At 16, Gabriella was the biggest singer in Australia. Then she left everything behind

Exclusive: At 16, Gabriella Cilmi released a worldwide hit. She won six ARIA Awards in one night, found international fame then vanished from our ears.

“I never really ‘walked away’ from the industry,” Cilmi, now 34, explained to nine.com.au. Yet, quietly making music in London, she spent years “running away” from herself and her past.

Releasing her first album in 13 years, the soulful singer from Dandenong, Melbourne, is taking back her sound.

Pure Love is a rebirth, a “rock ‘n’ soul” record. “I would describe it as reconnecting with a part of me I thought I had lost,” she said.

She had a lot to lose. At age 16, bright-eyed Cilmi released global hit Sweet About Me. By age 17 she became a six-time ARIA-winner in 2008, while her debut album Lessons to Be Learned became platinum-certified.

“It was a whirlwind time, a bit of a dream sequence,” she looked back. “I just remember feeling really overwhelmed by it all and never expecting it.”

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“I never expected Sweet About Me to be as big as it was.”

Catapulted into the spotlight, the young teen met her music heroes and travelled the world. The success was challenging to follow.

“I don’t think that pressure was coming from me, it was coming from outside. I had this realisation that I was, to some people, a product really,” she said.

“You’re selling music... People are trying to make money from [your music] and after that release, everyone around me was like, ‘We have to follow it up’.”

Her second album Ten would become a pop-dance record. Not that she had a choice, so she felt.

What followed, was the debut of her new look and sound – on the cover of men’s magazine FHM at age 18.

“That’s when things hit a bit of a wobble point for me,” she admitted.

“There was this fear and expectation that whatever comes next has to do great, and it was the classic case of ‘girl turns 18’ and everything becomes almost over sexualised.

“All those stereotype things that could happen did happen to me in that time,” she reflected. “It was a difficult period and I felt like I lost myself.”

Cilmi moved to London where she would live for the next 15 years.

She joined a band with her brother and made music independently. Only, once she learned to embrace her past could she reconnect with her true passion for music.

“I had to have compassion for the girl who went through that wobble period to move forward,” she explained.

She was sent a video of her 12-year-old self “singing my heart out and stomping my feet” to The Rolling Stones’ Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

That’s when it clicked.

“My partner was watching it with me. He said, ‘Just do that. What are you searching for? It’s there.’”

“That moment unlocked this record for me, I wanted to make a record that she would be really proud of.”

While people might call the album a comeback, for Cilmi, it’s much more.

“It’s a record of me coming back to myself. I spent a lot of time looking back at the past and the things that made me fall in love with music to begin with,” she said.

Grounded, raw, and inspired by live music, Cilmi’s new album embraces imperfection.

It’s an album that will inspire others to find that “fire inside”, just waiting to be rediscovered.

Her favourite single? “What We Do, it’s messy, it’s different to the rest of the record, it’s a fun one to sing.”

Back in Australia, Cilmi is celebrating the release of Pure Love with a string of intimate shows across Melbourne, Sydney, the Central Coast and throughout Victoria until October 24.

“There’s nothing like being back home,” she smiled. ’I feel like I’m on a different trajectory now. I’m happy.”

Gabriella Cilmi’s new album Pure Love is out now.