Even from the earliest days, it was always clear that Robert Baxter was going to be a star.

A self-proclaimed musician, producer, model, and dancer, it feels like there's nothing that the prolific creative can't do. However, by their own admission, it was always music that was the main focus, even when growing up in the Victorian city of Shepparton.

"My whole life, I've always loved music. I've always loved singing and performing, and I was in the dance world in my hometown as a dance teacher," they explain. "I did musical theatre and stuff, and I always wanted to make music, but when I was in that hometown, I just didn't feel like there was any real possibility of turning into a career or anything."

Moving to Naarm/Melbourne, Baxter soon found themselves enveloped in a community that supported their artistic growth. "Some of the new people that I met in the city were like, 'I heard your music, you should release more music,'" they remember. "That's when I really started giving it a good shot."

Inspired by some of the iconic names in pop and electronic music, Baxter credits Lady Gaga as starting their musical journey, with The Fame being the first album they purchased. Of course, other veterans such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, and Britney Spears all drifted through the airwaves, helping to inform a musical melange that is as varied and eclectic as Baxter's own musical output.

That output first began to appear back in 2018, with the release of Tell Me. In hindsight, it's an auspicious start that hints toward what the future might hold, but Baxter agrees that no sense of longevity was foreseen at the time.

"I don't think I thought a lengthy career was possible or anything," they admit. "A lot of the things that I'm doing and I've been doing for the last year have been the dreams of my 13-year-old self. Sometimes I go buy myself a sweet treat and be like, 'You deserve this 'cause you just made one of your 13-year-old dreams come true.'"

"When I released my first song in 2018, I was lucky that those first songs went kind of well – like 20,000 streams or something, which I'd still be happy to get now, but back then it was maybe easier to get streams than it is now."

However, looking back at those early days comes with a little bit of a cringe factor. Though the music sounds fine and formative to fans, Baxter admits that second single, Comfort You, isn't exactly their favourite.

"I really don't like it, but a lot of people do, so I leave it up there," they explain. "I wrote it when I was 16, and it came out when I was maybe like 18 or 19. But you can tell like it's got the 2016 influences. I was really into Calvin Harris and stuff, and my favourite song at the time was How Deep Is Your Love?, so you can hear all that inspiration."

While most artists look back on their earliest days with a slight sense of regret, they could have done things differently in hindsight, Baxter treats it all as building blocks of growth; one foot in front of the other on a journey full of constant highlights.

Baxter looks toward moments like the release of singles such as SUSPICIOUS and CAMBOY as examples of these highlights, with their respective videos directed by Maxine Zanoni as moments in which it all came together. "Those music videos are like what dreams are made of," Baxter says. "I could never have imagined pulling that together."

Combined with talented filmmakers, dancers, designers, and more, it's the product of a life of myriad talents and interests that come together to show Baxter is an artist living their best creative life.

"There's this trend on TikTok where people talk about what their 13-year-old self would say if they met them in a coffee shop or something," they explain. "And they all say that like the 13-year-old self would say, 'Why did you give up on this? Why did you do this?'

"My 13-year-old self would look at me and be like, 'Wow, that's exactly what I want to do,'" they add. "So that's a pretty good reminder to keep pushing even when it's difficult."

Like any creative individuals in their respective industry – music or otherwise – it's difficult to see anyone who solely resides in one lane. After all, Baxter admits that there's plenty of EP launch promotion still to go even after we finish chatting about that very show, indicating that there's never any rest from the grind for an impressively talented future icon like them.

"I call myself a performing artist, but that just covers everything," they explain. "I also edit my photos and stuff, so there's a lot of stuff going on. But I do think it's kind of fluid and sometimes parts of me think, 'Maybe the modelling industry would like me more if I was just a model,' but I don't think the music industry thinks like that. I think the music industry likes that I have a lot of stuff going on.

"Sometimes I'm like, 'Should I split myself? Should I have two Instagram accounts?' or something. But no, it's like, 'This is all just me,' or like, whatever it is. 

