Is Jett Blyton our next Troye Sivan? Meet Australia’s rising gay pop voice

At just 19, Canberra-born pop artist Jett Blyton is already drawing comparisons to Troye Sivan – not that he’s entirely convinced. “I think a lot of people compare me to Troye Sivan because we’re both white dudes from Australia who happen to be gay,” he tells the Gay Sydney News podcast. “I love his music… I’d love to be as successful as him one day.”

Blyton’s sound is a fizzing collision of 2010s club pop and MGMT-style indie weirdness. His breakout track Apeshit blew up on TikTok before it was even finished, with a piano teaser hitting more than 2 million views and helping him build a fanbase stretching from Canberra to London. “It’s very surreal… to be recognised for something you love doing,” he says.

Far from the cliché of a major-label prodigy, his story starts in Canberra, working shifts at Maccas, playing pubs and markets, and shooting a chaotic “$8” music video on an iPhone fuelled by spinach and pinot noir. Even a hungover KFC delivery drama became content: a TikTok about waiting 45 minutes for cold chicken landed him a brand deal and a new jingle about the chain’s reduced delivery fee. “What can I say? I love my food fast and greasy,” he laughs.

Blyton’s bass voice and classically trained background give his songs a distinctive depth beneath the glitter. He’s obsessed with “recession pop” and the way dance music thrived during hard times – a lineage he’s now channelling into his Double Vision EPs and a new era he's exploring inspired by 2000s pop rock.

With LA trips booked, collaborations under way and a Discord-only piano version of Apeshit coming, he’s clearly thinking globally. Is Jett Blyton our next Troye Sivan – or something even more chaotic, silly and entirely his own? Listen to the this first episode of the Gay Sydney News podcast to decide for yourself.

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Below is a computer-generated transcript of the episode from Apple Podcasts (if quoting from it, please check the accuracy by listening the podcast itself):

Welcome to the very first episode of the Gay Sydney News Podcast, where we dive into queer stories, culture, and the people shaping what's next. I'm Ben Grubb, founder of Gay Sydney News, and for our debut episode, we're heading down the Hume Highway to Canberra, yes, Canberra, to meet one of Australia's most exciting new pop voices, Jett Blyton. At just 19, Jett's already had national radio play, viral TikToks, and a growing global audience. His music channel is the euphoric 2010s energy, think Troye Sivan meets MGMT, but with a heartfelt offbeat edge that feels totally his own. We talk about everything from his early Maccas shifts to making a KFC ad, the chaos of shooting an $8 music video on an iPhone, and how his breakout track Ape Shit blew up online before it even dropped. And because it couldn't be Canberra without it, there's a brief ode to the city's iconic Telstra Tower, aka the Eiffel Tower of Canberra, plus the story of how I nearly triggered a Parliament House lockdown back in 2016. So grab a drink, plug in, and enjoy Episode 1, My Chat with Jett Blyton, a young artist turning heartfelt chaos and queer confidence into some of the most exciting pop coming out of Australia right now. Today, I'm joined by Jett Blyton, a Canberra-based pop artist whose music feels like it could have been blasting from your iPod Touch in 2012, but somehow sounds completely modern. In just a year since finishing high school, is that right?

Yeah, yeah.

He's already had National Radio play viral TikToks and a fan base stretching from Canberra to London. What I love about your story is how it started, not necessarily in a big studio, but in Canberra, working shifts at Maccas, getting at pubs and markets, slowly building momentum from the ground up and then ironically, you ended up doing a TikTok for KFC. Yeah. So from Maccas to KFC, that's quite the fast food trajectory.

Look, what can I say? I love my food fast and greasy. That TikTok was inspired by a very real moment.

How did it come about?

I was hung over on a Sunday, as I always am.

And we're recording on a Saturday, by the way.

