By: Laura Bennett
There’s a certain kind of bravery in auditioning for The Voice: sure, it could lead to your singing career taking off and a dream being realised, but you’ve also got to sing. Live on TV. Vulnerably. With everyone watching ready to critique your voice, your clothes and stage presence.
2023 winner of The Voice Australia Tarryn Stokes was used to an audience – having sung backing vocals for Guy Sebastian, Jess Mauboy and Paulini – but despite her professional pedigree and time worship leading at church, “learning to be seen” was an adjustment after the show.
“I was a bit paranoid going around the shops and people were recognising me,” Tarryn said in a recent interview.
“I loved connecting with people, and I loved that people came up, but it was this weird thing that I’m ‘seen’.”
Some of the strangeness Tarryn admits came from her upbringing in the church where – especially around creative ability and the stage – attention was always meant to be directed away from yourself and toward God.
“Growing up you think, ‘It’s not about me’,” Tarryn said. “But it’s ok to be seen: if you shine a light, and you shine your heart then you have to be seen.
“God partners with you, and I’ve stepped up into confidence in that.”
Forty at the time of her win on the show, Tarryn became the oldest winner in The Voice Australia’s 12-year history and leans to her age on stage to stop audiences restricting their own ambitions.
“I like to mention my age to inspire others that you don’t have to fit the mould,” Tarryn said. “When it’s your time it’s your time. I remember being 27 and thinking ‘I’m too old to do those anymore’, but it’s just a mindset.”
Tarryn thinks success coming later in life could even be beneficial.
“When I was younger, I wasn’t mature enough to do this,” Tarryn said. “Now I know who I am, my priorities aren’t swept away with fame or anything like that [and] it’s interesting that it felt like the right time that God opened the door.”
Over a year since her initial audition, Tarryn’s her first single since the win, Hold You, reflects on the motherhood journey behind her public success, and the hopes she has for her kids as they work out their own dreams.
“I started writing the song when my daughter was home with me, unwell with an earache,” she said. “She’d been up all night, but I had to write and while [she] was sitting on my lap [the] words, ‘I’ll hold you till the night is over’ came to mind.
“The theme of the song [became] about my role and my calling as a mother, that I’ll be there for them until it’s their time to fly. I want to celebrate who they are and how God made them, and champion that.”
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Supplied
About the Author: Laura Bennett is a media professional, broadcaster and writer from Sydney, Australia.