Adelaide Cabaret Festival review: Jessica Mauboy’s ‘The Story of Me’
For one night only pop star Jessica Mauboy pulled back the curtain on her illustrious career with a stripped back Adelaide Cabaret Festival performance.
“I’m a bush girl,” a 16-year-old Jessica Mauboy told her Australian Idol co-star Damien Leith, hours before they were to find out which of them would take out the 2006 season.
The Darwin-born teen felt overwhelmed by the experience and hadn’t seen her family in a year. She didn’t want the title – she just wanted to go home.
Mauboy revealed this moment almost two decades later to an audience at Her Majesty’s Theatre, one of many stories in Mauboy’s show, The Story of Me: A Musical Journey Through My Career, that offered a glimpse into the private life behind her meteoric public profile.
Mauboy didn’t end up winning Idol that night, but there’s no doubt she was destined for the spotlight. It just took her some time to realise it.
This is understandable, given she was just 11 when it all began. Onstage, Mauboy spoke of her first forays into competition, from pub karaoke to shopping centres and eventually to Sydney. Through it all she always had her father’s reassuring words: “Don’t worry, bub”.
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Now 35, the Australian icon, who gave birth to her first child just five months ago, effortlessly performed a packed setlist of over 20 songs from her early inspirations to her contemporary discography.
Mauboy opened the night with a bold, strong and pure performance of ABBA’s ‘Thank You For The Music’ which set the tone for the evening. The goosebumps continued with her Idol audition song, Whitney Houston’s ‘I Have Nothing’, belted with fearless and haunting ease.
Turning to her own repertoire, ‘Never Be The Same’ remained impassioned and mesmerising while her Eurovision entry ‘We Got Love’ was a rallying battle cry, Mauboy’s voice filling the room with a god-like presence.
She was supported on stage by musical director Darryl Beaton (keys, backing vocals and acoustic guitar), Daniel March (acoustic guitar) and Kalena Haireka and Ashleigh Leef (backing vocals).
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Mauboy delivered more than just music for this one-night-only show, with raw and personal storytelling weaved in between numbers, softly backed by the band’s riffs that would often tease the next song. Her stories were mostly tight, funny, and well-paced, evoking clear imagery and providing insight into Mauboy’s history. Where they did, at times, lose a little focus, it only made them feel all the more honest and human.
Video montages aimed to remind the audience of her younger days, but that young girl with big dreams was already evident in the authenticity of the woman on stage. Her interactions with the intimate band and audience – such as singing at the edge of stage with a fan who delivered flowers – also brought home the sincerity of her story. Dressed in a black suit with orange fringe, a nod to her country roots, she giggled infectiously over the not-so-innocent lyrics of ‘Pop A Bottle (Fill Me Up)’.
While the wholesome girl-next-door remains, Mauboy has also morphed into an empowered pop diva, later swapping into black and gold sequinned outfits. Her signature growl and flawless runs combined with a matured sound and lower register to deliver youthful clubby hits like ‘Burn’ and ‘The Day Before I Met You’ with a stripped back richness.
In contrast ‘Pop A Bottle’ perhaps lacked some of its signature high energy,, but Mauboy brought the beat back with personal favourite, a funky and jazzy medley of 60s soul from The Sapphires (2012), in which she sung and starred. The audience clapped along with ‘Land of A Thousand Dances’, before pianist Darryl Beaton really turned up the tempo for sassy and fierce ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)’ and ‘Gotcha’.
After detailing many years of imposter syndrome, Mauboy said she realised she “wasn’t meant to stay the same” while reflecting on the decision to leave her former record label after 15 years. She remained gracious and grateful, and overwhelmingly positive throughout the show – even while taking a swipe at Kyle Sandilands for his body shaming comments on Idol.
Celebrating being empowered to take more control on her second-latest album Hilda, Mauboy wrapped up with boppy and joyful ‘Sunday’, the consuming ballad ‘Little Things’ and a dreamy tribute to her mother and daughter ‘Quite Like You’.
Mauboy demonstrated how comfortably she can move from soft and touching to upbeat and assertive, all the while with limited instrumentation and lighting that allowed her talent and genuine personality to shine. Hearing how she got there was a joy.
Hers is a voice that cannot be overpowered.
Jessica Mauboy performed at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Saturday, June 14.
Sarah Herrmann is the latest recipient of the Helpmann Academy InReview Mentorship. She is working with experienced visual arts writer Jane Llewellyn to write a series of articles for publication in InReview.