Introducing electro-pop newcomer TAMMA, and her banging debut single, Beat You Down

TAMMA is a NZ-born, Melbourne-based artist who has arrived fully formed with her fantastic debut single and video clip - Beat You Down. The upbeat, tropical, electro-infused pop jam comes with an equally great video clip, directed by Damien Blu (Slow Pulp) and show in Venice Beach, California. Not bad for a first single huh?

The track also comes with a heartbreaking back story, but we'll let TAMMA fill you in on all the details in our Q&A below:

Tell us about yourself?

I am from the North Island of New Zealand. Before I could even talk I was obsessed with music. Mum and Dad would sing and play music together even when I was in the belly. I grew up in a musical home where both sides of my family boast enthusiastic musicians. We still have jam sessions together when I go home. My folks moved us to the countryside from Auckland city to Hamilton when I was about 9. Country life, by the age of 10 I was driving a manual car around the paddock, playing the sassy tones of the recorder to my pet rabbits and making bonfires and camping down the back of the gully with my friends. Mum and Dad gave me my first ever guitar which I gave up for tap dancing (rolls eyes) thanks Ma for letting me do that haha.

I always knew I would leave Hamilton, as I dreamed of opportunities that stretched far beyond the paddocks at Mum and Dad’s place. I made the move to Melbourne with aspirations of getting involved in the amazing music scene here, until I encountered multiple complications with my voice which resulted in surgery, twice. It was a mission to even talk let alone sing, my identity as a singer and my dreams of being able to write and perform my own music were crushed. I wasn’t going to accept that my voice may never come back, I spent years working on rehabilitation and training to get it back, exercises every hour of everyday, saving up my money and travelling all over the place to see the best of the best.

I got my voice back and I had so much to share and say but I didn’t know where to start! My confidence was completely gone. A friend gave me a keyboard, so I locked myself away in my room to learn how to play it and write my own music. I write music because it’s soul healing. I share my stories and experiences through my music and love the fact it connects people and makes us all feel human.

What kinda tunes we talkin’?

I tend to write raw, playful, authentic tunes based on life experiences. I write depending on the mood I am in so can teeter between upbeat pop vibes to soulful raw emotive tunes, I have been working with different producers which has been fun.

Production/writing process:

Beat You Down came out of me in a cottage in the bush out in the Dandenong Ranges here in Melbourne. I was putting far too much pressure on myself to get something out, but a walk in the countryside and a glass of wine with the hosts of my Air BnB moved me in to a new headspace. It started out as quite a melancholy kind of vibe and was an evolution in the studio with the two producers Michael Delorenzis and Michael Paynter from MSquared. We knew when it was finished that it had hit the mark I was looking for. A summer soaked, upbeat, fun beat. A dichotomy of the worst time in my life spun in to a pick me up tune.

Can you tell us about your new single, Beat You Down?

Beat You Down followed after the worst time of mine and my family’s lives. I was in Berlin and got a call that there was an accident with my little nephew Buddy, 8 months old and fighting for his life on life support in hospital. I couldn’t get home in time to say goodbye. I was screaming ‘NO’ down the phone as I saw my sister’s grief stricken face with our lifeless little Buddy in her arms. I made the harrowing 38hr journey home to NZ to be with my family. I knew life would never be the same again. My new life was now to learn how to cope with the grief and to get my family and myself through the pain and confusion.

I threw myself in to writing music as it helped with the pain, escaping in to a world that was mine that I could take anywhere with me. Writing music makes me feel alive and gives me hope. I want to share it with everyone to give them that same feeling. I wrote Beat You Down. As I watched my little nieces and nephew try to navigate through the confusion of losing Buddy I thought about my life as a little girl and it was confusing enough let alone losing a little brother. I wanted to write them a song that is a message to them to keep them going, stay close to your loved ones and don’t let trivial things or toxic people Beat You Down, I feel it applies to everyone and seeing my nieces and nephews yelling it out on the trampoline and making up dances to it and holding their hearts when they sing it tells me I’ve won my little audience’s hearts.

Any shows coming up?

I will be playing a stripped back acoustic gig on the 21st October at Fauroke’s Olive for Darebin Music Feast.

What’s the rest of the year have in store?

I will mostly be working on my new stuff in the studio with some live shows thrown in the mix.

Where can we hear more of your music?

I am currently working on new music to release in the new year which I am excited about so I'll be letting ya know. Keep in touch here:

Follow TAMMA: FACEBOOK