Zan Rowe Confirms That 'Take 5' Season 2 Is Coming To ABC TV & iView

In very exciting news for the future of Australian music on mainstream television, Zan Rowe has confirmed that her radio segment and podcast-turned-television-series, Take 5, has been renewed for a second season on ABC TV and iView.

"In 2023, I can't wait to ask extraordinary people to share their mixtapes in a new series of Take 5," Rowe says in a video posted to social media. Then, she reminds us why we love the series in the first place: "The songs we love take us back to a moment, a memory, and some incredible stories. My wish list of potential guests, Dolly Parton, if you're listening, is growing. See you on Take 5 in 2023!"

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the first season of Take 5 unfold on television. Following the first episode, which featured actor Guy Pearce, who is a massive fan of Jeff Buckley and Cocteau Twins, was Aussie country music superstar Keith Urban. 

Urban opened up about a decade of rejection in Nashville, his personal challenges, what drives him most as an artist and how grit, persistence and being true to himself lit the way in an industry that at times felt hostile to an artist longing to follow his arrow. 

He said, "My ability to make art on my own terms in this town came about from failing again and again and again and again and at some point actually having nothing to lose."

Missy Higgins' episode focused on the theme of "identity". Her episode was her first interview since separating from her husband. On an ABC Backstory about Take 5, Rowe said, "I've known Missy for 15 years, and at that moment, I was thinking, from a pure respect point of view, I can't just leave her out there with cameras filming her. I didn't want her to feel as though we were filming her and exploiting her in an incredibly vulnerable moment. So, I just held her until she was ready to let go."

Take 5 saw ABC broadcaster Tony Armstrong delve into his delisting from footy, the pain of the failure he felt, and the devastation of unfulfilled dreams in a frank conversation with Rowe. "People start to do revisionist history on your behalf. They're like, why did you retire? I didn't retire. I got sacked because I wasn't good enough. And that's fine, but it's pretty brutal… I was gutted. It took me years to get over."

Season one ended with the remarkable US artist Tori Amos, who explored "breakthroughs" with Rowe. 

"I've been playing the piano since two and a half," Amos shared. "There were members of the church who said to my parents, 'You need to get her proper training. It needs to be channelled, or it won't really go anywhere'. So, I auditioned for the Peabody Conservatory and was accepted at five years old." She challenged educators as a child, and Amos was insubordinate and expelled by the time she turned 11. 

"I had to accept I sound like a fairy on crack, and I had to write songs that fit this instrument," she said. "Not that fit something I don't have."

Rowe has been an Australian radio mainstay for over 20 years. She has interviewed everybody, from Björk, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue, Peter Garrett, Brian Eno, and Jessica Mauboy, to Paul McCartney.