When Becca Hatch released “Garden” in April, it felt like a new iteration of her artistry. But it was difficult to pinpoint what had changed; “Garden” was not her first dance track, and she returned with the same light, airy vocals and refined visuals that audiences have come to expect. And yet, something felt different. The single that followed in early June, “Daylight Robbery,” reinforced the sense that Hatch was quietly ushering in a new era. As it turns out, there has been a shift. But unlike a dramatic change in appearance, style or sound, the transformation has been personal. “I feel like over the last couple of years I’ve really become a woman,” she says. “I just feel like I’m in my feminine era and just a lot more confident. It’s been like a metamorphosis.”
The last music audiences received from Becca was her 2024 album Mayday, after which, she packed up her things and moved to Melbourne from Sydney. Following years of singular focus on her music career, she says that for the first time in a long time, she just spent her time doing “normal things.” “I moved to Melbourne and I was just doing regular kind of normal things, like going out more and caring less about what other people thought of me. I went camping for the first time. I was actually just doing things that made me happy.”
She also threw herself into fitness after moving to Melbourne, a lifestyle shift that would have a profound impact on her.
“A career in music can be one of those things where you can literally sleep all day and make music all night,” she says. “I think when I moved to Melbourne I was just like, ‘I’m just going to get up every single day at the same time, go to the gym, ride my bike home, and then I’m just going to work on music or myself.’”
By allowing herself to slow down and prioritise her wellbeing, Hatch grew more confident in herself and her instincts.That newfound confidence soon bled into her music.
“I felt more free making music,” she says.
She began experimenting freely, embarking on an intense period of musical exploration. Working with a range of collaborators, she cycled through genres and ideas in search of a direction that felt right.
“I worked with a bunch of different collaborators and made a lot of different things. I made really, really pop music, I made more dance music, I made ballads—I did so much stuff. I was also making R&B music, and when I was listening back to everything I was like, ‘Oh, what’s actually really sticking out to me is the R&B music.’”This is how she eventually created the song “Black Flower,” which ended up setting the tone for a heavily R&B-infused project of the same name, due later this year.
“I made [the song], and it just made everything else I’d been working on make sense,” she says. “The song really captured the metamorphosis I’ve gone through. The title just stands for the idea of something that’s blooming in a place that it wasn’t really meant to.”
The concept is a metaphor for what Hatch feels has been her own life.She also speaks to the pressures she faces in the industry as both an Aboriginal and Pasifika artist.
“Just by default—being an Aboriginal artist in this industry, being a coloured artist—there’s just so much we deal with day to day. I know I don’t make the most political music, but just the weight of being an Indigenous artist, having this space and this platform—it’s a lot.”
Hatch may not see herself as an artist who makes overtly political music. Yet the story behind Black Flower is inseparable from identity, self-determination and perseverance. What began as a period of slowing down, experimentation and personal growth ultimately became a project about flourishing against the odds.Speaking to Complex Australia, Becca Hatch reflects on growth, creativity and the making of Black Flower.
You moved to Melbourne from Sydney a couple of years ago now. Now that a bit of time has passed, how has the experience been overall?
Yeah, I put out my last EP “Mayday” and then I moved to Melbourne. I’d just finished the project and it was the last part of my record deal, and so once it was over, I just spent a few months just doing my own thing.I actually joined a CrossFit gym too around that time and I just started training like every day. I got a bike, I started riding around. I just started doing regular things—because since I was 16 I’d just been so focused on my music career.I love Sydney but my music career overlapped so much with my personal life, that was just the community I was in, everyone’s by default creative. But once I moved and was in a different environment, things became more separate and I was just doing regular stuff. That’s still kind of my life now.
How else did moving to Melbourne change things for you?
I think the change of environment allowed me a lot more room to explore different things and kind of grow up. I feel like over the last couple of years I’ve really become a woman, I just feel like I’m in my feminine era and just a lot more confident. It was like a metamorphosis. I put that down to just looking after myself mentally and physically. I think I just care less about what other people think and how I’m perceived. I think I just actually started doing things that made me happy and that kind of changed the direction of things for me, in music too. I think with making music in more recent times, I just feel more free. A lot of my new music is more femme and R&B.
You released “Garden” in April, which feels totally different to your previous work, it definitely has more of a delicate and femme quality to it. What more can you tell us about this new era of music?
It definitely feels so different to my other stuff. I made it with Sean Kenihan. Around the time we made it, I’d spent about a year working on new music—it had taken me a while to find the right direction that I wanted to go in. I finally started making songs where I was just like, “Oh, this is what I’m meant to do, this is the vibe.
