{"id":975167,"date":"2026-08-02T06:57:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/975167\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T06:57:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T06:57:24","slug":"delta-goodrem-is-in-her-year-of-saying-yes-from-eurovision-to-strictly-come-dancing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/975167\/","title":{"rendered":"Delta Goodrem is in her year of saying yes, from Eurovision to Strictly Come Dancing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Look closely, and you\u2019ll see we\u2019re in the middle of a Delta Goodrem summer. The Aussie musician, who soared to fame in the early 2000s as the angel-faced, angel-voiced teenager behind such ballads as \u201cBorn To Try\u201d, is seemingly everywhere right now: on stage, on tour, on telly. <\/p>\n

In May, Goodrem, 41, made her Eurovision<\/a> debut in style \u2013 propelled into the air on a platform<\/a> that rose out from a golden piano, mid-key change. She has only just finished a set of live UK shows, a prelude to the world tour she will embark on next year in support of her forthcoming eighth album Pure. In a couple of weeks, Goodrem will touch down in London once again to begin rehearsals ahead of her stint<\/a> on Strictly Come Dancing<\/a> \u2013 though not before she closes out the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow tonight. \u201cI feel it\u2019s one of those years of saying yes to everything. I want to be adventurous. I\u2019m ready for that in my life,\u201d she says now, over video call from Sydney. <\/p>\n

Back in Australia<\/a>, where I grew up, the singer remains a national treasure. To some, particularly those who came of age in the early Noughties, Goodrem is as iconic as Vegemite or the Sydney Opera House, a venue she has played no fewer than five times, the most recent being last year when she sold out two anniversary shows of her 2005 album Mistaken Identity. Goodrem has been less of a constant presence over here, and this second shot at cracking the UK feels only right, given her first was cut short by tragedy. <\/p>\n

It was in the same week that her debut album shot to No 2 in the UK charts that she was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma, forcing her off the promotion circuit and into a hospital bed, and effectively slamming the brakes on a music career that had quite literally just got going. It was 2004 and Goodrem was just 18. The experience was surreal to say the least. \u201cI tried the best I could with the duality of what was happening,\u201d says Goodrem. \u201cCancer doesn\u2019t discriminate based on what job you\u2019re doing. It says, \u2018You have to look after this now.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

The country rallied around her; by then, she was already known to millions as Nina, the sweet, shy high schooler on Neighbours. Newspapers filled with messages from readers sending their love; Sony, her label at the time, set up a \u201cGet Well Delta\u201d postbox to get a handle on the massive influx of letters from fans. Australia\u2019s prime minister sent his regards. As did Elton John \u201con behalf of the United Kingdom\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire press world was sitting outside my door,\u201d recalls Goodrem. \u201cMy brother would hand out biscuits to them, that\u2019s one of my strong memories. Our house was like a train station!\u201d Today, the idea of reporters camped outside the home of a teenage star screams invasion of privacy \u2013 but that\u2019s not how Goodrem remembers it. \u201cI\u2019m pretty neutral about it,\u201d she says after giving the question a good deal of thought. \u201cThere are so many stories in my life that I have to go into the filing cabinet of my mind\u2026 but I mean, it was all well wishes coming from them. And I think, as an 18-year-old back then, I was just focused on being with my friends and family.\u201d Outside her bubble, hubbub continued to grow; Innocent Eyes spent a record-breaking 29 weeks at No 1 in Australia. <\/p>\n

After months of chemotherapy and radiation, Goodrem went into remission before she was given the all-clear. It\u2019s a period she speaks of with grit and grace. \u201cI\u2019ve gone through a lot of different emotions about my changes in trajectory when I first started […] but I\u2019ve since been able to see that hopefully that\u2019s symbolic of being a survivor,\u201d she says. \u201cBeing able to give back and make a difference \u2013 that\u2019s a gift from that chapter in my life.\u201d In 2020, she established the Delta Goodrem Foundation in partnership with the hospital in Sydney where she was treated. <\/p>\n

Goodrem is still the human equivalent of a glowstick: a 1,000-kilowatt smile and the sort of enviable perma-tan that only Australians seem to possess. Certainly, hers is not the hardened exterior you might expect from a woman who was signed to Sony at 14 and came of age in the media hellscape that was the early 2000s. \u201cMy journey was positive,\u201d she says simply. \u201cEveryone has a different journey. I really did have great industry mentors, wonderful men and women around me, including my mum who was this fierce woman. It doesn\u2019t mean I didn\u2019t have to fight for myself, of course, but there was enough respect and understanding to have collaboration and conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GoldenGolden Girl: Goodrem performs on behalf of Australia at the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest in Austria (Getty)<\/p>\n

Her parents made sure she maintained a normal life outside of music. \u201cI never felt like I missed out on any childhood,\u201d she says. \u201cAlso, I was the driver in my music. It wasn\u2019t my parents. They just guided and protected me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Now, two decades later, Goodrem is still in the driver\u2019s seat with an eighth album on the way. Set to be released in November, Pure has been described as \u201ca return to myself\u201d and follows on from her latest single \u201cHologram\u201d \u2013 a big, gleaming gem of disco-pop. Sonically, it\u2019s miles away from the heart-wrenching ballads on which Goodrem made her name, but spiritually it\u2019s more similar than you think. It has that same bright-eyed, bushy-tailed optimism of \u201cNot Me, Not I\u201d \u2013 only this time filtered through a woofer-rattling bass. <\/p>\n

