#263 Aubrielle
🎙️ Songwriter Trysts Podcast – Episode with Aubrielle 🎶
In this special episode of Songwriter Trysts, host Rae Leigh visits the home of Bri, the creative force behind Aubrielle Artist, for an intimate and inspiring conversation. This episode dives into the life and artistry of a songwriter whose music is as cinematic as it is captivating.
Aubrielle crafts dark-pop soundscapes that blend powerful vocals with atmospheric orchestras, heavy drums, and enormous synths. Her work as a multi-instrumentalist, performing artist, and screen composer bridges the worlds of pop and film music, creating a signature style that’s contemporary, cinematic, and epic.
Bri opens up about her childhood spent between Rockhampton and the Gold Coast, how these experiences influenced her artistry, and her journey into music, starting with the humble recorder and evolving into a fearless sonic dramatist. She shares her philosophy of making listeners feel like they’re part of something greater — the same “movie trailer” anticipation that her music evokes.
This episode is packed with authenticity, laughter, and creative inspiration for anyone who loves songwriting or seeks to connect with the heart of music.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream your favorite shows!
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Connect to Aubrielle
Transcript
Rae Leigh: Welcome to Songwriter Trysts and we are here doing something very different today with Bri from Aubriel and we're filming at her house with her beautiful piano . So I like to start the podcast by getting the artist in your own words, tell us who are you and where are you from?
Aubrielle: Oh, that's a, it's a hard question. Sorry, Chedda just got me.
Rae Leigh: That's okay.
Aubrielle: Actually, when people ask me this, I find it really difficult to say where I've come from because my parents actually split up when I was quite young. So I feel like I've had two homes my whole life. So I feel like I'm from Rockhampton, but I'm also from the Gold Coast, but now I live in Brisbane.
Rae Leigh: Wow. Okay. That's quite different, like far apart. So did you live full time with one of them or?
Aubrielle: Yeah, so I lived with my Mum in Rockhampton for most of my life. But I would spend school holidays down the Gold Coast where I have lots of cousins and yeah, aunties and uncles. So yeah, it really felt like it was my second home. Yeah,
Rae Leigh: Yeah. As you would feel like we I lived in Victoria, but my dad was from Queensland. So every holidays we came up here to visit his Mum and family and stuff like that. And so even though I didn't live on the Gold Coast, when people say, are you from the Gold Coast? I'm like, I feel like I am from here because my grandma lived here and my aunts and uncles and cousins were all here.
So I was here all the time as a kid, but I just didn't go to school here.
Aubrielle: Yeah, it's a bit like that
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Same thing. Same, but different.
Aubrielle: Same it different. Yeah, and I was born in Tweed Head. So I feel like maybe I started living there when I
Rae Leigh: Represent GC. That's cool. Okay. Tell me about music then. When did that start for you?
Aubrielle: It probably started in primary school with the good old recorder like most people in primary school, but then I got to learn
Rae Leigh: doing ukulele now I
Aubrielle: Oh yeah, I know. And some schools have marimbas, which is super cool. Yeah, I wish my school was that
Rae Leigh: cottoned on to the idea that recorders probably weren't a great idea.
Aubrielle: Yeah probably all the parents who complained every year when their kids came home playing the recorder.
But yeah, after recorder, I guess it was the gateway instrument into woodwinds.
Rae Leigh: Yeah, fair enough. Yes, I did clarinet for six months.
Aubrielle: Yeah, oh, yeah, so clarinet's my first
Rae Leigh: there you go. Yeah,
Aubrielle: I really wanted to play the flute though But I was told I didn't have the mouth to play the flute.
Rae Leigh: Really? What sort of mouth do you have to play the
Aubrielle: Don't know. I think you just have to have a mouth. Yeah, not my but
Rae Leigh: Need bigger lips.
I'm going to Google that now, like what is it, what sort of lips do you need to have to play the flute? I didn't realise that was a thing.
Aubrielle: I didn't know
Rae Leigh: I think that's just a teacher just being lazy.
Aubrielle: I agree.
