Sarah Blasko: The Past Plays On
Gracing stages across the country on her celebratory tour, The Double Feature Tour, Sarah Blasko is giving nostalgia a new name. Commemorating her debut and sophomore albums The Overture & the Underscore and What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have, she is performing these groundbreaking and deeply vulnerable records in full and stepping back into the shoes of her younger self.
Words Millah Hansberry // Photo Mclean Stephenson
Beloved, introspective and storyteller are three words that come to mind when Australian singer-songwriter Sarah Blasko’s name is spoken. Twenty-one years ago, she blasted onto the scene, gracing the world with her debut album The Overture & the Underscore, unpacking layers of hardships she was facing in her personal life and gifting audiences with her expressive, haunting voice. Then came What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have, her smash hit sophomore album that launched her career into the limelight and her music into the households and hearts of millions of Australians.
In 2025, she takes time to reflect on these two records with her Double Feature Tour across Australia, performing the albums in full and walking in the shoes of her old self.
“It’s been interesting. It’s been hard going back and being kind to myself. I’m listening to a lot of it afresh because there’s only a few songs from both of those records that I’ve continued to play live.”
Twenty-one years of Sarah Blasko has marked more than seven studio albums, countless tours across the world and buckets of critical acclaim. It also signifies personal growth and a major change in perspective from her earlier voice.
“There’s a lot to learn, I think, from your younger self. There’s an honesty and openness that I think that you have at early points in your life that is really important to learn from.”
Sarah’s debut album The Overture & the Underscore is a deeply introspective, vulnerable and intimate piece of art. It launched Sarah’s career, earning four ARIA nominations and carving a niche in the Australian indie pop and alternative space. Crafted in Los Angeles with Australian songwriter Robert F. Cranny and LA local Wally Gagel co-producing, Sarah remembers feeling a push to work with someone overseas.
“We worked in this tiny studio in Hollywood. The idea was very romantic, but the experience was quite humble. We were staying in a backpackers up the road from the studio and would have to walk along Hollywood Boulevard every day to get there. It was an exciting way to do the first record”.
Her 2006 album What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have, also had international recording roots. This time closer to home in New Zealand, recorded in Crowded House singer Neil Finn’s ‘Roundhead Studios’ with Robert F. Cranny and Midnight Oil’s Jim Moginie co-producing.
“I was really excited because I really loved Neil and Crowded House. Jim was also a very, very important person, and still continues to be a very important person in my life. He really opened my eyes to making a live feeling and sounding record. He’s such a brilliant musician, but he also doesn’t overthink things. I think that was very important for me. It gave me the confidence to make the records that I made after that.”
This second record What The Sea Wants, The Sea Will Have received further acclaim in Australia, being nominated for Australian Album of the Year at the 2006 J Awards, and winning the 2007 ARIA Award for Best Pop Release.
“That was a big moment.” Sarah smiles solemnly and laughs. “It felt good because everyone treated my record like it wasn’t a pop record. I don’t know how they perceived it. But I thought it was a pop record. I considered my music to be pop music.”
Following the success of these early albums, Sarah took home two further ARIA’s, winning Best Female Artist in 2009, in 2016 winning Best Adult Alternative Album with Eternal Return, and in 2009 taking home J Album of the Year with As Day Follows Night, solidifying Sarah’s catalogue as a piece of Australian music mastery.
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In 2024, Sarah continued this string of achievements, releasing her seventh studio album, I Just Need To Conquer This Mountain, a record of reflection, grief and acceptance. Existing in a more refined and well-lived plane of existence, it sits in a different place sonically and thematically to her earlier albums. She considers how her songwriting approach has evolved over the years.
“I feel more confident in making records now. You always have moments where you think, ‘What am I doing?’ But the first two records it was like a mystery. I put myself through a lot of things that I wouldn’t put myself through now. With the first two records, I had to be there for every minute of the mixing of the record, literally sitting there for hours listening to somebody work on a snare and kick drum. If you trust the mix engineer to do their job, you don’t need to be there for that entire thing.”
She laughs. “On the other hand, I’m glad I did sit through all of those things. I think I was a nut case because I didn’t know what I was doing and I didn’t have the confidence to kind of trust the people around me. But now I trust the choices, I trust the people. You bring these people on the journey with you and it’s got to be an enjoyable one.”
It’s these connections and relationships Sarah has built across her career that she bookmarks as being the most important drivers. It’s what has kept her making music and sharing it with the world, even after all this time.
“I still just have the impulse. To make music. I just still need to do it. I love doing it. So, I think while I have that impulse, I have to act on it to lead a happy life. A big part of it for me is, you know, the relationships that I formed in my band. I think I’ve just got more to explore, more to say.”
The Double Feature Tour has bought up a lot of reflection for Sarah, on her growth as an artist, and as a human, opening a new door to finding new meanings in her own lyrics. Twenty years of life experience since writing these albums has unlocked new perspectives and a newfound kindness on herself.
“With ‘Always Worth It’, on the first record, I’m kind of amazed that I wrote that song at that time.” She pauses thoughtfully. “I was going through a very difficult time but I’ve always held onto that sentiment that life is really precious and is always worth something. It was a real transitional time in my life. To be honest, behind the scenes, I was a complete mess. I got married at a really young age and I’d come out of a really heavy religious upbringing. So, at 26, I was trying to work out who I was. I hear that in the lyrics.” Sarah looks away with a bittersweet expression.
“There’s always things that you can relate to your own life. I think that’s what you have to do to be able to perform songs. You’ve got to be able to relate it to the here and now in some way. Otherwise, I think you’re just singing.”
Bringing these songs back to an Australian audience is a fire that’s fuelling this project. Starting in early September, Sarah and her band are travelling across the country and landing in Adelaide, for one night of nostalgia, music and community.
“I’m going to really savour these shows because I know that it’s not something I’ll probably ever do again. I just want to make it as beautiful and memorable as possible, just really enjoy the moments.”
Catch Sarah Blasko at Hindley Street Music Hall on Friday 26 September. Tickets on sale now via ticketmaster.com.au.
