Words by Samantha Morris
20-year-old Gold Coast artist Lyric has had what she describes as an “amazing” year. On the back of her Gold Coast Music Prize award in September 2023, she has ticked over 150,000 streams for her latest single ‘Gravity’, has grown her Instagram following from 1,000 to 14,000 people in a short span of months, and scored a career-boosting support slot with Mallrat.
“It’s crazy,” she says of the Spotify milestone. “It’s something that I’ve dreamed about for a long time and it’s been a big goal of mine. It’s a bit surreal to finally get it.”
There’s no mystery as to how Lyric has grown her streaming audience. First and foremost, she writes great songs – something she’s been working on since she was in school. Secondly, she’s worked her arse off to connect with her audience, both on and off social media.
“TikTok is the biggest platform for me,” she told us. “I’m just being myself, making fun videos that I enjoy, and then other people enjoy them too.”
“People who really like my music, they’re all very like Taylor Swift-centric fans and they’re very obsessive. They like being able to find an artist while they’re small and follow along on the journey. They’ve even started group chats about my music. It’s all very cute.”
“That’s what I’m most passionate about – all those superfans. I try to respond to every message that I get – because I know what it feels like when you get a message from an artist you like. It’s almost like you’re friends with them. I send my American fans merch or do little giveaways and send signed things to people on random occasions.”
‘Gravity’ follows hot on the heels of ‘Wine Stain’, which Lyric released last September. It also has 80,000+ streams. Lyric says it had a bit of a moment on TikTok as well, but not the same way ‘Gravity’ has.
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“’Gravity’ is different to others, it’s more upbeat and happy and fun. It’s got that TikTok hook,” Lyric says. “It sticks in your head and has a catchy, catchy chorus.”
With 49,000 monthly listeners on Spotify alone, 14,000 Instagram fans, and 25,000 TikTok followers, Lyric is making huge strides in the digital space. But her talents extend beyond song writing, she’s also been producing all of her own songs for the past 3.5 years.
“On YouTube, you can learn so many things. I watched so many videos while I was still in high school. Every song you produce yourself, you just get better,” she said.
As a young woman, Lyric laments the lack of other women in the producing space.
“There’s not many,” she said, “which is why I’m so passionate to get into producing. But there’s also some artists I love who produce their own music, like Griff, she’s really cool.”
With a name like Lyric you might think that this artist’s parents have a musical background – but they don’t. Lyric explained that she and her siblings all have interesting and unique names. She does credit her dad with helping her find her feet in producing – he’s an audio engineer for TV and like most parents of emerging artists, her parents are her number one fans.
“Mum runs the merch stand at every show and they lug my gear around. My brother and dad are lugging my keyboard up on stage and dad’s taught me so much about mixing and the tech side of things.”
She also has an amazing studio at home, thanks to her dad, who set-up the space well before Lyric had shown any signs of a music career.
“That’s where I’ve been able to start teaching myself how to produce, how to mix, and then dad will come in and help,” she said.
Early in 2023, Lyric made the decision to enter the Gold Coast Music Awards. She had no idea whether she’d be in with a shot, as there were so many artists she admired who’d been finalists the year prior. She thought it would be fun just to attend.
“It was my first ever introduction to any part of the music industry,” she said of the awards ceremony, held at HOTA.
And taking the time to nominate paid in dividends. Lyric took out the Gold Coast Music Prize – a career-defining prize offered to one artist aged under 25 – as well as the People’s Choice Award, narrowly beating Lily Grace (2022 People’s Choice Winner) and Sofia Isella in votes.
“People’s Choice was wild because you could see people voting as they walked in. We thought Lily Grace was going to win but having my name called out was crazy,” she said.
But the Gold Coast Music Prize was the award she was most excited about. So far that prize has included introductions to key people in the music industry, multiple performance opportunities, grant writing assistance, one-on-one assistance from the Gold Coast Music Network team, a seat at the 2024 Gold Coast Music Awards judging table, free attendance at training events such as Bandcamp, and an opening slot for Mallrat.
On accepting the award, Lyric said “I am going to make the absolute most of this, meet more people and gain more opportunities.”
“Opening for Mallrat was the craziest thing. I remember when Chloe sent me an email asking, I was like ‘OMG, is that for real?’ It was all very nerve-wracking and stressful, but it was the best… so much fun and so many great musicians on that day. The best part was how lovely she was. A lot of the time you envision opening for someone and you won’t see them or talk to them but she came straight up to me and was talking about my music. Getting to watch her play after that was cool as well.”
“I feel like I’ve grown so much as an artist in the past year.”
With big runs on the board already, Lyric is just getting started. She’s hoping to showcase at BIGSOUND and wants to consistently release new music – something she learnt the value of at last year’s BIGSOUND conference sessions.
“I just want to give my fans something to look forward to, but at the same time, I want to give ‘Gravity’ its moment.
“I’d love to tour and play some more shows and I’ve been trying to get on to festivals. I really want my live audience to follow the online audience growth.”
And as much as she’s happy to continue with the one-woman approach to running her music business affairs, what she’d like most of all is a manager.
“I’d like a manager that’s passionate about a project and has the connections I don’t have. There’s a roof you hit as a small artist, when you don’t even know who to ask or how to get in a room, so I think having a manager who’s passionate about those things – that’s what I’m hoping to find at BIGSOUND.”
Stream ‘Gravity’ | Follow Lyric on TikTok or Instagram