I think it was just that maybe too many people wanted to play flute and they needed some people to play clarinet. So I ended up on clarinet, but when I was able to take off a second instrument, I took up flute. Yeah. So I learned flute and clarinet as my first instruments, but at home we had this little organ that my Mum had purchased from an op shop.
It was like, like this big and it took about two minutes to turn on like the, put the button and VRR. Yeah. And yeah, just like a little organ. And I actually loved it as just, to play around the house, just like a toy. And my mum noticed that I would literally play it every single day.
And I didn't know how to play, but I would write songs on it. And so she gave me this little book that showed me like what notes were on the piano. And I knew how to read music from playing flute and clarinet. And so I was like, Oh, there's actually notes for this thing.
Rae Leigh: out.
Aubrielle: Yeah. I became a bit obsessed with it
Rae Leigh: And
Aubrielle: then when my Mum realized I was really loving it and loving writing music and learning how to play music She took me to the local pub the lionly tavern represent rocky.
And yeah, you take your 12 year old kid to the pub. But because they had a baby grown piano in the restaurant
Rae Leigh: Oh.
Aubrielle: And so I was like, oh This is a bigger version of this. And a more beautiful version of this. So yeah, thanks for taking me to the pub mum. But yeah, I then started walking. Actually maybe I was a bit younger than 12.
I might have been around 10 because I was still in primary school. And then I would walk. via the pub every day from school on my way home and I'd just sit there for a couple of hours and teach myself how to play before mealtime started.
Rae Leigh: And the pub was cool with you just to play the
Aubrielle: Yeah they were and they actually ended up giving me my first job there singing on Friday nights.
Yeah it's very country town.
Rae Leigh: yeah, you should be doing country music.
Aubrielle: Maybe I should have been doing country
Rae Leigh: Here we go. New country artists.
Aubrielle: collab. LAUGHS
Rae Leigh: what do you think for you? Did it feel like you just were doing what you wanted to do? You're just playing or
Aubrielle: I think I was really drawn to writing more so than playing and I learnt to play so I could be a better writer. LAUGHS I think. Yeah, because LAUGHS I did a bit of musical theatre and I loved doing that in school and I loved how music, evokes emotion and tells a story and connects people to those stories.
So I think that's really became what my big driver was to learn how to play so I could make more stories.
Rae Leigh: That's that's really mature and for a kid were you aware, did you have the vocabulary for it at the time?
Or was it just a sense of I just love this?
Aubrielle: Yeah, I don't think I had the vocab for it back then. I just, it was just what I did. I wrote songs.
Rae Leigh: Okay. So tell me about your first song then. Like what? Good to hear every now and then someone says, Oh, it was amazing. And it won a Grammy. And I'm like, what who are you?
Aubrielle: Good on them. Yeah. Oh, I can't even really pinpoint the first song I wrote with lyrics, but I do remember one of my Mum's friends wasn't very well. She had a brain aneurysm and there was a very dark period there where we weren't sure how she was going to recover or if, and I wrote a song for her that I ended up performing at some random pubs that we did as a fundraiser.
And yeah, I I really liked writing emotive music, so there were really dramatic songs, I think, as a kid. But then I think when you're a teenager, too, you then start writing about love and all, those kind of things. Relationships. But yeah, because I was doing musical theatre, too, sometimes I would just write quirky things that I thought could be a cool story.
Yeah. So did you
Rae Leigh: you always cause you loved it from so long and you just did it all the time, was this always going to be something that you did as an adult or was it just like, how did it go from Oh yeah, cool. We were really good at music as a kid. And then. Now you're an adult and you're still doing music.
What was that journey like for you?
Aubrielle: Yeah, that's a good question. I don't actually think there was ever a point where I thought, yeah, I can keep doing this as an adult. In fact, it was probably quite the opposite. Growing up in a regional town, you don't see songwriters. You don't have any representation of those people doing it as a career.
This may sound really cheesy, but I'm here for it.
Rae Leigh: Yeah, go on.
Aubrielle: But do you remember the movie Coyote Ugly? Yeah. Yeah. It was my movie too. And that came out was it in the early two thousands, maybe?
Rae Leigh: I think I was in high school, so probably, yeah.
Aubrielle: Yeah. And for the first time I saw, Oh, there's actually, People do this as a career. They can do this.
