Ricki-Lee Coulter is happy to play mother hen to this year’s crop of doe-eyed Australian Idol finalists and lesson number one is: “some people are just a…….s”.
Coming full circle, the 37-year-old singer finds herself the show stalwart an incredible 19 years on from making a name for herself as an 18-year-old hopeful on the same show.
Since then, Ricki-Lee has been rattled about in the showbiz cauldron with highs that include travelling the world, topping the charts and becoming a household TV and breakfast star. The lows have included keeping the wrong hangers-on around her. It’s these lessons she wants to impart on WA’s 15-year-old finalist Phoebe Stewart and her rivals, Josh Hannan, 20, and 23-year-old Royston Sagigi Baira.
“This industry is a rollercoaster,” the Hell No! singer tells The West Australian after reeling off “so many highs”. But there is always a but.
“There was a period in my career where I got a bit lost.
“I had some really bad toxic people in my life that I needed to flush out. That was really impacting my ability to do my job. It affected everything. There were a few years there when things were really messy and I couldn’t get on top of it. My music, my personal life, my friendships, my mental health — I was a mess. It took me a few years to get through that and to get over that and flush out those people.”
But she says these moments are sent to try us.
“Many of the tough times I try and learn and take as much out of it as I can and turn it into something positive,” she says.
Coulter is conscious the young music stars will have to navigate the treacherous world of social media feedback, something she escaped back in 2006.
“There wasn’t social media. You had to go on weird forums which felt like you were on the dark web,” the star recalls.
“It didn’t exist when I did the show, I feel like it is a totally different world. There is a double-edged sword with two sides to it. There is the love, praise and support, but then there are some people who are just a…holes. You have to take the good with the bad.”
She has shared with the finalists how she copes, saying, “One of the best pieces of advice I was given early on was not everyone is going to love you and that is OK. You have to accept that. It’s the same in life. Not every person you meet is going to be your best friend.
“It is the same with people’s taste in music. Some people might not like you, your personality or the way you dress or the way you speak. People find weird reasons not to like you and that is OK.”
She adds, “I have spoken to all the contestants about trying to focus on the good. Don’t dwell on the negative because everybody gets it. If you look up the most loved artists, like Adele and Ed Sheeran, you can find people who absolutely hate them. Generally the negative is always louder. I’ve told them: put your head down, work hard, do you and keep the music first.”
The former hopeful insists two decades on that these reality shows still have legs and still produce stars.
“There is still a place for the shows. People still sit in their lounges and watch TV and fall in love with people or decide they hate people for whatever reason,” the host said.
“I talk to the contestants about this. All of a sudden you go to the shop and there are people at Woolworths saying your name. It’s very strange when you have gone from being Joe Blow to people suddenly knowing who you are at the shops.”
She wants the trio of finalists to grasp the relationship with their new sofa fans like she did.
“There is something extremely intimate when everyone is sat watching the TV in their pyjamas in their own personal space and you’re in it with them,” Coulter says.
“They feel ownership and love towards you or some people decide that they hate. That’s OK. That’s the way that TV works. Because it is so intimate, people get attached and invested. That is so important for the artist.
“It’s really hard for young artists to start careers. How do you get people to know who you are and get invested in you and to care about you? If they don’t listen to their radio and they don’t hear your songs or you don’t pop up on their Spotify, how do they know you?
“This is a wonderful opportunity for millions of people to see these contestants and feel something about them. Then when they release music, they support them. I didn’t win the show but people decided to support me because they were invested in me and my story from Idol 19 years ago.”
Coulter has heaped praise on our young WA hope from Busselton.
“I think Phoebe as a 15-year-old has this other-worldly class and experience when she gets up on that stage. I don’t know where she gets it from. She is just so calm under pressure. She is insanely talented,” she says.
“I did the show 19 years ago. Phoebe wasn’t even alive when I did the show. It blows my mind. It has provided an opportunity for myself and so many other Australian artists as a launch pad. It has kickstarted so many of our careers.”
However, Coulter is stopping short of naming Stewart as her favourite.
“I feel like by default I have become their stage mum,” she says. “It’s like asking a parent who is your favourite child. You can’t really give an answer, I love them all so much for different reasons.”
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