Delta Goodrem 'self-titled' album

Delta Goodrem has officially arrived in the U.S. with her debut CD, Delta. The disc has landed at the top of Billboard’s coveted Top New Artist/Heatseekers Chart, sitting comfortably at #1. The Australian beauty, who has sold millions of albums around the world, is now poised for stardom stateside with a slew of high-profile appearances and rave reviews in support of her new disc, in-stores now on Mercury/Decca.

The buzz on Delta Goodrem continues to grow. Her knock-out performance on the top-rated morning show The View wowed audiences, alongside hits in People Magazine, OK! Magazine, Billboard and VH-1, where her video for first single, “In This Life,” climbed to #11 on the Top 20 Video Countdown last week. “In This Life,” recently described by People Magazine as “sunny,” and “shimmery,” also continues to move up the Hot AC airplay chart as well, receiving significant spins and listener reaction around the country.

In addition to music fans discovering Delta, the singer/songwriter can also count high-profile celebrities and journalists as admirers. After seeing Delta perform at the Jorge Posada Foundation’s “Hero’s 4 Hope” benefit, Kelly Ripa raved on-air on Live With Regis & Kelly, “she was phenomenal. She’s gorgeous and really quite a talent… She’s very big around the world and now she’s going to conquer America.”

Industry buzz-maker Roger Friedman with Fox News 411 recently commented, “Attention talent bookers at all the TV shows: Delta Goodrem is about to arrive in the U.S. from Australia. The 23-year-old’s debut album on Mercury is sensational and should establish her in the Celine Dion/Faith Hill mode. The girl can sing, she’s beautiful and she has a story: At 18, she overcame Hodgkin’s lymphoma. I’m told she’s already booked with "The View." Regis, Matt and Meredith, Jay Leno, take heed: Here comes a Grammy Best New Artist nominee.” Perez Hilton has posted several items on Delta, again raving about “In This Life,” “We LOVE this song! This is power pop! Deeeelish.”

Next up for Goodrem is an appearance on Olivia Newton-John & Friends: A Celebration In Song, a benefit CD to be released on July 29th, with proceeds to benefit the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre, as well as confirmed appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman (September), Fox & Friends, Access Hollywood and Extra.

biography
Australian sensation Delta Goodrem, at just 23, is already one of Australia's most successful and highest-selling female artists. Now, Australia’s best kept secret is poised for a major U.S. debut CD release with Delta, released July 15th from Mercury/Decca.

Her story is fascinating. Her chart statistics are impressive. Her music's even better.

At just 23, Delta Goodrem is already one of Australia's most successful and highest-selling female artists. Now Australia's best kept secret is ready to be shared with the rest of the world: her first international album Delta is set for release in June 2008 on Decca.

First - a history lesson. Delta's 2003 debut Innocent Eyes is one of only a handful of albums to sell over a million copies in Australia - one in every 20 Australians own a copy. The album spent a record-breaking 29 weeks at No.1 in Australia, won the Highest Selling Album award at the Australian equivalent of the Grammys two years running and has now clocked up 4 million sales worldwide - including reaching No.2 in the UK.

Each of the album's five singles made No.1 in Australia - breaking a record held by Kylie Minogue and the Beatles - and Innocent Eyes spawned three Top 10 singles in the UK. She's also had hit albums in Japan and New Zealand, charming the globe territory by territory. It's not hard to see why: in an era of pre-fabricated as-seen-on-TV popstars, Delta Goodrem is the real thing.

A pianist since the age of seven, Goodrem harks back to a bygone era where pop stars wrote their own songs and sang them live - as simple as that.

Delta became the girl who was always on stage from as long as anyone in her family can remember. “It always just felt natural,” she says. “I remember when I went to concerts of artists I loved and I thought, ‘I can’t wait to do that’. It was never ‘I hope I get to do it,’ I always knew I’d do it. I just believed in myself. There wasn’t a plan B.”

Innocent Eyes established Goodrem as not just a musician but a songwriter. In 2006, Goodrem performed a self-penned song, “Together We Are One,” at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in front of a worldwide audience of 1.5 billion. The inspirational song surfaced on last year's American Idol. Another song penned by Goodrem, “Days Go By,” was a No.1 hit this year by Norwegian Idol Glenn Lyse, while she also just collaborated on a song with hero Olivia Newton-John for her new cancer charity. “Olivia’s been a shining light for me,” Delta says. “She’s guided me, she’s continually given me great advice.” Another one of Goodrem’s songs, “Eyes on Me,” was selected by Celine Dion for her latest album Taking Chances. “To hear ‘Eyes on Me’ sung by a woman I’ve looked up to all my life – that’s an amazing feeling,’’ Goodrem says.

