I can't wait to hear what you have planned. What do you think was like the best piece of advice that you received throughout the whole competition? Be that from the judges, from someone in production, or even another contestant.
So I think the best piece of advice that I received was the last piece of advice that I received. And it was from Amy Shark. Yeah. I know all four of those judges, and perhaps you do as well, we, we have those moments that we remember in our lives where we think something's gonna go one way. Maybe it's a job or a relationship or whatever. Life doesn't work in that way. It's doing its own thing to help you do your own thing. And Amy being there and having that voice of like, you know, somebody that was hustling for quite some time to get where she is now. Hearing that exactly from her mouth being like, 'this is just a shitty day, just keep moving on.' I took it on straight away in that moment. I was like, she's totally right and she's proof of the truth of that too.
I love Amy, I think she's offered some great advice throughout the compeition and is such an incredible artist. It has been like such a pleasure watching both you and Maya grow throughout the competition and find your confidence on the stage. I mean, I feel like both of you kind of came in to the competition with that confidence, but it did grow throughout. What was your main take away from being involved in Idol, and how has it prepared you for your career moving forward? Because obviously there's quite a full on production and gruelling schedule, so it is a bit like being thrown into the deep end of what it is to be a working musician.
Oh yeah. It's really full on. I think that I took to the schedule like a fish in water to be honest. Like I feel, and Maya as well, you know, we're a little bit older. We were the oldest in the group and we're ready for this, like we were ready. So if anything, it was kind of a confirmation of my own readiness and how much I feel like this is what I'm supposed to do. I woke up every day very grateful for where I was. There was a lot of people who were phenomenal who left and yeah, no day was wasted at all. I love it. So I think that's what I've taken away is to just not waste any day and remain grateful the whole time.
That was soo lovely. Now I don't know if you're up for answering answer this one, but who would you like to see take out the title of Australian Idol for 2023?
So I think that Australia has a lot of work to do in terms of diversity and representation. The way that certain people of colour in our group have been treated online is absolutely not okay. Or some other people like myself have been treated unfairly. I think all of those people are also extremely talented. So for me it's Noora H. I think we need Noora to win, not only because she's absolutely incredible, but she's also like my best friend in this entire situation. She's an incredibly kind person, extremely talented. It's all raw talent. What you see is what you get. I think it should either be her or Royston.
They're both so crazy talented. I was actually at the taping of the top twelve live show, and whilst you all sound incredible on the television, it's heightened even more in the live setting. I think everyone should go see a live show and then they'll really understand like just how talented everyone is and how much it transcends beyond how they look and their identity. No one deserves to receive any hate for their appearance, race, sexuality, or anything else that binds their identity together.
Oh, totally. That's exactly it. Even for myself, when I do my own gigs I have backup dances usually. We do costume changes and we do like different crazy stuff. I'm kind of excited in a way to get back to that. Because I wasn't a hundred percent able to do that on a family show, which I completely understand. But I'm excited for people to come and see me in real life or listen to my original music and follow my journey that way.
I can't wait to see your show, and see your artistry in a new capacity. For any budding Idols out there wanting to audition next year, what advice would you give them?
I would say absolutely change nothing about yourself. I think before auditioning for the show, you need to know not exactly who you are, because who does, but you need to have an idea of who you want to be and who you can be. And an unwavering faith in yourself because that is the most important thing for any sort of career in any particular industry. So I would say know who you are and show it no matter what. Don't let anything stop you from being who you are.
I back that, that is some great advice. You mentioned you've got some original music in the pipeline and you want to get back to doing your love show. So tell me, what is next for you post-Idol?
I will be releasing some new music relatively soon after everything's over and done with. I have a song out at the moment called Horror Scope. I'm a bit star sign obsessed. It's a bit of a problem in my life [laughs]. I also have put out some demo videos which are on my social media. The next stop is I'm gonna take on TikTok. I'm gonna figure out a way to tame TikTok. I feel like I missed the boat generationally with TikTok cause I'm 26 and I'm like, 'okay, I need to figure out how to do TikTok'. Those are are kinda the things that I'm looking towards
I'm also 26 and I also do not know how to TikTok, so I've always,
Great, I'm glad you are!
Occasionally myself and another MILKY team member will film a TikTok video and I'm just like, 'I don't know how to do this' [laughs].
I have no idea how to do that either [laughs]. But yeah, I'm keen to learn. I'm keen to get on board and because I like talking as well. I like all of that sort of stuff. I'm the Gemini man like talking, talking, talking. So yeah, that's, that's the next one. Eurovision will also be like a massive bucket list moment. So that's kinda something in the back of my mind as
Oh my gosh, I back it. Jasey for Eurovision 2024.
Yeah. I would love that. Yeah. I back it.
I also like loved your performance of Does Your Mother Know by ABBA. I know that they just announced a new Australian cast for Mamma Mia, but I think they should throw you in to the production as well
I would love that. I would love that. I went to musical theatre school so I've always wanted to do something like that. But I moved more into original music. If, the right thing came around, then of course. I would never say no to a gig for
Thank you so much for your time this morning. It was so lovely to chat to you. Especially after having written all these recaps over the past five or six weeks, it's so nice to be able to chat to you about your journey through the competition.
I really appreciate all the kind words that you've been saying and like all of the reviews that I've been getting, it's been really nice. It's been quite difficult, basically the only things I've been reading have been the things that MILKY's been putting out and stuff like that because I don't read the comments. So I just wanted to thank you for all the nice things that you've said.
I'm glad, I'm glad you've enjoyed it because I've been loving writing them. I'm sure this won't be the last that we'll see of you, and I can't wait to keep writing about all the amazing things you'll be doing in years to come.
Thank you so much!
Watch Australian Idol on Channel 7 Sunday night at 7:00pm AEDT. Stream it on 7 Plus.