Before then, though, Strictly\u2026 \u201cI love the glamour of it!\u201d Goodrem says of her decision to sign up to the BBC show. \u201cMy music has always been very piano-driven so this is my opportunity to learn something new and then I can take it on tour with me.\u201d As for who she would like for a partner, she has just one request for producers. \u201cI\u2019m quite tall, so I\u2019d love to have someone taller than me!\u201d laughs Goodrem, who is just shy of 6ft. \u201cI really don\u2019t want to be the one that has to lift people.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"BlowingBlowing kisses: Goodrem pictured at the 2003 Aria Awards in Sydney wearing a wig following chemotherapy and radiation treatment (Getty)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say that Strictly has been through the wringer recently, with this latest series arriving amid a spate of scandals. But Goodrem knows the game, having spent eight years on The Voice Australia where she was on the other side of things as a coach rather than contestant. \u201cI can safely say that, being on the show for nine years, everyone worked very hard to make sure all the artists were shining on stage and getting to live out their dreams,\u201d she says, \u201cwhat you do with that moment is up to you. It is a TV show, and you have to create your next moment.\u201d <\/p>\n

The show also taught Goodrem the value of holding back sometimes. \u201cI probably gave too much of myself [to the contestants],\u201d she says. \u201cI poured so much into it. I was always on the phone to the artists because I loved sharing; I\u2019m an open book.\u201d It\u2019s her natural disposition, she says. \u201cI\u2019m such a ride-or-die person. When I love someone, I\u2019ll do anything for them. And so when people are loyal to me, I\u2019m so loyal back. Scorpio loyal.\u201d It can come at a cost, though. \u201cThe show taught me about my own boundaries and pouring that back into myself and my own artistry.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"PicturePicture perfect: Goodrem was 18 years old and riding the high of her No 1 debut album when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin\u2019s lymphoma (Getty)<\/p>\n

Season six of The Voice saw Goodrem become the target of online bullies who questioned the sincerity of her on-air enthusiasm. The earnestness that had once endeared her to audiences suddenly became the very thing they used to dismiss her as fake. Seal, her co-judge at the time, was among those to defend her publicly. \u201cThere was so much that I saw change culturally when Twitter came into play, and obviously being the only female coach for a long time, it was a very different dynamic for me,\u201d Goodrem says. \u201cI was 26, but people treated me like I was a lot older because I started so young. So I had to navigate those chapters of intensity under a microscope.\u201d Though, she reminds me, it certainly wasn\u2019t the first time. <\/p>\n

Never were more eyes on Goodrem than in the wake of her cancer remission, when her return to public life carried the weighty comeback narrative of a seasoned musician three decades her senior. In 2004, Goodrem released Mistaken Identity. The album had a different thrust: more dark than its predecessor, more grown-up. Whether she intended for it to be or not, Mistaken Identity pushed against the idea of Goodrem as the nation\u2019s most beatific pop sweetheart. <\/p>\n

\"FromFrom down under to the dancefloor: the Aussie star is competing on the forthcoming series of \u2018Strictly Come Dancing\u2019 (PA)<\/p>\n

\u201cHeading back into the world was definitely a change of gears,\u201d she says now. \u201cThat\u2019s probably when it felt most like going into the washing machine, so to speak \u2013 definitely a rougher, more turbulent chapter. Your identity changes after going through something so extreme.\u201d Her parents had divorced, and her body \u2013 \u201cmy physicality\u201d \u2013 was no longer the same. \u201cEverything had changed.\u201d The spotlight turned up some after it was revealed that Goodrem was dating Westlife singer Brian McFadden that same year \u2013 it turned up more still after their nasty and very public split in 2011. \u201cDo I wish that it ended earlier? Yes. Do I wish I had the courage to leave earlier? Yes, I do,\u201d she told Vogue in 2012. On the subject of McFadden today, Goodrem is looking on the bright side: \u201cEvery single path that\u2019s led me to today and this beautiful relationship I\u2019m in now, I\u2019m grateful for.\u201d (At one point in our conversation, her husband, the guitarist Matthew Copley, pops his head in with a big smile and a glass of water for his wife.) <\/p>\n

\"People\u2019sPeople\u2019s princess: Goodrem has remained close to the hearts of millions of Australians (Getty)<\/p>\n

Goodrem might just be one of pop\u2019s most resilient stars. The cancer wasn\u2019t even her last major health scare. In 2018, she had a salivary gland removed after which she woke up from the surgery to find her speech altered; a nerve in her tongue was paralysed. Goodrem couldn\u2019t speak, let alone sing. \u201cThe lesson that came out of that experience was sometimes you have to surrender and listen,\u201d she says. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about talking or doing. It was a real reset. It is something you cannot rush.\u201d In the end, it took over a year for Goodrem to regain her voice. She\u2019s certainly putting it to good use now, with her year of saying yes. <\/p>\n

\u2018Pure\u2019 is out via Universal Records on 6 November, with \u2018Strictly Come Dancing\u2019 set to launch in September<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":975168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[30],"tags":[391321,63967,4740,110,185,1002,21200,391322,171,121129,1005,975,18281,3092,249263,77843,66741,173,67,132,68,326337,391320],"class_list":["post-975167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-70th-eurovision-song-contest","tag-arts-culture-and-entertainment","tag-australia","tag-austria","tag-celebrities","tag-color-image","tag-concert","tag-delta-goodrem","tag-entertainment","tag-grand-final","tag-horizontal","tag-music","tag-performance","tag-photography","tag-representing","tag-stage-performance-space","tag-theatrical-performance","tag-tv","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vienna-austria","tag-wiener-stadthalle"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117024618823901403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=975167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/975167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/975168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=975167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=975167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=975167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}