We're recording on a Saturday, so glad it's not tomorrow. But yeah, I was hung over on a Sunday, like I always am. And one thing about me, I need that KFC. And like truly I need it. Zingerbox. And so I ordered it and it was taking so long. Oh my God. The delivery driver took the worst route possible. And so I was like, I'm going to write a song about how I spent 8.95 on delivery and he's taking like 45 minutes with my cold chicken, which is completely so rogue. But then they saw it. And we did a cute little brand deal. It was very fun. Wrote a new song about their reduced delivery fee. That's 3.95 right now.

Amazing.

I take all the credit for that.

I've got a bit of history with Canberra myself. Yeah. Back in 2016, I left my bag in Parliament House's press gallery. Security tracked me down later and said that they were about to lock the building down thinking it was a bomb threat. So Canberra and I have a little bit of a complicated relationship. To make peace, I've actually bought you something.

Oh my gosh.

Which is this. Brought. I did have it previously. It's a, I don't know, describe it for the people who are not in the room.

It's like a wooden little sculpture with all of the big monuments in Canberra, which to be frank, I actually didn't realize that we have that many, but yeah.

Yeah. My favorite is the Telstra Tower.

I love the non-operational Telstra Tower. It doesn't work. It used to have a big revolving restaurant in it. And it used to be sick. It used to be able to go up there. But it's like literally abandoned right now. I think the telecommunications stuff still works because it's like, you know, just a cell tower. But I actually get really terrible service around Telstra Tower.

The Eiffel Tower of Canberra.

Yes.

195.2 meter telecommunications tower and tourist attraction on Black Mountain. I figured it deserves to live with someone actually putting Canberra on the map in a much cooler way.

That's very kind. Thank you.

So let's start there. What's it like being a musician in Canberra?

Great question. I'm probably not the best person to answer this. I'm never in Canberra. I truly, I go there and work, and then I come back to Sydney. I love Sydney, but I mean, Canberra is home. It's a very stable, quiet place to live, and I actually think it's really great to grow up there. I mean, I think it also forced me to be super creative growing up because there's like quite famously nothing to do. And if you're not being creative, then what else are you going to do? There's nothing really that productive other than creativity or skateboarding. There's a lot of skateboarders.

All right. Do you skate?

I wish someone gave me a skateboard when I was three years old and just told me to get over it and get on it. I think skaters are the coolest people in the world.

What do outsiders get wrong about the city?

Not a lot. Not a lot. So I'm totally shitting on Canberra. Canberra is great. I love Canberra.

It sounds like you like Canberra because it is maybe a little bit quieter, and that allowed that creativity to come out.

We also have great food and wine. Like, it's a great wine region, great food. Some of the best food in Australia, I think, is in Canberra, which makes sense, I guess, because politicians want to be eating good tonight. But yeah, it's a fun spot. There's also a great, very alive underground music scene and a really great classical scene as well. I mean, I grew up doing classical music for a long time. So yeah, it's just a fun, fun spot.

How's the local creative and queer scene, like supportive, small, both?

Supportive and small is exactly right. I mean, I think both in music and in, you know, the queer scene, everyone knows everyone and everyone's nice to each other for the most part.

You said you were coming back and forth between, you're like, you're never in Canberra.

Yeah.

Why's that?

I mean, I do a lot of recording in Sydney, a lot of things like this, a lot of big music ops, either here or, you know, Brisbane, Melbourne. And so Canberra is a great place. I can go there and, you know, work three days a week and then come here and spend all of my income.

And what's the best thing about Canberra?

The lakes. I love the lakes.

You're a walker, a runner? What do you do with the lakes?

I don't run. I should run. I can't run. Well, I can run, but I get really puffed out. I should start running more because then it would give me good stamina for my shows. But I love to walk around the lakes. We live so many lakes, truly. And they're all manmade.

Right.

None of them are real, except for a couple of them. But the big ones are manmade.

That's a lot of effort. I guess you need some way to attract people to the nation's capital.