Rae Leigh: Because she was really shy and had
Aubrielle: Yeah.
And she was,
Rae Leigh: sing in public, which was me. I couldn't sing in public.
Aubrielle: I was the same. I used to sing like this. It was very,
Rae Leigh: could talk really loud, but I couldn't sing loud. Yeah.
Aubrielle: I think I even have periods of time where I was very softly spoken and you wouldn't think that when people meet me these days.
Rae Leigh: Or hear you sing. Yeah, completely different.
Aubrielle: Yeah, my voice was not like that. But yeah, so I think Coyote Ugly really turned it around for me. It made me see that ha! Extra interviewee cheddar.
Rae Leigh: And Brie.
Aubrielle: Ha! Yeah, so I think Koguty the ugly is,
Rae Leigh: was
Aubrielle: One of those things where I, for the first time I ever saw that people could do that as a career and it was quite inspiring. And so I learned some of those songs from Coyote Ugly and then Delta was on Neighbors and,
Rae Leigh: I remember that too. So you must be about the same age, I reckon, because
Aubrielle: Yeah. So I think once I started to see that there were people out there doing it, I went, Oh, okay. I'll just keep doing it. And then I eventually moved to Brisbane in 2013, and I decided that I was going to record my first EP. Because I had written hundreds of songs, but I, and was doing gigs around central Queensland, and just didn't really think about recording my own music.
And then I came here and just did that.
Rae Leigh: And how, what was it like for your first time recording music that you'd written? For your entire life.
Aubrielle: It's pretty exciting to record music for the first time, but I think there was a lot of things back then that I didn't know, but I know now having gone through the process and done further studies and, learning, but
Rae Leigh: Okay.
You can't say that and not tell us , what's like the one big thing that you're like, God, I wish I knew that earlier.
Aubrielle: I think I was too afraid to sing in the studio, like to sing properly. Like I told you, I feel like,
Rae Leigh: Red light syndrome.
Aubrielle: yeah,
Rae Leigh: Yeah.
Thing. That's the thing that everyone, like a lot of people deal with.
Aubrielle: Yeah, and I think many vocalists have that like when they hear themselves in the headphones for the first time or Yeah A recorded voice is very different to how you hear yourself performing too and even learning different mic placements and things like that When you're performing live, but I guess the studio added that whole element into it and that what I did there was captured And I think I was just too afraid to sing and I just
Rae Leigh: you feel more insecure, do you think?
Aubrielle: Maybe I don't know if it was an insecurity thing or if it was more that I just didn't feel comfortable enough to know
Where I wanted certain words to sit in my mouth and without listening back to the recording and reviewing it.
And then I was like, Oh, okay, I probably would have done it differently, but I, in those first recordings, I didn't really have that opportunity to do so that's something that's really big for me now. And I, if I record music nowadays and I spend a lot of time just practicing and I'd rather do demos and stuff first, so I can.
figure out how I want to enunciate certain words or if I want to hold certain things longer or figure out where my breath control is. I think it's just taking a bit more of a measured approach to recording now, but obviously when you're doing it for the first time you're not going to know any of that.
So it was a really, important learning opportunity to have those experiences.
Rae Leigh: Yeah, that's awesome. And I think it's important for people to hear that, that it's not always smooth running from the get go. That everything's a learning lesson, right? And you just got to keep giving it the best you can.
Aubrielle: Yeah.
Rae Leigh: Yeah. Yeah. You don't just write songs and you write with other people, but you also do composition for film, which is how we met. We met at a Q music networking event for screen music on screen or something like that. Yeah. So tell me about how did you transition your musical skills and your song writing skills into that?
Where did that path come from? Yeah.
Aubrielle: I think for me, I've always, it felt like coming full circle for me with My musical theater background. I really loved writing those kind of songs back in high school that would really evoke emotion and tell that story. And they're all quite dramatic. So when I, probably only in recent years, I started thinking maybe I could be doing that, but for film.
But I had all of these ideas in my head and my mother would tell me, testify to this like when I would write songs on that organ even I'd be like and the horns will be doing this and the strings will be doing this and I'd sing all these little lines and I'm like so you've just got to imagine it.
