Anyone who has spent even a second in the spotlight comes to learn fame is a double-edged sword.
So it’s safe to say singer Samantha Jade has had her fair share of unsavoury discoveries in her 13 years as the object of Australia’s affections… and scrutiny.
There’s one lesson, however, that sticks out for The X Factor Australia winner above the rest.
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”You have to keep your circle so small,” Jade, 37, tells 9honey Celebrity, noting she’s had to develop a “thick skin”.
“It just keeps whatever you’re going through within a tight circle… everything else is out there, so it’s important to be able to go through things within your small friend group.
“Sometimes you feel like people are there to support you and they aren’t. So it really is about having a real community that is there just to genuinely support you through everything no matter what.”
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Since bursting onto the scene with single What You’ve Done to Me – after claiming X Factor victory with the support of mentor Guy Sebastian – in 2012, Jade has had her monumental highs and unimaginable lows only heightened by the microscope of fame.
Notably, two years after skyrocketing to stardom, Jade was cruelly brought back down to Earth when her mother, Jacqui Gibbs, died following a battle with cancer.
Grappling with grief is one thing that gave her a fresh perspective on taking a decade to achieve her dream of being a singer.
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“I wouldn’t have been able to handle it as much as I was when I was older, because it does change your life,” Jade, who first went to Los Angeles in search of a record deal when she was 15, recalls.
“You do go out and you get recognised sometimes and you’re scrutinised and there’s random photos of you everywhere… I don’t know if I would have been able to really deal with that when I was a lot younger.
“I always believe there are no mistakes and it’s kind of written. So obviously that was the path that I needed to take, and I’m glad now.”
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Jade may be grateful for the path she’s led, but it’s taken her a while to appreciate what she’s had to overcome.
At 21, six years after Jade and her family left their whole life in Perth behind to see her name in Hollywood’s lights, she was dropped by her label.
“I thought my life was over,” Jade says.
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Flying back to Western Australia, Jade started working for her father, Kevin Gibbs, in a factory with the aim of saving up enough money to go back to Los Angeles and try again.
Then, she had another thought.
“I looked at pop singers here in Australia and who has worked and who has really had longevity. And a lot of them have come from shows,” Jade says, highlighting the origins of Tina Arena, Delta Goodrem and Kylie Minogue (whom, although Jade played her in INXS: Never Tear Us Apart, Jade still hasn’t met).
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“[Australians] really love to be part of the journey from the loungeroom… we want to support people from the get-go,” Jade says. “I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll just try that out.'”
The X Factor was how Australia got to know Jade, but in the years since, she’s grown a cult following around the world thanks to her hit Firestarter, which has become a gay anthem in TikTok and nightclubs.
It’s for that reason performing at Mardi Gras over the years has become personal for Jade, who is set to take the stage at Pullman Sydney Hyde Park’s pre-Mardi Gras party on March 1.
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Supporting LGBTQIA+ community, who has “always been so in support of” Jade, is what’s important to her.
It’s also, Jade says, “just so much fun”.
“The audience is so kind and so accepting and real, they just enjoy performance in a different way… it always feels like a celebration of art and togetherness and community,” she says.
“And it’s just a really selfishly lovely feeling for anyone that gets to perform for Pride.”
Samantha Jade will perform at Pullman Sydney Hyde Park’s pre-Mardi Gras party Let Your Pride Shine on March 1. For tickets and more information, click here.
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