I mean, it's fascinating the original sketches of Canberra and kind of the way that they had it all laid out. They like, there was supposed to be a bridge that kind of resembled Sydney, Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Parliament House was supposed to look a lot more like the White House and then they all just kind of met in the middle. But lakes were a big part of it from the start. Yeah, okay.

Would you ever move to Sydney or Melbourne full time, or is Canberra still going to be your home?

I love Sydney. I don't like Melbourne. I don't like being there. It's a great city and it's the culture and everything. It's a beautiful place to be. It's not for me. I love Sydney, though. Sydney is really fun. I can totally see myself being in Sydney when I'm older. I want to go overseas first, though. I can definitely see myself in LA for at least my 20s. We've kind of got that in motion at the moment, so I'm really excited about that. But Sydney, I think, is a forever city. I love this place.

Obviously, there is an attraction from artists to go to LA. It seems to be the springboard to a greater career.

Yeah.

What's the reason that you're going?

The reason I love LA is because of the people. I think everyone there is so perfectly competitive. And I think that, you know, that kinesis of constantly being at odds with everyone else in the room kind of pushes art forward in a really interesting way, because truly everybody wants to be the best. And I think, I mean, I'm a competitive person, and it is totally toxic sometimes. But I think if you want to make great music, it's a great place to do it. And truly everyone is there. I ran into Mark Ronson on the plane to LA. And then you just like go to shows and you just see people, you're like, I know you, I know. What is going on? It feels like you're in a movie the whole time.

Like the celebs there don't feel like they're celebs, maybe?

Yeah, it's interesting. I think the culture there is actually like, it's very fun. It's more friendly competition, at least from what I've gathered. And I'm sure, you know, there are different crowds in different circles, but that's like anyway, you know.

Yeah. And the collaboration opportunities. Have you got something set up already?

Yeah, yeah. I'm going back to LA in a month, which I'm really excited for just for a short stint, but got some really exciting writing happening, you know, with people who've just like worked on some of the coolest stuff that I've listened to over the past few years. And it's actually so rewarding to get to be able to be in the same room as people, you know, you've looked up to for a long time. I love collaborating with other people for writing. I also love writing for other people as well. I think, you know, songwriting is my greatest asset as an artist, I think, at least.

Have you been doing that already, the collaborating with others or songwriting?

Yeah, yeah. It's been really fun. I was writing K-pop a couple of weeks ago, which was so fun. And it's so interesting to like, you know, put yourself in the shoes of another person because you don't really want to put words in their mouth, but you just want to create the ultimate sense of conveying their message in a three and a half minute way.

So finding your sound, like, how did you find your sound? I feel like you're going on a bit of a journey still.

Yeah, absolutely.

I really like the current sound with Ape Shed and Landmine, but you started off with, I think it was June?

Is that right? Yeah.

Tell me a little bit about the differences in sound from the start sonically to where you are now.

I mean, the first project I ever put out was me just throwing things to the wall and kind of seeing what's stuck. I wanted to kind of explore a few different options before I landed on something. And then Double Vision, I went into that with the ethos that the first project is going to be a little bit more R&B inspired and Volume 2 is going to be more recession pop inspired. Kind of an homage to a lot of the music that I've loved and listened to forever.

And Double Vision is your first EP or album?

The Sleep On The Altar was the first EP and then Double Vision Volume 1, first one, Double Vision Volume 2, November 7th. So out very soon.

You said you love big electronic production. What draws you to that?

It's just so loud and fun. And I think when you're in the club, you want to dance to it. And I love to dance.

Do you think we're kind of missing that dance pop at the moment?

Music is an interesting thing as a whole right now, because you don't have to be tied to a certain genre to be really popular. And there's a lot of niche artists who are totally crushing it, making sounds that are so not radio friendly. And then as a result, people listen to it, they become radio friendly. I think Charlie XCX's album of the year last year, genuinely best album ever, Danceable Pop is so back.

Did you put a radio edit out for yours? Because you've got to be swearing in it.

Yeah.

For Ape Shed in particular.