Rae Leigh: Oh, that's so cool. So
Aubrielle: like back then I think I was doing it but I just didn't know that you could do that forward to more recently, I realized I could do that, but I just had a technical skill gap. So I went and did a diploma in music production so I could learn to become a bit more self sufficient in composing and producing.
Also motivated because of the under representation of women in music production roles. Sorry, I was
Rae Leigh: that's, it is, it's a massive thing. And they've talked about that at the Grammys, they've got a big push at the Mument in America to try and represent and support female producers and composers as well. Yeah.
Aubrielle: So that was a big motivator for me, but also because I wanted to, if I'm working with other artists, or particularly females, young up and coming in the artists, I wanted to be able to empower them too, to know that you can learn these skills or you can just, habit.
A session maybe in get some guidance and advice that makes you feel more confident in articulating your vision in the studio so it's not that necessarily that they have to become producers if that's not their desire, But learning a little bit of the language or learning something that makes them feel more confident So yeah that kind of was a driver for me to get into production which kind of led me into doing being able to create the sounds I could hear in my head.
So instead of singing the lines and saying, this is what this string would be doing, or this is what that horn would be doing. I was able to do it myself, finally. So you
Rae Leigh: So you were empowered to be able to go and do that. And then you got nominated for a QMA last year for your screen work. And then I met you at the thing.
Like it just escalated to one thing to another.
Aubrielle: was the Q Music Awards this year in April.
Rae Leigh: Music Awards this year in April.
Aubrielle: Was it April? Yeah. I think it was April.
Rae Leigh: I don't know. I was there, but
Aubrielle: yeah,
Rae Leigh: this year has flown by so
Aubrielle: it has. But it's maybe a little bit shocking. That was my first short film that I've ever composed for. So I'm a little bit gobsmacked that it got that recognition and. Completely honored, particularly because it was such a low budget, like zero budget, independent film and here we are nominated up against Bluey, which is a, yeah, international franchise.
And I'm like, I really love the work that they make in Bluey. So I was, yeah. It's
Rae Leigh: It's just a good thing to have in your bio, nominated alongside Louie.
Aubrielle: you're in the
Rae Leigh: Just name drop it however you can. It's fine.
Aubrielle: way you look. You can't even see my name. Just name drop it however you can, it's fine.
Rae Leigh: we don't always get.
Aubrielle: I guess some acknowledgment or a little bit of a pat on the back to go, yeah, keep going. And that reminded me that, yeah, maybe I am on the right path.
Rae Leigh: And sometimes I think it comes along right as you need it. I'm not a big believer that we get Cheddar just I'm a big believer that we don't always get what we want, but we always get what we need. That's one of my, I don't usually give quotes, but that's one of my quotes.
And that's actually, it's not even one of my quotes. My dad's a pastor, it's from the Bible, so I'm not going to steal it. But I do think in life that's always been that way. And I think whenever I've been at that point where I'm like, I'm ready to give up or I'm just going to throw in the towel with whatever it is, something or someone comes along.
Nope, keep going. It's just enough of a bit of a kick in the butt.
Aubrielle: Yeah, it is. It is good. I do a lot of co writing with other independent artists and
Rae Leigh: I
Aubrielle: so many people being disheartened by the industry itself. And so I really encourage people to think about defining their own success. Because it is a brutal industry it's wonderful, and I think we've got a wonderful community in South East Queensland here too, and but sometimes Yeah, it can be disheartening when you've put your heart and soul into a record and maybe it doesn't get the traction that somebody has expected it to.
And I always talk to them. I'm like what other things have you done? Like in that process? Did you try a new instrument in your recording? Have you learned a new vocal sampling technique or what are the other definers of success? Because it's not about industry recognition. If you're looking for that industry recognition and that, I think that, you're more likely to feel disappointed, but think about the things for you as an artist.
No,
Rae Leigh: But that's not what, it shouldn't be about that.
Aubrielle: it should be about making great music, make art.
Rae Leigh: art and have fun and enjoy the journey. And the journey is built up with a lot of things. You did say that you should, I love this one because success is defined by whatever it is you want to define it by. How do you define success for yourself? What are your goals?