So yeah, after spending all this time working on stuff, as I was finishing up, I just happened to get in with Sean for a random session and we made the song in that session. It was crazy.
That’s nuts—it definitely doesn’t sound like a song made in a single session. Sonically there’s so many different pockets and lyrically it’s quite complex.
Yeah it was crazy, he just really listened to me and I think that really carved out the production. We were just kind of moving together—I was doing all of these different sections and he was building around that. It was really cool.
I guess with the lyrics, I was using the garden as a metaphor for my space, my energy, my presence. When I’m asking “Would you pick the petals out,” I’m essentially asking, “If you come into my space and my environment and you’re going to be around me—are you going to treat me carefully? Are you going to drain my energy? Because some people are energy vampires, (laughs). Not to be conceited about it, but I think if you’re a positive person, and a kind person, or maybe just someone who is willing to look past things and sees the best in people, you sometimes just end up attracting people who just want to take from you. That can be anyone: lovers, friends—literally any relationship.
Can you tell me about your new single that’s just dropped?
Yes, it's called Daylight Robbery! It’s about falling in love—when someone snatches your heart and you can’t help but let your guard down. The whole visual is about someone having robbed you. Like they’ve stabbed you and stolen your heart. The track is alt R&B, and really different to “Garden,” which was a bit more dance-y. I would say this track is one of my favourite songs. I think this is one of the first songs I’ve made where I’ve been like, “Oh, if someone else made this, I would definitely put it in my playlist.”
Can you tell us about future music? Do you have a project in the works?
I do have a project that’ll be coming out this year, it’s called Black Flower. Sonically, it goes back to my roots a bit more—a lot of music on Black Flower is more R&B leaning. It’s still fused with some dance and pop, but it’s the most R&B thing I’ve made in a while.
Black Flower is quite an evocative title. Where did the name come from?
Well, I made a song called “Black Flower,” and it just made everything else I’d been working on make sense. It kind of encapsulated the era and I’m in, and thematically, helped me bring everything together. The song really captured the metamorphosis I’ve gone through. The title just stands for the idea of something that’s blooming from somewhere people doubted, or from a place that it wasn’t really meant to.
Do you feel that way?
Yeah, I definitely feel like that. Like I grew up in Campbelltown and lived there for most of my life. I don’t come from a very well-off background. My mum is Samoan and immigrated here from New Zealand, and my dad is Aboriginal, he’s Kamilaroi. My grandmother lived on a mission. So my whole life really, there are so many things that might have made people think I wouldn’t become the artist I have. Also just by default—being an Aboriginal artist in this industry—there’s just so much we deal with day to day. Just the weight of being an Indigenous artist, having this space and this platform—it’s a lot.
I think because you have such a lightness to you as an artist, it can be easy for people to overlook that it hasn’t always been an easy path for you.
Or even just a natural path, you know?
Definitely. You spoke earlier about it taking time to find the artistic and sonic direction you wanted to go in. It sounds like you were eventually able to nail it with Black Flower. How did you find it?
Well, when I began this era of making new music, I wasn’t fully lost, but I was a little lost, because everything I’d put out over the last couple of years had been more dance and pop, and I was just a bit like, “Where do I go from here?”
I worked with a bunch of different collaborators and made a lot of different things. I made really pop music, I made more dance music, I made ballads—I did so much stuff. I was also making R&B music, and when I was listening back to everything I was like, “Oh, what’s actually really sticking out to me is the R&B music.”
So I guess the answer is just that I created a lot. That’s one thing I’ve learnt throughout my career—the importance of just constantly creating new music. I’ll make like 50 songs, and only maybe six of them will be good. You have to make stuff—a lot of stuff.
So basically it was just by creating a lot and experimenting a lot?
Exactly. It's kind of funny as well because on social media, you just see people put out things that are totally finished and look amazing, and no one knows the journey of what it took to get there—like I made some really bad songs this year [laughs].
With all the experimentation you’ve done in music and life in the last few years, where do you now feel you’ve landed?
I think now that I’ve matured, and have more experience training as a singer, and in dancing and things like that—just more life experience in general, I feel like a new and improved version of my younger creative self. A lot of my influences—the things I really enjoyed listening to when I was younger have come back to me. I think I realised like, “I love all this music, why am I running away from it?” Because it’s actually great. So yeah, that’s where I landed.
Follow Becca Hatch here for more. Images created by Bella Loke and edited in Adobe Photoshop.