Her resume not only includes TV (Australian small-screen icon Neighbours which launched the careers of Kylie Minogue, Guy Pearce and Natalie Imbruglia) and a lead role in a movie (2005’s Hating Alison Ashley), but a duet with Tony Bennett for the Australian version of his hit album, An American Dream.

In 2008, Goodrem's first album for the U.S. - simply titled Delta - is her introduction to the American market. Two years in the making, it serves as a welcome antidote to the rushed world of generic pop by creating timeless, global tunes injected with power, passion and personality.

“Believe Again” opens the proceedings with Delta's most ambitious musical offering yet - a cinematic epic recalling the lush pop of Madonna's Frozen, precisely produced by Marius DeVries (Bjork, Massive Attack, U2) and Stuart Crichton. "Sometimes you write songs and you think `That's fine, that's OK,” Delta says. "I didn't want fine. I wanted better than fine. I wanted a great album. I've always had a really good ear for a great song that appeals to a lot of people. I wanted to make sure I had something special. ‘Believe Again’ was the one that turned the corner, it inspired the whole album."

First single “In This Life,” (produced by John Shanks) became Delta's 8th No.1 hit in Australia (out of an impressive 13 singles released to date), effortlessly seducing radio with its life-affirming chorus and wall-to-wall melodic rush. “It has that light and shade,” Delta says of track. “The sentiment in songs is so important to me. It’s got the melody that rings in your ear because it’s catchy and you can sing along with it, but I can also belt it out. It’s got all the elements I could hope to be introduced with.”

Goodrem found her musical soulmates in songwriting partners Brian McFadden (a founding member of Irish band Westlife who's also written for Il Divo), electronic whiz Stuart Crichton and the Nashville-based songsmith Tommy Lee James. "We call our team The Elements," Goodrem says. "Stuart's a dance producer, Tommy's a complete balladeer, he does country music, he's an amazing lyricist, then there’s Brian who's an amazing pop writer who can finish off a chorus like nobody else, and I've got the quirky melodies and the harmonies.”

It's their four distinct styles that help create the musical diversity on Delta. They range from the reggae-tinged dance pop of “You Will Only Break My Heart,” to the deceptively simple power balladry of “Angels in the Room.”

“Woman” was written by hitmakers Steve Mac and Wayne Hector (Il Divo, Leona Lewis, Kelly Clarkson, Westlife). The brutally honest “God Laughs” documents Delta's shock over her parents’ divorce ("We're all walking on quicksand," she sings, "When we're busy making our plans...God laughs"), but it's Possessionless that may be the album's most personal lyric.

Goodrem wrote the song shortly after winning her battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a cancer that derailed Delta at the height of her Australian and UK success in 2003. Just as music has always been there for the good times in her life, it was there at the hardest moments too.

“Possesionless” talks of how chemotherapy taught her what's important in life - by losing every strand of hair on her body and rediscovering herself.
The song was penned with the team of Steve Kipner, Wayne Wilkins and Andrew Frampton - who've written hits for Christina Aguilera and Natasha Bedingfield.

On the surface lyrics like ``All I got is my body and I'm naked for you" might seem to reflect some bedroom intimacy, rather they capture some of the many life lessons Delta gained from her health crisis. "It's the only true test when the only thing left is a love that is possessionless," she sings.

"My life had got so serious so fast," Delta says. "Then I lost my hair, it went green, I had braces, I was on steroids and in chemotherapy - I thought about how when there's absolutely nothing else, you're possessionless, would you love someone when they're bare naked like that? You have absolutely nothing, not even eyelashes. There's no façade, nothing to hide behind."

After an accelerated life - and career - of dizzying highs and crushing lows, the Delta album sees Goodrem coming out of the dark with an album that embraces the positivity and healing power of pop music.

"This album has strong themes about going through hard times but instead of being a victim standing up and being counted. It’s good to focus on what life has to offer, find things that mean something to you. It’s pop music. It’s meant to be fun, magic, something you can relate to.”

That connection with her lyrics is something Goodrem is keep to take around the world.

“Hard times are universal. Good times are universal. I’ve learned how powerful music can be to people, how you just want to get lost in music. That’s a really special connection with people that isn’t disposable. I like the idea of starting in America with a clean slate - I’m looking forward to singing my heart out.”

Do you also would like to share your opinion? If so, please register or login here.

Details

Popular Songs

New Songs

Tracklisting

Delta Goodrem - self-titled