Aubrielle: by. How do you define success for yourself? Yeah. At the Mument, maybe, I've defined success differently in the past probably to how I am now.
I feel successful because I, instead of releasing a whole bunch of music that I was ready to do, I took a few backward steps and I went and learned music production and I learned how to operate a studio and I've You know, so for me like i've got different success measures for myself now because i'm like no offense to the men, but I can do this fully independently as a woman, and I don't
Rae Leigh: need you.
Aubrielle: But I do work with good men, so like now it's a different thing, whereas like before I think I was like, Oh, I need these people that have these skills where I was like, okay who do I want to learn from and who do I think can help mentor me to be the best producer that I can be? So it's coming from a different
Rae Leigh: Instead of needing it, it's a collaboration and you're empowered to seek support and collaborate with people rather than, I need you and I can't do this without you.
It's more desperate, isn't it?
Aubrielle: Yeah. And working with people that can fill some gaps in my knowledge. And I know that are willing to have the patience to do so, rather than just, get a record done and get it out.
Rae Leigh: That's awesome. What is one piece of advice that you would give to people if they are starting out?
You're about to release something amazing. I've just listened to it and it's amazing. But you've done it before, so it's not your first rodeo. some advice you would give to someone who is just about to release something or they're stepping into the industry for the first time?
Aubrielle: Yeah, I think have a lot of fun in your music creation process. That's what it's all about. Doesn't matter about anything else. And I know that like the industry can be so overwhelming with release cycles and publishing and sync and labels and management and all of this stuff. And none of that really matters.
All that matters is that you make a good song. You've, and you're happy with it. And I think also figuring out what your sound is, and maybe that's a bit of experimentation, but if you are feeling confident in that sound and that song or that collection of songs, and you're happy with it, it won't matter if people don't like it, because you feel so strongly about it, right?
So
Rae Leigh: I think that's look at what you've done and then try and do better and then look at that and then try And do better and yeah, keep going.
Aubrielle: So make art that you like. Yeah. And don't worry about anything else.
Rae Leigh: also had a horror story once I said You know, make sure you like it really like it because if it does become really successful, you could be seeing it over and over again for the next 50 years.
And if you don't like it, when you release it, you're really not going to like it. You hear some horror stories of people who just some of the really big songs and they're getting big money to perform it. And they like, just hate it. They're like, do not ask me to sing
Aubrielle: ask me to sing
Rae Leigh: You can't help it.
Sometimes a song just lands with the world and it becomes massive. And yeah,
Aubrielle: becomes massive
Rae Leigh: help it. Tell me about your inspirations. If you could collaborate with anyone in the world, who would it be and why?
Aubrielle: would it be? Living or dead? Yes.
Rae Leigh: that question.
Aubrielle: give you a list?
Rae Leigh: You want.
Come on. First one that pops into your head.
Aubrielle: not for my sound, but I would really love to work with the Beatles.
Rae Leigh: Oh yeah. They come up a lot.
Aubrielle: Yeah, definitely. But I think there's some great composers out there that I would love to work with, like Raman Jawadi, who's done, like the Game of Thrones music and Westworld. And I would love to collaborate.
Rae Leigh: fit your sound too.
Aubrielle: Yeah, I'd love to work with film composers for my more pop stuff.
I think that would be cool. But yeah, people even like Michael Jackson would be great to work with. Like the pop sensibilities in his writing.
Rae Leigh: theatrical.
Aubrielle: Yes, the theatrics. I'm a bit dramatic.
Rae Leigh: I love it though. Tell me, okay, tell me about what you're doing now, what your future project is going to be so that people know what to expect because we've heard a little bit about your background and I've heard your song, but no one else has it yet. So tell me about it.
Aubrielle: Yeah, so my new project, Aubriel, is like a rebirthing for me musically. It's a new sound too. It's something that I feel like is uniquely for me, finally. And it's more along the lines of like cinematic pop. So it's very orchestral, some elements of electronica very dramatic in the music and the sound and yeah, I'm actually really excited for what I'm about to bring out in this project.
Rae Leigh: I can't wait to to see how it's received, but also see where it goes. Like I said, I think I heard, I could see it in like a game or something or Spartacus or something. I don't know. Yeah. That's coming out. Yeah, they're filming that.
