Only icons are bestowed the honour of being known by just one name. Think Madonna, Beyoncé, Bono, and Cher. Anastacia falls into that category, too, having dominated the 2000s with her upbeat hits and unmistakable style.
Her penchant for gradient and tinted lenses has even recently seen a resurgence, seemingly influencing the likes of Hailey Bieber and Bella Hadid.
“Everyone is wearing a tinted glass!” she laughed down the line from Switzerland, where she’s in the midst of her #NTK25 world tour.
“I think it’s great. Maybe it’s a fashion thing for them, but for me, it was a necessity!” she continued, referring to the fact that she has worn prescription glasses since she was 6 years old.
“I can’t leave the house without glasses. It was a choice to tint them a little bit and give them some young flair in my twenties. No one was doing that.”
Breaking the mould is something Anastacia has done since bursting onto the global music scene in 2000 with ‘I’m Outta Love’ and debut album Not That Kind when she was 31 – an age some in the industry considered mature, especially compared to contemporaries like then teen stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
That hardly mattered, though, with the single outselling all competition to end 2000 as Australia’s number one song for the year. This September, the singer is headed Down Under to celebrate 25 years since that impressive achievement.
“It’s kind of like a birthday to myself!” Anastacia said, who turned 57 on September 17. “In putting together the tour, it was exciting because ‘Not That Kind’ was the first song that got me a deal. Here I am, 25 years later, I’m still that girl.”
More hits followed, including ‘One Day in Your Life’, ‘Sick and Tired’ and another chart-topper, 2004’s ‘Left Outside Alone’. “All the songs that I’ve stood through, feel and believe in, they’re all my feelings,” Anastacia explained.
“The hits are in there, as far as the tour goes, but as for the albums, there’s a bit from each. It feels like you’re taking a trip through the Anastacia albums and emotions.”
With many fans in their teens and twenties when Anastacia hit her musical prime, there will be plenty of nostalgia at the shows on Australia’s east coast.
“I’m grateful for that,” she said. “I’d say it’s an artist’s dream to have a song that does evoke nostalgia in someone’s past, whether it was a hard time for them or not.”
Anastacia knows what it’s like to go through a hard time, having beaten breast cancer twice. “It’s an out-of-body experience but I used humour as medicine,” she said when talking about her “toxic titties”. “I heard the word ‘cancer’ and saw the word ‘can’.”
It’s that positivity that has seen her maintain her fan base, with unwavering support in countries like Italy, Spain and especially Germany. “They’re very forthright about it,” she admitted.
As for her Aussie fans, they’ll be in for a treat. “I’m grateful to be back – I haven’t toured there in so long!” she admitted. “I may have some surprises for you. There are a couple of people in the works that might come up with me and have some fun.”
There’s one singer in particular Anastacia would love to collaborate with.
“Delta [Goodrem] and I have talked about doing a song together,” she revealed.
“If it could ever be something we put together, that would be lovely. We are both in that same zone – we’re very like-minded, we love our fans and we love performing. But we both sing differently enough.”
At each show, Anastacia performs 25 songs, and after the tour’s sell-out success, she’s in talks to extend to 2027. It’s not just a huge feat physically, but vocally, too.
“It’s a good night out,” she says.“You’ll get – and I’m not being cocky – better [vocals] than the albums because I can still sing! When you hear it in person it makes you say, ‘Wow!’ – it’s a gift.”
For tickets to Anastacia’s #NTK25 Australian tour, click here.
