Last month, Melbourne-based Kiwi Ben Hazlewood released his newest track ‘Fix This Love’.
But if you mistake him for pop superstar Sam Smith, you wouldn’t be alone. “I've had so many comparisons,” Ben says. “I guess I sing from an emotive place, so that’s where that kind of reference to him comes from. Anything soul, rock, blues I’ll get [compared to], but I listen to everything.”
First appearing on ‘New Zealand Idol’ in 2006 and the then ‘The Voice Australia’ in 2012, it’s fair to say that Ben has made his mark in the last few years.
After recent shows in the United States, Ben says he is now looking forward to playing at Melbourne Music Week. “It’ll be great. It’s an open-air show; a few other Melbourne bands are playing. And it's a free show.”
When asked how the set list looks, Ben replies: “Oh, like the main set I did in New York, LA and Nashville. Basically stuff released this year, new stuff not yet released, and old stuff from [the] ‘Vanta’ EP.”
Ben admits he does get nervous about being onstage, but probably not for the reason everyone thinks. “While I'm singing I'm fine, but it's the talking in front of people I get nervous about. Everyone just assumes because I'm able to sing in front of large crowds that I can speak [to an audience] too. But it's really not the same thing.”
The “stuff released this year” includes his latest track ‘Fix This Love’. “It's pretty much a song about being stuck in a situation where you know that the relationship you're in is becoming toxic,” Ben says.
“And you know it needs to end, and then you’re looking back at all the time and realising you've wasted it: the frustration, the anger, all the pain that comes with that, you know. That's what the song's about. And it's a question and an answer at the same time. Can you fix this love? Well, no. There's nothing you can do to fix it.”
Ben’s willingness to advocate for issues like mental health, sexual abuse and LGBT rights is one of his most commendable characteristics. “There are some songs about some pretty intense stuff.
“For example, ‘Save Your Sorries’ is about sexual abuse that I encountered years ago and only recently came to terms with. That's on the very, very heavy side. ‘Hideaway’ was written when I was dealing with depression and it was a dark moment.
“But then you've got songs like ‘Months And Miles’. That was when I was spending time away from my husband, and those sorts of moments are still really painful.
“My music is about things I've gone through and things my friends have gone through, and the pain that people have faced,” Ben explains.
“It's about the strength you need to overcome it. Anyone who has faced adversity, or in a minority group, and overcome the way they've been treated should be applauded. I want to do anything I can to make sure people feel they've got a fire inside them. I'm backing them. I want to be able to offer them that [hope].”
For ‘Fix This Love’s music video, Ben says he “wanted to come up with a really cool, simple idea”. That idea was the combination of a monochromatic theme, fast movements and quick camera transitions – a combination that in its entirety is rather striking and belligerent. “It did take a lot of practise leading up to it,” Ben says.
“My mum was a dance teacher so I grew up dancing from a really young age, but gave it up when I was 15 or 16 to really pursue music. I flew to New Zealand and worked with two friends who choreographed it for me.”
Ben laughs when asked why he went to the trouble of getting a choreographer when he simply could have asked his mum. “Me and my mum have a great relationship, but not a great working relationship,” Ben explains. “I wouldn't be able to take her seriously.”
As for other upcoming singles? “I'm in no rush. We've released three singles this year and we've already produced these other ones so they're ready to go, but we're just deciding what we're going to go with next.
“I think definitely next year at some point I'd want to combine a group of work for an EP. I definitely want to have a body of work that I can put out there, so that's a goal for next year, but at this point I'm really focused on the singles and writing as much as possible.
“There’s no firm time frame. You have to wait to find the right producers and everything. It's just when it feels right really.”