Aubrielle: Oh. Are
Rae Leigh: Oh. They're filming Spartacus. Are they? I'll probably have to cut that out because I don't know if I'm supposed to know that.
Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut. Cut.
Aubrielle: But we'll
Rae Leigh: But I will put a blog together and I'll and present it all lovely. And I'll put all your socials and links and things so that people can follow you and then get updates on when, do you know when the song is going to come out yet?
Aubrielle: yet? Yeah, don't put this in it, cut. I'm aiming for an end of November release but I just want to make sure that the mixes and all of that are right so it may have a little bit of budge room but,
Rae Leigh: yeah, I was going to release in October and since the surgery, I'm like, I might just wait till next year now. I don't
Aubrielle: Yeah, that's fair. Yeah. New music hopefully coming out end of not,
Rae Leigh: of the year sometime before the end of the year, hopefully.
Aubrielle: Yeah. New music.
Rae Leigh: To be confirmed, you have to go follow her now. And so that you will also get the update.
And we'll add the links in to the website when they're available as well. Yeah. That's really cool. Is there anything that we haven't covered about your musical journey or advice you'd like to share with people? Maybe I could tell
Aubrielle: a bit more about the track because there's been so many creatives that have worked on it that I think
Rae Leigh: think it's Only like a hundred and fifty, did you say?
Like a hundred and fifty people? Yeah, tell us about your track because it sounds, I mean it's it's such a massive sound. I'm always gonna, you have to give me like a teaser just so I can get like a little tiny, here's a little bit of what it sounds like.
Aubrielle: I can give you a teaser
Rae Leigh: go on.
Aubrielle: So the song is called Uprise, so it's a very power to the people kind of type anthem song.
And I wrote this song actually back in 2019.
Rae Leigh: Sorry,
Aubrielle: my brain instantly wanted to swear.
Rae Leigh: 2019
Aubrielle: when,
Rae Leigh: years, like
Aubrielle: ScoMo went to Hawaii and our country was on fire.
Rae Leigh: Yes. I remember that. Yep.
Aubrielle: Yeah. And I was sitting on my balcony. I lived in Yerongpilly at the time and the whole sky in front of me was red with smog from The bush fires and we're 600 maybe kilometers away from where some of these fires were But it was that heavy coming up
Rae Leigh: over the
Aubrielle: Yeah, it took over.
Have our leader scomo saying that he doesn't hold a hose and all of this and then Not long afterwards we entered into what well should be known as the global pastrami Makes it sound more fun than what it was
Rae Leigh: Okay. , everyone knows what that is. Let's just skip over that
Aubrielle: Yeah, we'll skip over that. But
Rae Leigh: From that also
Aubrielle: also came out lots of important social movements. Like we saw Black Lives Matter and a lot of things were happening over in America. And
Rae Leigh: We talked a lot about what was happening not in our own country. Yeah. More than maybe what was going on in our own front door.
Aubrielle: And with lockdowns and all this kind of stuff. And so the song kind of was written over a period of different times, different lyrics just came to me at different Muments.
It's one of those songs that just left, but in essence, it's quite generic and it's lyrical content, even though those were the kind of, Inspirations behind it and it became yeah, there's power to the people type anthem So I was so excited to work on this. I co produced it with a producer from the gold coast joshua beady
Rae Leigh: Yep, cool.
Aubrielle: Yep and after our first studio day.
I said this is cool. It's powerful, but it's missing the people So I said, basically one of those hold my drink Muments.
Rae Leigh: Yeah.
Aubrielle: And so I went on a bit of a mission myself and outside of that, I wanted to find some other artists that could feature on it. So now I have some beautiful backing vocals from Serendipity and Niche, who are two incredible artists in their own right.
I also have some guitar on this track from Nate, who performs as, yes, Conspiracy of One. There's a fantastic violin player, Alice Rainer, who's just a gorgeous soul, and has studied at the Con. And then yeah, we have I think it's 106 people that I sampled shouting the word hey, so there's a
Rae Leigh: a bit
Aubrielle: sounds like you've
Rae Leigh: sounds like you've got a layer. It's like a chant song that you would see as the soldiers line up to come front, it's just that powerful.