We have a radio edit. It's like, the carpet is wet, I'm hungover is full.

You didn't pick another word?

Nah, people need to know what I was going to say.

Yeah.

There's like a little like, you know?

Because it's really hard, I guess, to get radio play right if you just have all the swear words.

Yeah. I mean, Triple J's, they don't care.

They drop it. I haven't listened.

Triple J is full swearing all the time. Gay government funded stations, but commercial radio, I think it's just because of the ad sense. But also, like, I mean, I hope that changes soon, at least after a certain hour in the day, because like, you know, like TV shows, you're watching Married at First Sight. If it's like past 9 p.m., they're allowed to swear sometimes.

People are listening to swear words all the time on social media. I don't understand.

Really Australian thing to just be swearing.

But we'll drop the C word, like in casual conversation, and you go to America and they're like, Road rage.

You're like, Oh, you-

You often reference the 2010s, Pong era. What about that decade keeps inspiring you?

I mean, it's just so timeless to me. And I mean, the production and the writing and, you know, some of the tropes are, you know, very of the era and, you know, haven't aged particularly well, but the vibe and the mood of the songs is just so perfect to me. Because I mean, if you think about it, what was happening in the world, you know, global financial crisis, people have no money, so that's what we're going to sing about. We're going to sing about going to the club, we have no money, I'm gonna dance, dance, dance, you know? And that's, I mean, the stuff that's still playing right now. I think it's just a good time. And Double Vision for me was about having a good time. It's actually pretty emotionally detached, but it is a fun time.

It's interesting, I think I see, so you got your GFC back then, and now it's like pandemic pop. It's like people were so locked up and confined, and now they just want to party, go to raves and warehouse parties.

And then we're seeing like a lot of house music coming in at the moment. Pandemic pop is hilarious. I've never heard that term before, but it's absolutely what it was. And it has such a distinct sound to it. I'm glad I wasn't making pandemic pop during the pandemic, because I would have fallen into that.

There were a few people putting out very sad songs during that.

Yeah, and they all have this like insular sound, probably just out of necessity. Very interesting.

A lot of self-reflection, I think, going on externally outwards.

Then you have like your, you know, your Salem Elise. Am I saying the last name right? You know, like, I'm mad at Disney. Like a lot of that type of music came out as well. Very, very TikTokable music.

Your Spotify bio says pop songs for now.

Yeah.

What does that mean?

So the next project is happening probably sooner than you think, and it's very much well underway. But they're pop songs. Pop rock songs.

OK.

You know, a little bit more inspired by less so 2010, more like 2006, you know, I think taking it back, I love a lot of the American rock that was coming out.

A good Charlotte era, maybe. Yeah, maybe.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I love, I mean, I'm referencing a lot of LCD sound system, a lot of a lot of Weezer, Image and Heap.

Yeah. OK.

The new Lord album, we're referencing a lot. Obviously, that's a lot newer, but there's a lot of them, like drum machines and kind of classic noises. And of course, you know, 303, Indie Sleeves, The Dare. I love it. So we're kind of bringing everything together, but it's emotionally a lot more tapped in and it feels much more mature. And I'm having so much fun with it.

Pop really goes through these cycles over and over. Like it was getting into that 90s vibe for a little bit there. I haven't really gotten the 2006 vibe in a while.

I mean, it's kind of nondescript. I think a lot of the great music in the 90s and 2000s can be overlooked from time to time. I mean, there's some genres that have done really great, you know, like 90s R&B and, and you know, like your Britney's from the 2000s and your, you know, Fergie's and your Black Eyed Peas and stuff like that. But I'm trying to try to do my music history and tap into something cool and inventive.

And how does your classical and theatre background as well? Yeah, yeah. How does that kind of influence what you do now?

