Breaking free
Nope, Amy Sheppard has not left ‘Sheppard’, the indie pop band that launched her career. Rather, Amy has made a segway into a whole new direction – solo – as a country singer.
Her debut solo EP, ‘Nothing But Wild’, was released in September and debuted at #1 on the ARIA Australian Country chart, and #3 on the ARIA Australian Albums chart. Not too bad for the singer, who admits she feared rejection from country music fans…
Following her dream in the face of rejection
On her solo tour and EP releases, Amy says it’s been a big lesson.
"I've only just finished my first lot of my solo shows - and it was a huge learning curve. My whole life I've had the safety blanket of my brother and sister to fall back on. And for a long time I put a lot of my own dreams aside because naturally, after we wrote ‘Geronimo’, everyone just wanted more George songs. I was like, ‘Hey, I've got this one where I'm singing lead’. [But] radio didn't want to take it - they didn't want to hear it because ‘Geronimo’ was the hit. They wanted more songs like that.”
Taking control of her career
Finding one’s identity is no easy feat, especially when you’re one third of a multi-award-winning musical family. But sometimes you’ve got to take the wild card, and just do it, take risks and learn along the way. “This is my opportunity to take control of my career and be myself,” explains Amy. “To find out who I am, without my siblings. I just realised I can't wait any longer.”
Facing her fears
Face them, says Amy, and know that at the very least you’ve tried.
“I do have fears - I don't know if the country community will accept me,” she admits. “I'm still really scared if the people will like my songs without my brother singing on them. If I fail, then I know I've gone down trying, at least.
Amy says her move into country was a natural fit.
“I’ve grown up listening to country music and it’s my first love. As a band, we gravitated to pop but so many times I would write a verse or a hook and take it to George or Jason and they felt it was ‘too country’ for a Sheppard song. So in the end I decided to start writing dedicated country songs and see where it would take me. I still love pop music but now I get to do both.”
Airing her relationship peeves
What happens behind closed doors, stays between the sheets… but not in this case. Amy and her husband, Lachlan Stuart, launched their new podcast, ‘Couple Goals’ in September, 2022, and it’s honest, raw and unfiltered.
In it, they discuss how they met, who made the first move, debate whether Amy should change her surname or not and reveal their pet peeves and couple goals.
On launching ‘Couple Goals’, Amy says: “Lachie and I always get questions about how we make it work with such busy lives so we thought we would let people behind the curtain in to our relationship! Lachie already runs a successful podcast, ‘The Man Than Can’, so he’s a pro’ and now we get to do this together!”
Amy says it’s named after her upcoming single, ‘Couple Goals’. “Each week we discuss our pet peeves in a comical way – hopefully in a way that others can relate – and then we set each other a goal or a challenge for the week ahead. Then the following episode we see if we stuck to it. Along the way we have other couples as guests and dive into their stories and pet peeves. Like therapy I guess!”
Listen. Laugh. Learn.
Turning ‘fat ass’ negative comments into an authentic open discussion
Oh those teenage years… quite frankly it’d be a miracle if anyone made it to adulthood unscathed. For Amy, who recently spoke at BODfest — a celebration of self-love and body positivity — it was about turning that ‘negativity’ into a positive, via an open discussion.
Amy said: “Growing up, I was in a larger body—and I got bullied for being fat. I was called ‘fat ass’. I wasn't good at sport. It's taken me a really long time to build my confidence and get through those traumas. In the public eye you are under a lot of scrutiny - you are always trying to be perfect, and I wanted to share with my followers what I was going through."
Amy also shares an open discussion with followers on her Instagram handle.
“I am very open about my own struggles with body image and the steps I have taken to improve it over the years,” she says. “My followers see me as I am. I hope to encourage others to be proud for the amazing things our bodies do for us and not fixate on things we have been conditioned to accept like diet culture. I share a lot of ‘Instagram vs reality’ and tips to improve your own self-worth.”
Calling out unsuitable generic labels
At the BODFest event, Amy also spoke about why she prefers the phase ‘Body confidence cheerleader’ to ‘Body positivity’.
"The Body positivity movement was founded for and by plus size women of colour and marginalised bodies and I don't want to take away from that. I do live in a very privileged body. I prefer Body Image Cheerleader because I do have a story and a platform and I want to make this world a better place by sharing some of the things I've gone through.”
Listen up
Amy Sheppard's debut EP 'Nothing But Wild' is out now featuring the hit single 'Nothing But Wild' and latest release Blue Guitar.