"I've always been meant to be famous and eventually everyone else will just catch on," Baxter says. "It's like Zendaya and she's acting, but then she's also modelling campaigns and stuff. No one in the modelling world doesn't want her to be an actor. She's Zendaya. One day, everyone's going to think like that about me, and it's going to be great."

It's this sort of confidence that makes Baxter's journey so admirable and enjoyable. There's a self-made quality to their work, a desire to take up the space they deserve to take up, and the talent and determination that allows fans to look upon them with pride when they reach those heights. 

"I've named my EP STARGIRL, so I have to back it up," Baxter quips. "I have star power; the star quality."

The STARGIRL EP officially launched into the world just a matter of weeks ago, on April 11, and it's quickly become one of Baxter's most well-received releases. At just four tracks and just shy of 12 minutes, it's an economical listen, but one that is as rewarding as it is pleasurable to listen to.

Though Baxter admits to some initial apprehension in the EP's immediate release ("It hadn't kicked off yet because it had been out for five hours, and I was like, 'Oh my God, what am I doing?'"), the reaction from fans, supporters, and friends quickly assuaged any fears that the EP was a fool's errand. Rather, it became clear from those close to Baxter that it was some of their best work to date.

"I really appreciated hearing what people thought about it and them getting to experience it with me," Baxter admits. "I think the STARGIRL energy is about community as well. The music being shared; it's not just for me, I wrote it for my community as well, and when that [response] started happening, I was like, 'This is how it's meant to be.' 

"I genuinely think it's the best project I've ever done. When I released my project, I already had written SUSPICIOUS, which was the lead single for this project. So when I was promoting my last project, I was doing interviews and I was kind of thinking, 'I can't wait to be talking about this new music instead.'"

"Back then, I had less people to work with, so it took longer to get the songs out," they add. "Whereas now, some of STARGIRL was written just a few months ago. It's really all my best work and only just finished, so it feels so fresh."

That last project, the seven-track you wouldn't expect cupid to cry, was released in April of 2024 and does give an indication of what to expect on STARGIRL, but as Baxter notes, its release was far more protracted and way less immediate than their latest EP. 

After all, much of it has its roots in lockdown, and was written amidst a breakup which saw Baxter taking a deeper, emotional turn as they attempted to prove themselves as a writer.

"I think there was a fear of pop music, as well," Baxter admits. "I've talked about it before in regard to how thinking the hatred of pop music stems from misogyny because pop music is seen as feminine and girly and whatever.

"But while you might call my last EP like alt pop, indie pop, or whatever, this is pop music. I am trying to be a pop star with this EP. It's me taking up space, it's me just completely owning who I am. It's like my full form, even though it's not like my final form, I'm sure, it's like I feel really fully formed.

"I don't feel like I was worried about what people think as much," they add. "I was like, 'I'm just going to make four songs that represent four sides of my personality, and I'm going to love them.'"

While the STARGIRL EP is indeed Baxter operating at their peak, it's an intensely personal piece of work, and one that speaks to their own place within the world, within the music industry, and within their own life. It's representative of so much of their own life that they're sharing with the world, and it's Baxter having fun in the process.

"It says everything about who I am and where I'm heading," they explain. "It's unapologetic, it's feminine, it's dancey, it's queer, it's fun, it's just… everything. It's all the parts of me combined into one. 

"The title and the cover come from the idea of how I am non-binary, but when I have my top off, sometimes I get censored or taken down from TikTok or Instagram because they think I'm a woman just 'cause I have long hair or whatever.

"That's why the cover is me being censored and the title is STARGIRL," they add. "It doesn't necessarily mean I'm a girl. It could be me being like, 'I'm a star, girl,' or like, 'I am a star girl,' or whatever – it's for everyone. It's not necessarily gendered, even though girl and boy in STARGIRL and CAMBOY are both very gendered words, to me, gender doesn't really mean anything."

While STARGIRL represents a freedom from the societal constructs of gender, it also represents an ability to break free from societal pressures to perform. For Baxter, someone who admittedly suffers from an ever-present feeling of impostor syndrome, it's a topic close to their heart.

"I feel that a lot of the time, people who are in the majority – say they're like cis, straight, and white – they might have impostor syndrome because they know that if someone in the minority had the resources that they had, they could do what they do. 

