Hey Guys its Samantha Jade here. I’m about to go Back to School with Student Edge.
Hi I’m Simon Miraudo, and today we are going Back to School with Samantha Jade. Sammy thanks
so much.
Aww, thank you for having me.
Well, tell me what were you like as a student?
I was… I was a pretty good student actually. I enjoyed school. I feel like you don’t know
how great school is it until you leave.
Right.
And you don’t get to see your friends every day in the same place and you’re forced
to be together, I think that’s… you know it’s actually really amazing.
Sure all the things you complained about fade away and then you go, “Oh wow, we had all
that free time really”.
Yeah exactly.
What where the subjects you liked?
I loved English and I loved Drama, so yeah. English for me I loved writing, I’ve always
loved writing. So that was one of my faves and then yeah Drama was great because we would
always act out different scenarios and do the school play every year which was so exciting.
Sure and what were the subjects that you kind of maybe not struggled with but couldn’t
connect with?
I could not connect with science, I just wasn’t a science person. And maths I just wasn’t
strong at, so I just… when algebra came up I was just like out. I’m not good at maths.
Well so I understand that you kind of got into performing at a fairly young age, modeling
and performing.
Yeah.
Did you find that you know that you had drama obviously, but was school like the right place
to kind of practice your talents or were you kind of looking elsewhere for that?
I was looking elsewhere to a certain degree but I was lucky that I went to a specialist
dance school. So dance was one of our subjects so I actually did dance three times a week,
four times a week, so I was lucky. But with singing yeah that was something I definitely
kind of struggled with at school cause I was always singing, doing my work singing.
People were like, “ahh shut up”, you know? So that was something I knew I had to leave for.
What is it like to study dance four times a week as part of your schooling because obviously
that’s a fair unique experience?
It’s actually weird because you’re going from a classroom you know where you’re like
doing you know a classroom where you’re doing work and studious and all that, then
into a creative dance space so… it is a little bit different, it does take a minute
to adjust but I was always so excited about doing dancing during the school play and drama.
I was always that side… you know for me.
What were the plays that you participated in?
I was in Sweet Charity and I was in Anything Goes and My Favorite Year.
They're good ones.
They are good plays.
So tell me about leaving school at 15. I know correct me if I’m wrong about any
of this. So you left school at 15 to go to L.A.
I did, yeah.
What… first of all what’s that conversation like, where you're talking with your parents and you're saying “Hey...”
“I’m going, okay? Bye.”
Yeah, how much is their idea and how much is you going, "I need to do this"?
Is was a bit, you know, of both. I… they always knew… they always knew. I always
wanted to be a singer I always wanted to be a performer and they always knew that, so
they weren’t going you know they weren’t going, to be expecting me to come home and
say “I want to be a doctor” that would have shocked them even more so. They were
understanding and they actually came with me, because they were like “you are too
young to go to L.A. on your own. We're not getting some crazy kid that turns all
Hollywood on us." They all came with me then my brothers did homeschooling from there
and I started working from the age sixteen.
When you're 15 you still going “oh what do I want to be when I grow up” and you obviously
had a solid idea in your mind but were you kind of having back up plans or was it singing
or bust?
Singing yeah. Singing was it, signing and if I couldn’t sing it was singing teaching.
Oh okay sure
Yeah, yeah I kind of just always loved music and always loved kids… so that was my other
thing if I can’t be a singer and make that a career I would love to teach.
Did you feel like you had to reprove yourself after X Factor or does an artist
constantly have to prove themselves?
All the time these days. But I think with X Factor it’s like you know it’s great
because you’re up here right, you go from the show that’s on every weekend and people
know your face and then you go if you win it's huge; the few months after you’re just
like on cloud nine and then it’s very hard to stay there. I think that’s because there’s
a new winner every year, you know so you’re like okay you hand your crown over every year,
so staying there is the hard thing and that’s where hard work comes in.
Is there more of a professional comedown or was there a personal comedown after that?
I think both, I think you know it’s kind of a whirlwind and I literally I was in a
different city every single day doing press and talking about the show and you know people
know you on the streets. It’s weird, it’s a weird feeling because you become famous
which is… not to me a drawing card. Fame was never something that I was, “Oh I want
to be famous." I want people to know my music. Fame comes along with it but that side of
it I think is weird and that’s where the personal thing comes in.
Yep.
Because you know when people don’t know you as much if you really believe in that
hype and that fame that’s when you start to kind of feel weird as a person and that’s
when you need your good family to be like, “That’s not real”.
Sure. Have you felt like there are assumptions about you that you kind of had to battle?
Yeah that’s the hardest thing reading things about yourself or little keyboard warriors
saying horrible things about you and how you look. You have to build up a very thick skin,
you know it is very hard to read things about yourself that are un-true, and not go “no
but that’s not true” because you know how are you going to get to that person, you
don’t even know where they are coming from.
Sure, and then it becomes a full time job in itself.
And yeah exactly, if you reply to one comment you've got to reply to a thousand.
But Guy taught me a really good lesson because he said once he did retaliate and he wrote
back to a hater and then his fan wrote back to him and said, “All I’ve ever wanted was for you
to write back to me. And you chose to write back to the hater.”
Right.
And he goes “you know I gave that girl five minutes of my time and I didn’t give the
other person.” So I… that’s always stuck with me.
Is acting something you do kind of want to pivot towards or work alongside your
singing. What’s the kind of balance you’re looking to strike here?
I think that… yeah I think I'll try do a little of both you know. Obviously you've got
to take time… you know to put into all you projects. I mean when I was doing Home and
Away I was still finishing my album and still doing shows, so I didn’t sleep for the two
months I filmed I literally didn’t sleep. So I think you have to give all your time to one project,
I think it is hard to take both… you've got to balance it out properly.
When you look back in your teenage years, your school years, do you have any regrets
about that period?
Um… no I don’t actually. I used to think that regrets were a thing but I don’t think
they're a thing anymore. I think everything is a lesson and I think that you know you
made that decision at that time because it was right at that time and your journey's kind
of written, you know? And you learn from those mistakes and things like that. So, yeah, no, I don't actually.
I'm glad to be where I am at now I know a few years ago I would said different.
Really?
You know because it took me a long time to be in the public eye with my music which is
all I ever wanted was for people to hear it. But I am glad it only happened for me quite
a lot later, because I would have appreciated it in a very different way than I would have then.
So what’s your advice to students who maybe feel like you? You know they're 14, 15 but they
are dead set on performance and again not all schools are dedicated on dance
and performance. What kind of words do you have for them?
I think hard work is key, and family is key. So, you know, find someone that supports you,
that really wants it for you and put your time and effort into them and also working
hard, so if you don’t have a school that dedicates time, you know, go
do it out of school. Go to acting lessons, got to music school, go to anything you can.
I just was always working you know, and I didn’t.. probably you know party and do that as much.
I think that was a good thing cause I focused you know, and you learn a lot and you need
that you need to learn, you never stop learning. And you know I think that just always believe
in yourself that’s key.
Brilliant.
Yeah.
Sammy thanks so much for coming in.
Thank you.
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