Aubrielle: You
Rae Leigh: Yeah, so many people,
Aubrielle: did, but it
Rae Leigh: you didn't, I don't know what you did, but it just, yeah, it sounds so real that you can almost see the people screaming.
Yeah, it's just so cool. I
Aubrielle: felt like the song needed that.
It had this cool like section in the middle, just when you feel like you're being transported into a really epic instrumental section, we take it all away from you, right? And there's this vocal sample. You can't really tell it's a vocal sample, but it is. And we've manipulated it in a way. And it It just felt like it needed the people in
Rae Leigh: Just needed a hundred and six people to go.
Aubrielle: And so I just casually went and sampled 106 people, but there's
Rae Leigh: were on the mission when I met you. You were like, hey, do you want to scream into my phone? I was like, I just met you. I've been
Aubrielle: I'm a bit nervous.
Rae Leigh: No, it's fine.
Aubrielle: Yeah, so 106 people I ended up getting. And I thought I was only going to get like 15 and 20, right? That was my initial goal. And then got to about 46. And so I was like, I'll go to 50. And the next thing I was at 66 and I was like, I'll go to 80. And then I was like at 87. I'm like we may as well go to a hundred.
Rae Leigh: not? You just overshot by 80 or so. So when you got to 106, you were like no, we're definitely stopping now.
Like we're good. We're good.
Aubrielle: was like, we have to stop. We have to stop. Otherwise we'll just keep going. But it was actually really cool to have that many people be excited to be on this track. And there's a lot of people who are artists as well that are. What I've been calling in my door, it's called the Fat Haystack Army.
But,
Rae Leigh: with a
Aubrielle: Fat with a P, Fat with a P H!
Rae Leigh: yeah, okay cool. We're all fat, yeah. Yeah,
Aubrielle: Fat Haystack Army. I don't know why I called it that, I just thought it was funny at
Rae Leigh: Yeah, no, that's a great name for it. Because they're all saying hey, so that's why it makes
Aubrielle: and it's got a fat sound
Rae Leigh: very fat sound. Yeah.
Aubrielle: fat, yeah, fat with a PH. And ultimately together the people form an army. So the Fat Haystack Army works, that should be the name of your backing band.
Rae Leigh: just see that the QMA is nominated this year.
Aubrielle: that the
Rae Leigh: It's not Sex Pistols, but it's,
Aubrielle: Nominated
Rae Leigh: it.
Aubrielle: year. Not Sex Pistols, but it's,
Rae Leigh: and
Aubrielle: I can't wait to share new art with the world where I'm coming from a place of, being more confident in who I am as a songwriter and artist.
Rae Leigh: Yeah, I should ask you about collaboration though as well, because you've collaborated with obviously like probably the most amount of people I've ever spoken to anyone that's had that many people on a song, maybe. I didn't ask anyone else the number of people they've had. Why is it important for you to collaborate with other people? I
Aubrielle: think that different creators add value to your process. You get different perspectives, different ideas, and that wouldn't have happened without that one particular creative. And that's so special, so like Jess and from Serendipity and Niche We did a backing vocal studio day where I just went through the track with them.
And I said, this is where I think some of the BV should go. What do you guys think? And they were like, yeah, that's where we feel it too. So I'd sing or something. And then we literally were just like bouncing around. And so we'd get one person in the booth, next person in the booth, next in. And it was so natural.
And then.
Rae Leigh: both
Aubrielle: Both of them do their own kind of ad libs at different times in the song. And so Jess does like these cute really like angelic BVs in the chorus that just sit in the background. But I'm like, Oh, that's so cute. That's haunting
Rae Leigh: Yeah.
Aubrielle: And then we were wrapping up and Jess had to leave for something and Nisha's Oh, I can stay and I can get some of these extra harmonies that on top of what Jess had just done.
And we did that. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I just feel like I'd like to turn off this and just see what sits for you in this track and maybe you could do some ad lib things and holy I was blown away and so I think I ended up Taking out some of those BVs that we were harmonizing to. And now Nish has like this ad libby thing and she's R& B.
