{"id":819560,"date":"2026-07-23T22:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819560\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:22:14","slug":"amy-shark-exclusive-aussie-singer-makes-comeback-after-quiet-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819560\/","title":{"rendered":"Amy Shark exclusive: Aussie singer makes comeback after quiet struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: Aussie<\/a> musician Amy Shark<\/a> is back with a brand new album, it\u2019s deeply personal and comes after a private, quiet struggle.<\/p>\n

The 40-year-old admits to nine.com.au there was a time, before the release of soft pop, where she couldn\u2019t write songs or even pick up her guitar due to complete and utter \u201cburnout\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Amy Shark on suffering \u2018burnout\u2019 and \u2018massive exhaustion\u2019 before making her music comeback.\u00a0supplied\/Sony<\/p>\n

Shark, whose real name is Amy Louise Billings<\/a>, says her work commitments; including being a judge on a singing talent show and touring, took such a toll on her, that she was left \u201cexhausted\u201d and she shunned music; one of her creative outlets. <\/p>\n

The eight-time ARIA Award<\/a> winner, who recently made her acting debut in the 2026 film Beast<\/a> opposite Russell Crowe<\/a>, recently made headlines for saying she \u201chad a divorce with music\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it was just like a massive buildup of burnout and obviously, I\u2019m doing so many things and I\u2019ve got a very front-facing job and it doesn\u2019t turn off either,\u201d she admits to nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

The hitmaker<\/a> says that sometimes people stop and want to have a chat with her, which is part of being in the public eye, so she always feels like she\u2019s switched on in work mode and will always happily indulge them.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike when, when I go home, I live in an apartment building and there\u2019s neighbours and when your face is something that people see, it doesn\u2019t matter what kind of day you\u2019re having,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike I could have a massive headache or someone could have really pissed me off in my family or my friend group. And if I see Caroline who lives in unit A, and she wants to talk about Australian Idol, I\u2019ve got to switch gears and be like, \u2018oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course [talking politely]\u2019\u201c.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hit this massive exhaustion and it was a mixture between I hadn\u2019t written in a while and I\u2019d done heaps of touring and I just ran out of s–t to say,\u201d she admits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just like, I don\u2019t even want to look at my guitar. I\u2019m like, it makes me angry. Songwriting just makes me angry. I\u2019m just not interested. I just hit massive exhaustion and I was just over it all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just took a minute to get back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI just hit this massive exhaustion and it was a mixture between I hadn\u2019t written in a while and I\u2019d done heaps of touring and I just ran out of s–t to say,\u201d she admits.\u00a0supplied\/Sony<\/p>\n

Shark recorded the album in a studio that is a converted church in Wales<\/a> and credits her husband Shane Billings, who is her manager, for pulling her out of her funk by booking her the studio time. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows that what makes me the happiest girl in the world is writing songs,\u201d Shark explained. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the best thing he did because, after I obviously nearly divorced him over it, I was like, \u2018maybe this is great. Maybe I need this,\u2019\u201d she jokes. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I held on to this album for dear life… I started sinking my teeth into and it slowly brought me back to life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tracks on the new album<\/a> include the likes of It\u2019s Kinda Hot, Child of Divorce and Hotel Towels. <\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

In the film clip of It\u2019s Kinda Hot, it stars Devlin, \u2018the Real Life Devil Girl\u2019.\u00a0Instagram\/@amyshark_<\/p>\n

In the film clip of It\u2019s Kinda Hot, it stars Devlin, \u2018the Real Life Devil Girl\u2019, (Shark in character and wearing red body paint and horns), but she keeps up Devlin\u2019s facade her chat with nine.com.au. <\/p>\n

\u201cDevlin is just effortlessly cool,\u201d Shark says. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came across her and her character, I was like, \u2018wow, this is exactly what I wanted\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s spinning a few people out and I think people don\u2019t really know what the hell is going on but I kind of also like that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shark<\/a> has had a lot of fun with this album. Her special vinyl releases have a faux-fur bright blue slip cover. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh man, it\u2019s like my pride and joy,\u201d she tells nine.com.au. \u201cIt\u2019s so cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Amy Shark new album\u00a0supplied\/Sony<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so proud of this album, I\u2019m like, \u2018how am I going to make this one stand out so people care, you know?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd obviously, it was called soft pop. So the whole idea of making it have this fluffy, soft sleeve was genius I thought!\u201d<\/p>\n

So what does Shark want her fans to take from soft pop<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been calling this album my most reliable album, because I feel like you can put it on from start to finish, and it\u2019s such a beautiful album to listen to…\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot that my previous albums haven\u2019t been, it\u2019s just, I\u2019ve always doubled in a bit of punk or a bit of this or a bit of that and there might be some songs you have to race to the stereo and turn it down a bit or whatever. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted an album where it was just like, \u2018oh no, soft pop\u2018s a good listen. We can just chuck that on and every song is just a vibe.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Amy Shark\u2019s fourth studio album\u00a0soft pop is out now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: Aussie musician Amy Shark is back with a brand new album, it\u2019s deeply personal and comes after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-819560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}