Be ready to see and hear a lot more from Ella Hooper this year, as the chameleonic pop witch embarks on a charm offensive like never before.
Last year Ella released a new single as a solo artist, 'To The Bone', which saw her take a deliberate left turn away from rock into darker disco territory.
“I was really happy with the song in terms of trying something new and pushing myself into a different sonic area because I definitely don't have any other songs that sound like 'To The Bone',” Ella says.
“That's the main thing I've been wanting to do over the past few years, is keep challenging myself, keep pushing forward into things I haven't done before like disco beats and stuff like that.
“So for my own purposes it did very well, but commercially it probably didn't do anything at all because I didn't get out there and push it like you need to push a single if you actually want it to get to radio and that stuff. A creative success, we'll call it.”
Ella is riding the 'creative success' of 'To The Bone' all the way to Adelaide Fringe where she'll present a live set performing a selection of brand new material and beloved favourites. “I'm bringing the fact that I'm primed for maximum entertainment,” she says of the Fringe show.
“So the show I've got at the moment I'm very confident about; I'm confident that it's a good time, that it's a diverse time, it's a bit rock, a bit pop and it's a bit sing-along.”
“There's always a bit of an edge to me, a bit of a growl, so it's just a really strong, classic rock and roll show with a beautiful band behind me and a whole bunch of new songs. Adelaide is actually my favourite place to play, I have such good crowds and often sell-out there. I love the Spiegeltent atmosphere, it really suits my music.”
Ella recently competed against nine other artists including Tania Doko (one half of pop duo Bachelor Girl), Alfie Arcuri, Courtney Act, Sheppard, Mark Vincent, Electric Fields, Kate Miller-Heidke, Aydan and Leea Nanos to be the Australian representative at Eurovision 2019.
Although Kate Miller-Heidke picked up the coveted honour, Ella brought some of her well-known rock and roll attitude to the stage for the performance of her Eurovision single 'Data Dust'.
“To be honest when I said yes to it... I didn't realise it would mean me full-on releasing a single,” Ella says.
“I was a bit naïve because I don't know that much about Eurovision, so it turns out that yes I am releasing new music and that new music will be 'Data Dust', which is the Eurovision single.”
