'It's Pretty Deadly': Thelma Plum On Industry Achievements & Giving Back To Unearthed

Thelma Plum is about to embark on her I’m Sorry, Where Is That? regional tour, with the 19-show stint starting today in Perth. From there, she will hit the road and head to Margaret River, Wollongong, Canberra, Albury, Sunshine Coast, Byron Bay, Castlemaine, Ballarat, Barwon Heads, Gosford, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Traralgon, Frankston and Shepparton.

The tour will wrap up in July, but not before Plum plays sets at Kimberly Moon Experience in WA’s Kunnunurra, Barunga Festival in the Northern Territory and the renowned Dark Mofo in Tasmania’s Launceston.

The tour comes off the back of Plum’s late-2024 album release, I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back, which brought us bumper-to-bumper hits like We Don’t Talk About It, Freckles, and Nobody’s Baby. After selling out capital city venues in October and November of last year, Plum said she is excited to head to the regional destinations, which are not always included in national tours.

With the tour announced in April, Plum has been spending time in rehearsals and planning the intricate details for shows that will feel more intimate and impactful. Her I’m Sorry, Now Say It Back album echoes the same vibe she intends to create for her regional audiences, describing the record in her own words as “created with love, heartache, forgiveness, and care in mind.”

Plum told The Music, “The regional shows always feel a lot more intimate. So, I have kind of changed the set a little bit in the show and the set design to fit the mood a little bit more. It's been fun trying to prep for this and find inspiration.”

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“I am a country girl at heart, and I love touring, and I’m so excited to take my band out on this extended jaunt through the country. My album tour last year was so much fun, and it didn’t seem fair not to try and visit as many places as we could. I can’t believe I actually get to go to some of these places and sing! What a dream!”

Plum hesitates before choosing a destination she was most excited to perform in, expressing that each of these locations and shows is special to her. Although, she admits she was thrilled to be playing in Coffs Harbour, where many of her family members would be in attendance.

“It’ll be intimate, it’ll be really fun, and it’ll be special. We’ll have some chats, we’ll have a sing-along. We are going to try and have some really special moments… I don’t want to give away too much,” Plum teases.

Last month, Thelma Plum won the Best Single Award at the 2025 Rolling Stone Australia Awards for her hit, Freckles. Yet another accolade to add to her Gold-selling debut album Better In Blak, which received seven ARIA nominations and features three ARIA Platinum singles: Better In Blak, Homecoming Queen and Clumsy Love.

When asked about these awards, Plum expresses pride but admits that she tries not to get caught up in these successes for too long, focusing on new work and other areas of her craft.

“I just have to be like, ‘Don’t think about this, please, Thelma.’ It can feel really exciting and awesome to have your community and industry recognise you in that way. It’s pretty deadly.”

Careful not to give too much away about what the show entails, Plum says there will be new music and some of her earlier tunes delivered in an intimate format that can only be experienced in smaller, regional spaces.

Plum says, “Better In Blak is fun to play. But when I play Homecoming Queen live, it feels really special, and I’m having trouble describing how it feels. I often cry live when I sing that song, when I see girlies looking back at me singing those lyrics. I don’t know how I feel when they sing that back to me; I believe they have felt that at a time in their life. It feels really powerful.”

Plum’s tour packs even more heart with the addition of a lucky triple j Unearthed artist as an opener. Having won the triple j's National Indigenous Unearthed competition in 2012, Plum says that being able to allow an emerging artist to tour with her is not only special, but a privilege.

“It feels really awesome. It’s been great to be intentionally listening to Unearthed music and to look at everyone and listen to all this great music. I’ve found it really inspiring.”

Plum continues, “That’s where I got my start, Unearthed. That really started my whole career. So I feel like I'm just in debt to them forever. And for it to be a regional tour, when I was on Unearthed, I got to go to Darwin. I don’t know, it all feels very special and connected.”

Thelma Plum’s I’m Sorry Where Is That tour with special guests and Unearthed artists starts today in Perth, with tickets still available across the tour. You can grab tickets here.

Presented by Fidelity Corp and Select Music