"On the flip side, when someone from a minority has impostor syndrome, I think it's because they're the only one from their community representing so many people that they have so much pressure put on them because it's like they're the one that made it out of their community. 

"I've decided to completely let that go and just know that there's no one like me, and there's no one telling the stories that I'm telling or experiencing life the way I'm experiencing it," Baxter continues. "I don't have any person in the entire world that looks like me that I could reference, which is, in a way, kind of sad; it's kind of lonely. 

"It's like I don't have a path to follow. I can't pitch myself to a label and be like, 'I'm the next Troye Sivan or something, because I'm somewhere in between gender, I'm half Asian and all that sort of stuff. That's what STARGIRL is, it's me ignoring all of that and just making the art that I want to make."

At its core, STARGIRL – and Baxter's music as a whole – is a celebration of queer joy, of resilience, and of freedom. It's permission to be uniquely true to yourself, to let loose, and to live up to the old urging of dancing like nobody is watching.

However, this sort of strength and resilience isn't exactly something that is a conscious decision from Baxter in the composition process. It's not an artist sitting down and attempting to craft a song that is anthemic and resonant – it's simply an artist conveying their true self through their work.

"I think that's just how I am," Baxter admits. "If I didn't have strength and resilience, I don't think I'd be doing the career that I'm doing. Being an artist isn't necessarily easy for anyone. It's definitely a labour of love.

"Strength and resilience is something that's built into me and built into all of my art. If I write a song that's more silly, I'm probably forcing myself to move away from the strength and resilience to get to the playful side of my personality. Even in interviews, I'm trying to channel the energy of STARGIRL and talk about political things a bit less.

"But then I just give a whole rant about impostor syndrome," they add with a laugh. "I just want to be playful and fun and silly and more of a distraction from the things that are going on, versus fighting the things that are going on so we can just still experience queer joy and magic."

Some of that queer joy and magic is going to be on full display when Baxter officially launches STARGIRL with a headline date at The Curtin in Melbourne tonight. Joined by Jessie Hill, Mon Franco, and Superhotbarbie, it's an event that will not only serve as the culmination of Baxter's latest era, but celebrates the music, community, and fans that have made it all possible.

"I hope that it's going to be a bunch of people who are in my community, surrounding me and getting to experience the music," they explain. "I have a lot of people that I'm bringing up – dancers and musicians – because it's not just about me. If I have any chance to have a platform, I'm going to use it to platform other artists that I feel like need their chance as well. 

"The Australian music industry is tough, so anytime that there's a chance to do so, I'm always trying to shout out emerging artists as well, because I just think we need more of that for each other. I think when someone gets asked in a radio interview who their favourite artist is, Doja Cat doesn't care if you say that she's your favourite artist. So I think it's about that; it's about community.

"I recently just made my first merch item," Baxter continues excitedly. "I made these tanks with stars on the chest, recreating my EP art, which is really fun. So I'm excited to see everyone wearing those. I'm excited for just a room full of well-dressed queer people, just getting sweaty and having fun. 

"It's more of a party and a celebration than just getting everyone to sit and listen to me."

Of course, with a launch in the immediate future, and with a tendency to be one of the busiest creatives in the country, the question then becomes, what's next for Baxter? There's plans to head to London in July, with the hopes of new music arriving from that journey to the northern hemisphere.

"I've been told my whole life, 'London would love you,' either as an artist or as a model or whatever," Baxter recalls. "So I just thought I'd go there and see how it goes. But it's also going to be like a holiday. I'm going to try and rest a little bit after this show. I would love to have a week or two of rest.

"I want to do writing sessions when I'm in London, and then I want to work with the artists, the people that I worked with on this EP, who are like literally fucking amazing. I'm so excited to work with them on more stuff. 

"I'm really excited for what's coming next," they tease. "There's new music coming, but not too soon. I'm going to try and do more of the queer festivals and things like that and just get everyone to experience this music. Sometimes an album blows up a year after it comes out, and I just really believe in these songs and think that they could go well at any time."

Robert Baxter launches STARGIRL at The Curtin in Melbourne on Thursday, May 1st. Tickets to the show are available now.

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