And she's got these beautiful like vocal breaks in her voice. And it's just stunning. And it's ends up being a call and response to me. And my backing vocals in this instrumental section at the end of the track. And it just wouldn't have been like that though.
Rae Leigh: If I
Aubrielle: didn't allow her the creativity and freedom to do that.
And I sat down with the girls beforehand and we had a cup of tea or a coffee. I can't remember what it was. And I just said to them and this is really important for me in a creative space. I said, particularly for vocalists too. I was like, today is a safe space to make bad sounds.
Rae Leigh: Oh, I love that. Yeah. Yeah. So don't worry about making mistakes or
Aubrielle: Don't worry about making mistakes. It's all recording. We can fix up recording. I'd rather us explore and find ideas
Rae Leigh: be relaxed
Aubrielle: and be
Rae Leigh: and be yourself. Yeah. I love that. And I do the same when I go into record with someone or even a producer. I'm like, I'm here because I want your creativity input. I don't want you just to be a person who presses the record button or, like instrumentalists or session musos, same thing.
It's Everyone has their own flavour, and you gotta give, sometimes you gotta give them that freedom to like, just show me what you got, what are you feeling, let that come through. Yeah,
Aubrielle: It's so special. And so I think that's like the most amazing thing about collaborating with different people is that they bring different things that I wouldn't have done that, I couldn't have pulled that off. Because I wasn't hearing the same notes as her. And sometimes I was, and, even in that process, she'd sing something and then try something else.
And I'd be like, Oh can we, I like these other notes. Listen, let's listen back to those notes that you had before and then combine them with these new notes. And yeah, it was like just being able to allow them to freely express and make mistakes. And then we put some of the good bits together and it was amazing, but yeah, I think collaborating
Rae Leigh: collaborating
Aubrielle: adds that value.
And I do a lot of co writing with other artists as well.
Rae Leigh: So,
Aubrielle: I'm not sure if you're familiar with Elska's work, but I do a lot of co writing with Elska. She's a Brizzy artist too. So yeah, I love co writing. Co writing is a
Rae Leigh: I love co writing. That's what Trysts comes from.
Trysts is the intimate connection of lovers. So it's a play on words when I say it. Somewhere it has Trysts. Oh.
Aubrielle: it's a
Rae Leigh: Like making love and intimacy. Music. It's a vibe. It's a vibe. I'm trying to make it a thing. It's not popular yet, but we'll get there. No, I think you've
Aubrielle: you've just gotta stick with it.
Rae Leigh: just sticking with it. It's been four years. But most people don't know what Trysts means, but that's okay. I did have to
Aubrielle: gonna lie
Rae Leigh: You had to Google it? I had to Google it too. My husband's the bookworm. But but it is, it's like that, that I love. Writing stuff on my own as well. But I just love it when I collaborate with someone and there's, there is there's an extra magic and the Beatles do this as well.
Like they had that magic and they found it and then they just stuck with it. And a lot of like really famous stories of the magic that happens between certain people when it comes to musical connection. Like that's just, I think that's the journey we're all on. We're all looking for our musical songwriting soulmate.
And this podcast has been a great way to do that.
Aubrielle: great way to
Rae Leigh: dating
Aubrielle: I've had lots of CD songwriters. It's been good.
Rae Leigh: Good. And a lot of them I've actually worked with or collaborated with. And it's it's been really awesome. So thank you for being 263. I think you will be.
Thank you so much for having me. And thank you for letting me come into your home. And
Aubrielle: Yeah, it's special to have you here next to my piano. I haven't named it yet. It needs a name.
Rae Leigh: it new?
Aubrielle: No, it's actually 50 years old. I got gifted it from a beautiful woman called Margaret who lives down the Gold Coast across the road from my
Rae Leigh: arty.
Aubrielle: I just
Rae Leigh: I just went to a yoga class the other day, and the lady's name was Margaret, and she was like, Oh, you're the singer with the blue guitar. And I was like, Yep.
Aubrielle: everyone knows me there.
Rae Leigh: That's how everyone knows me though, that's why. That's
Aubrielle: me on the show, and I can't
Rae Leigh: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the show and I can't wait to share the podcast with
Aubrielle: pleasure. Yay, done! Yay! Yeah,
