STACK #201 Jul 2021

MUSIC FEATURE

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DELTAGOODREM INNOCENT EYES

Bryget Chrisfield explores the creation, impact, and legacy of classic records. This month, it’s the debut from one of Australia’s most respected and technically-gifted musical icons: Innocent Eyes by Delta Goodrem.

Year 2003

“Oh yes I am wise/ But it’s wisdom born of pain/Yes, I’ve paid the price/ But look how much I gained...” During the moving Helen Reddy tribute at 2020’s ARIA Award ceremony – hosted by Delta Goodrem – Delta delivered these lines from I AmWoman as if she wrote them. She shone within the all-star cast, which featured some of this country’s finest voices (including Marcia Hines, Jessica Mauboy, Kate Ceberano, Montaigne and Tones And I), singing live alongside a virtual choir of 30 female singers from all over Australia. Given that Delta basically spent all of 2019 re-learning how to talk – and sing – following complications during surgery in 2018, her heartfelt portrayal of this iconic song gains poignancy. In August, 2020, Delta posted a video to

her social media channels explaining the story behind why she wrote Paralyzed , the second single from her recent chart-topping Bridge Over Troubled Dreams record, which was

to music for comfort during an extended period of treatment and

released alongside an autobiographical book. “I wanted to share my story and say why I hadn’t had music out for so long, and why this song, and why I wrote it,” Delta reveals at the start of this clip. “It’s been a strange process not actually sharing it straight away, but I just didn’t know if I was ready yet.” When Delta woke up from the surgical removal of her salivary gland, she discovered she’d lost the ability to control her speech after a nerve in her tongue became paralysed. Complications from

recovery. Aged just 18, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma before enduring cancer treatment, which included eight months of chemotherapy and two months of radiotherapy. Her second album, 2004’s chart-topping Mistaken Identity, was created during this time, with the track Extraordinary Day documenting the day of her diagnosis (8 July, 2003). Because her entire world had been turned upside down, Delta’s second album was, understandably, a much darker affair than her debut. “There are a lot of lyrics I wouldn’t have used on the first album [ Innocent Eyes ],” she acknowledged at the time. Innocent Eyes debuted at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart, held the #1 spot for 29 weeks straight (breaking John Farnham’s record of 25 weeks at #1 with 1986’s Whispering Jack ) and sold 4.5 million copies worldwide (1.2 million in Australia alone). Innocent Eyes was the highest-selling album of the decade in Australia, and is the second-best-selling Australian album of all time (following AC/ DC’s Back In Black ) . But Delta’s success didn’t happen overnight. At just 12 years old, she recorded a five-song demo, which included a Sydney Swans Football Club theme song, and sent a tape to the club. The tape somehow found its way to Swans supporter (and Farnsy’s longtime manager), Glenn Wheatley. “I saw confidence right from the word go,” Wheatley said of Delta during an interview. “I saw the spark of ingenuity. She was

her surgery could have cost Delta her voice. “My livelihood is my sound,” she lamented during the aforementioned video. There was no way of knowing when or if she’d recover, but after months of daily speech

Delta basically spent all of 2019 re-learning how to talk – and sing

therapy – during which she basically had to re-teach her

brain to control her tongue – Delta began to notice some improvement.

While in recovery, she wrote her seventh studio album, Bridge Over Troubled Dreams . In Delta’s first interview following rehab, she told Nathanael Cooper, “I’m not the sort of person who puts up a photo saying ‘this is what I am going through’. I go through a million different things as a person every week, that are private, and I am grateful that I was able to go through that privately.” “To learn to speak again/ Amongst the frustration/ How do I begin?” – Paralyzed ’s lyrics reveal Delta’s struggles while relearning how to communicate with confidence. This isn’t the first time Delta has turned

Delta at the 2003 Logie Awards, with her statue for Most Popular NewTalent

12 JULY 2020

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