We are all victims of algorithms these days but Natalie Imbruglia may have found the answer for navigating digital overload.
Algorithm is the title of the Aussie popstar’s seventh LP, and the romantic title song finds joy away from humanity’s most prized possession.
Nat says: “It sounds like I’m talking about a sexy guy, but I’m actually talking about my phone and how it’s very seductive and draws you in. I just wanted to open the conversation about algorithm and are you at the mercy of the algorithm of your phone? Or are you working on changing the settings and being engaged with it?
Nat speaks her mind in a way she couldn’t before
“And the same with your personal algorithm. It’s like, what are you putting in? And how are you kind of helping your own personal algorithm?
“I think we all need to – in this day and age – with AI and tech going to the places it’s going, I think we have to be more responsible with what goes in and how we take care of our mental health.”
The album tackles mental health wobbles and other potentially difficult themes, but the Torn star does it all with a smile. “There’s very serious issues, but I tried to do it with a sense of humour,” she grins.
“So it’s a little bit tongue in cheek as well. I don’t want people to think my album’s really intense and heavy. It’s not. It’s probably the lightest album I’ve made. Like heavy subject matter, but trying to address it with a sense of humour. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.”
Nat thinks the current genearion think. it’s more cool to be neurodivergent(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Natalie took her foot off the pop gas to focus on motherhood, and other creative pursuits for a while. Now she’s back and focused on making music that tells her truth, and that involved opening up about her ADHD diagnosis and more.
“I feel like by the time I found out, there was less stigma,” she chuckles. “I feel like kids these days want to have a label. If anything, it’s like gone the other way.
“So it’s probably cool to be neurodivergent. I’m just grateful that we know more about it. There’s more understanding and we can kind of break it down.”
Nevertheless being in the spotlight still isn’t really her bag. “I’m kind of like being an observer, which sounds like a weird thing because I’m a performer. But I love to go to a party or an event, and I like to watch everyone else,” Nat confesses. “I’m not necessarily as comfortable with all the attention being on me, which is kind of the opposite of what the job is. I think a lot of us are strangely shy.”
The teenager who found fame on Neighbours is 51 now and maturity has made the job a little easier: “I’m not filtering myself…I don’t have anything to hide and I’m comfortable in my skin and I love what I do.
Imbruglia found fame as a teenager in Australia(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images for Ger)
“I think I spent a lot of years, maybe also getting a hard time at the start of my career or whatever. You get a self-protection thing where you’re vetting what you say or thinking before you speak. And I really just don’t give a s***.
It’s like ‘take the lid off’. And that’s quite freeing (and) that shows a confidence because I think there was a long time where people weren’t really getting to know me because I was frightened. I was frightened of being my authentic self because as a woman at the start of my career, I couldn’t be ironic or funny in print without being given a hard time.
“I think I’ve gotten to an age where I speak freely. Obviously, I’m talking about all my neurodivergence issues and perimenopause. I mean, clearly, I don’t care.”
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