Brooke Fraser Seeing Daylight in Perspective
She has had two hits on New Zealand popular music charts and is now making an impact in Australia. Signs editor Nathan Brown finds the driving force behind this talented musican.
Signed to a major record label while still a teenager, Brooke Fraser’s success seems to have come easily. Her first two singles have soored on the New Zealand charts and the debut single “Better” was recognised at the recent New Zealand APRA Awards as the most played single in New Zealand in the past year. Her debut album “What to do with daylight” has been in the New Zealand charts for more than a year and sales have been certified platinum six times over. At the 2004 New Zealand Music Awards, she collected the “Tui” award for Breakthrough Artist of the Year and another as Best Female Solo Artist.
A lifelong musician, Brooke began songwriting while still at school and began recording and performing while working as music editor for Soul Purpose, a Christian youth magazine based in Wellington, New Zealand. Now Brooke is making an impact across the Tasman, attracting both popular and critical attention on the Australian music scene for her easy-listening voice, intelligent songwriting and fine musicianship.
n But while the success might look as if it came easy, Brooke is eager to point to something bigger she believes is happening with her music and her life. It’s suggested by the centrespread of the album booklet of “What to do with daylight,” which quotes from a Bible psalm: “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (139:16).
When asked about her success, Brooke’s answer reflects this belief and sense of purpose: “I’d certainly say my journey has been one of divine favour,” she says. “I can try to explain it away with other factors, but in the end people come up to me all the time and ask me, ‘What did you do to get where you are now?’
“My answer—if I’m being completely honest—is that I did nothing. It’s nothing I did; it’s grace.
“I was in church on the weekend just gone and one of the messages on the weekend was about grace, so the whole church sang ‘Amazing grace’ as part of that message.
“One verse really struck me: ‘Through many dangers, toils, and snares,/ I have already come;/ ’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,/ And grace will lead me home.’ That really resonated with me because I know it’s nothing but grace that has brought me to here and grace is going to get me where I’m going.”
n Early in 2004 and in the midst of her New Zealand success, Brooke took the difficult step of moving away from home to establish herself in the Australian music industry. Despite major label backing, there have still been challenges.
“It’s been interesting,” Brooke says. “You mention the success in New Zealand, and that’s been fantastic, but you come to a different territory and it doesn’t really make much of a difference. You’re still in the same boat as everyone else starting out. In Australia, people might take notice and say ‘that’s great’ and take into account the success in your home country,” she explains.
Brooke says she’s enjoyed that challenge. “In the end it’s very much starting all over again here and it takes time and it takes a lot of hard work and that’s kind of what I expected, so that’s fine.
“I’ve really loved moving to Australia and it hasn’t been so much just a career move for me but a life move,” she reflects. “I felt it was kind of time for me to move into a new season of my life.”
And after becoming one of the best known faces in New Zealand popular culture (and growing up as the daughter of a former All Black), Brooke says the return to anonymity living in Sydney has been a relief. “It’s a bit of a funny thing to say, but I have quite liked having nobody know me here,” she says. “I’ve just been revelling in it and not taking any of it for granted.”
But for all the trappings of record deals and chart success, Brooke remains a musician: she plays instruments on each album track and wrote the songs herself, long before there was any interest from record companies. She admits to no plans or agendas in her songwriting, instead they are self-expression.
“Sometimes I feel like a fool calling myself a songwriter,” she says, “because I look at a song like ‘Arithmetic’ [the opening song on her album] and say I couldn’t really have come up with that. All I did was write down what came out—it wasn’t laborious at all.
“And it is probably my favourite song on the album. I love that song and I still love playing it, but I hate playing it too much, because I don’t want it to lose that specialness for me.”
The story behind Brooke’s first Australian single and second New Zealand number has a similar personal element to it. “I was still in high school when I wrote that song,” Brooke recalls. “I never sit down and say I’m going to write a song about this now, but maybe ‘Lifeline’ is just a reflection of my continual struggle with my own humanity.
“I always think of that scripture that Paul wrote when he talks about how he does what he hates and what he doesn’t hate he doesn’t do and all those kinds of things. And just that frustration—that battle that we’re all kind of journeying through. In the chorus of ‘Lifeline’ I guess it recognises that the only way we’re going to be able to overcome that stuff is by bringing it to God.”
Brooke’s faith and passion are also evident in other activities in which she’s involved herself. She’s a spokesperson for World Vision in New Zealand and travelled to Cambodia in 2003 to learn more about the organisation’s work in developing countries.
“You can’t get too far into the Bible before you start reading about God’s heart for the poor and the oppressed and those who are suffering from injustice,” Brooke explains. “So certainly if we are Christians, we bear Christ’s name and things that stir His heart will inevitably stir us. The poor and oppressed are a huge focus in the Bible and we are commanded to take care of them.”
Taking on such a role in the midst of her hectic touring and media schedules is part of Brooke’s appeal, and as she looks to the future she is both relaxed and excited. “I have no grand ambitions to take over the world,” she admits. “But by the same token, I think if I limited myself to just New Zealand and Australia or if I tried to limit what God wants to do, that would be selfish of me.
“I know that I would be quite comfortable here,” Brooke continues. “I would be quite happy just to live in Australia and just tour New Zealand and Australia, but somehow I don’t think this is where I will stay for a long period.
“I just stay open and stay obedient and try to keep my heart right along the way. We’ll see what happens.”
Brooke’s view of festivals
Over the Easter long weekend, Brooke will perform at the Australian Gospel Music Festival (AGMF), in Toowoomba, Queensland. But how relevant are they to success in the industry?
According to Brooke, festivals are an important part of her musical and personal journey. At just 15, she first performed at New Zealand’s annual Parachute Festival.
“Parachute’s a fantastic thing,” says Brooke enthusiastically. “I love the heart behind it, and I love what it is for New Zealand. The media attention it receives has grown as New Zealand has been forced to look—there’s something big going on here.
“Their audience numbers rival the mainstream equivalent, which I guess is the Big Day Out, which is on around the same time. People are asking how is it that similar numbers of people who are drawn to these mainstream bands can be drawn to this Christian festival for four days where there’s no drinking and no drugs, and no shared tenting if you’re not married. Secular New Zealand is forced to take a good hard look at this thing and take notice of something that’s happening.
“Not only does it encourage and empower and influence all the young people (and the not-so-young) who go there over the weekend and see some amazing acts, but also I think it’s a great witness for the rest of the country as well.”
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This is an extract from March 2005
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