Delta Goodrem: Tour with Shania Twain and the legacy of Neighbours

“When Shania Twain calls and asks if you want to go on tour, you grab your cowgirl hat and go on tour.”

Australian singer Delta Goodrem wasn’t expecting this call, but it’s the reason she’s now in Northern Ireland.

She had just performed at the Mighty Hoopla Festival in London and was about to return to Australia to finish her new album when she got a call from Shania who wanted to support her on tour.

BBC News NI caught up with the former Neighbours star backstage after her very wet and windy performance at Belsonic 2024.

“Oh my God, I had a lot of fun, even despite the rain,” she said.

“There was a group of five women, all in different colored raincoats, and they were making sure to move and dance, and I just thought, ‘Yes, girls, yes!’

“I felt like we all just had a great time. We kept warm, we danced, we sang. Of course, it was just a little bit of rain.”

Delta Goodrem first came to attention in the UK in the early 2000s when she played Nina Tucker in the Australian TV soap Neighbours.

Even though he left the show over 20 years ago, fans still want to talk about it.

“The craziest thing is that I don’t get that at home, so when I come here people want to talk about Neighbours,” she said.

“It takes me back to another era and whatever the connection is or however we met – in the UK it was through Nina – it’s a big part of my story.”

She entered music after following fellow Neighbours stars Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Natalie Imbruglia and Holly Valance.

Her debut album Innocent Eyes, released in 2003, sold over four million copies worldwide.

This resulted in singles such as “Born to Try”, “Lost Without You” and “Innocent Eyes”, all of which were chart successes in both the UK and Australia.

The singer said it was a surprise to her that people were still following her music after all this time.

“I had no idea that people were still singing the songs and carrying them in their hearts, and for that I am humbly grateful.

“Music is the soundtrack to people’s lives. The songs remind them of what they are going through. They are like time portals.”

The Covid pandemic and the lockdown in Australia gave her the chance to rethink things.

After serving as a mentor on The Voice Australia for nine years, this tour marks the first time she has performed outside the country in several years.

“Covid happened; it changed everything and I just said I’m going back out into the world.”

She began acting again and starred in the Netflix film Love is in the Air, which was streamed over 20 million times in the first two weeks of its release.

She founded her own record label, ATLED Records, with her fiancé Matthew Copley and toured the USA with the Backstreet Boys.

“We toured for about three months and I rediscovered my passion for it,” she said.

She has recorded two new, upbeat songs: “Hearts on the Run” and “Back to Your Heart,” which are a far cry from the original piano ballads her audience is used to.

In September she will appear alongside Sting and Craig David on BBC Radio 2 in the park in Preston after her two new singles were named the station’s records of the week.

Ms. Goodrem will also be supporting Shania Twain at the Stirling Summer Sessions 2024 in Scotland, the Lytham Festival in the north west of England, the Chepstow Summer Sessions in Wales and the BST Hyde Park in London in the coming days.

“As fate would have it, I believe now is the perfect time to be back on tour and doing what I love,” she said.

“I’m sad that it took me so long to get back here, but I’m kind of processing it. Now it’s just time to rock, have fun, be reunited and sing together again.”

And the singer promises that it will not be her last visit to Northern Ireland.

“Belfast won’t get rid of me now,” she said.

“I’m so grateful for the warm welcome and for everyone singing along to the songs. I’m excited and it’s great to be here.

“But maybe next time you can talk about the weather for me, okay?”