Freedom Fighter

A widely held assumption in the music world is that pop singers don't really work as hard as their more critically acceptable contemporaries. Whereas we see somebody like Bon Iver as a tortured artist slaving away in the woods to put together the perfect record – the perception of an artist like Ricki-Lee Coulter is completely different. This ex-Idol contestant turned Beyonce-esque pop diva is generally seen as someone that employs big name producers who spend all day writing “hits” for who-knows-who in a gigantic production line of sell outs. As it happens, Coulter is not cut from this cloth. Granted, she does use big name producers but, just like the starving artists, she writes her own songs and lyrics.

Now, comparing Ricki-Lee to Bon Iver is admittedly a bit of a long bow to draw, but according to Coulter, her latest record Fear & Freedom could not have been written if it weren't for a bit of Vernon-esque solitude. “I'm the kind of person that goes into a retreat when they're writing – like a little cave,” she explains, not yet out of bed at midday on a Thursday. “I keep a diary, so I'm constantly writing down concepts and ideas. I'll have a conversation with someone, it'll spark something in my head and I'll take it down. As time goes on and I get more into the process, I become really antisocial. No one sees me and I'm just in the studio all the time – writing, recording, working on production. That's just my life. I don't watch the news, I don't go on the Internet, I don't hang out with friends, I don't go out drinking. My life just resolves around writing for that period of time.”

The whole thing sounds a little like a yoga retreat; the kind in which participants are asked to leave their brains at the door and check out for a week or so of total silence and solitude. Has Coulter tried this approach? “Oh my God, I've been on one of those things and it was hell,” she laughs. “They tried to feed you organic food and grains and frickin' beans. You're not allowed to talk, there's no TV and they make you get up at 5am to do Thai Chi and feed you lentils. I left after a day and went and ate McDonalds. I'm as relaxed as I need to be right now, just lying in bed.”

So, it seems there is a limit to Coulter's self control and, although she can't really be blamed for wanting to smash a Big Mac in the midst of an all-tofu diet, her concession of this fact does say a lot about the kind of person she has become since being thrust into the limelight by the Holdens and Dicko's of the world all those years back. Fear & Freedom showcases a woman confident in her own skin, a feat not easily achieved after constant public speculation about her personal life (Coulter divorced her husband Jamie Babbington back in 2008) and her shrinking waistline. All Coulter needed to get back on track was a bit of old fashioned positive affirmation – something that she has worked into her songwriting in an attempt to inspire others to take the same path. “These new songs are talking about my own life and talking about the time when I needed inspiration,” she details. “The words are not only to inspire my listeners, but also to inspire myself to be stronger and more courageous. To be brave and to stop giving a shit about what everyone else thinks. Stop pleasing everyone and leaving yourself out. The album is about reminding yourself that you've got to stop whinging about how unhappy you are and just go out there and make the changes that are going to make you happy.”

Rick-Lee will be playing the following shows:

Wednesday 5 September - Billboard The Venue, Melbourne VIC
Thursday 6 September - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney NSW
Sunday 9 September - Family Nightclub, Brisbane QLD