I carry it with me everywhere I go. I need to get back into doing classical voice lessons. They really are so beneficial when you can kind of learn the rules and how you can break them in certain scenarios to create cooler sounds. And I mean, the way that I sing classical music is so different to the way that I sing pop. But I'm in the booth doing pop stuff. I'm like, la, la, la, la, la, you know, trying to get like the right emotional take. But classical music, you have to be like laser focus and so aware of your surroundings and the people you're looking at and how you can convey this dark message in Italian to everyone.

How did you? It was opera singing. How did what were you doing with the, how did you get into that?

I bought a piano. Well, I didn't buy the piano. My dad bought a piano. We moved house, so we bought a piano. And the guy we bought the piano from sells a lot of pianos. And he was like, I also do a lot of classical music stuff. And I was like, awesome. And then he was like, do you want to do a song right now? And I'm like, do I? Yes. He's a very close family friend and it's a great circle.

Troye Sivan, I know you've heard this a few times. I was listening back to some of your community radio chats. And he kind of blends that emotion and sleek pop. Do you see parallels?

I think a lot of people compare me to Troye Sivan because we're both white dudes from Australia who happen to be gay. I love his music. I think it's so good. I don't think I could make the style of music he makes effectively at all. I think what he's on and the wave he's riding right now is so fun and fascinating to watch. I'm very flattered by all the comparisons, though. I would love to be as successful as him one day.

Your range is different, right?

I'm so much lower. Yeah.

I haven't heard that kind of like you. I think you speak similar in the way that I do. Like it's a very kind of deeper, but a little bit higher. How do you use that to your advantage?

I mean, my voice type is like rare. It's I think 5% of people on the planet are basses, which is like the lowest male range you can have. I mean, like someone like Troye Sivan, for instance, very much utilizing that, like the breathy top end. I think my music can be lyrically punchy up because I'm like, da, da, da, da, da, you know.

Do you ever get frustrated? Because like when I'm trying to sing girlie pop songs, obviously I can't reach that range at all. Yeah. Can you get there or do you do it?

Down the octave, yeah. Just sing what I can in the car. It normally works because like their top notes are usually like, my top notes are an octave lower. It's fine. I mean like some things that are stony if an attempt cannot attempt.

Your first EP took about four months to write, is that right?

Yeah, about that.

And 10 months to finalise and do the production. What did that process teach you?

I mean, it taught me so much about, you know, the way pop music is made and trusting the process and trusting myself and, you know, my creative instincts and also how to give a good vocal performance. I mean, I think this is true with a lot of artists who, you know, have their artist development in real time. You'll go and you'll listen to the first few songs. I think Lola Young is a great example. And you are so familiar with, you know, the vocal character that they've taken on recently that you go back and listen to the old stuff. And it's very much more not timid, but like you can tell there's like something trying to break out and then it does and it really hits.

You still write on your piano at home, right?

All the time.

Is it an organ? What piano do you have?

We have an upright pianola.

Yeah.

From like, I want to say the 1800s.

Wow.

Yeah. It's gorgeous. And then we also have another piano upstairs, which is very fun to play.

Yeah. Okay. What's the background of your parents?

So my parents met at their job. They met at their job, but dad is very musical and kind of grew up playing music in the house. Mom is also very creative. She loves to paint. So it was like a space in which creativity was welcomed, though I will say like, I think I'm the first person in my family to really run with it.

Go public with it.

Yeah. Yeah. My dad loves a good pub jam.

Yeah. Okay. Did he play in pubs himself?

Impromptu. Always impromptu. And he still does. Everyone's like, JB get on the piano.

In Needing A Break, you sing, You're Becoming Somebody I'm Miles Away From. What inspired that?

Can I be so honest, please? We wrote this song in a day with this Sydney West boyband called Breakfast Road. They are the coolest, and they are making amazing music right now. Genuinely, it's so good, and they are the funniest guys. And we just wanted to write a little smash hit. I mean, our reference is going in for the day. We're like Telephone by Lady Gaga. But then we also took some inspiration from some 80s house music, and kind of like the birth of that real club kid, Sonic from New York. I don't know what the exact reference was. I think it's just about being in the club, and you're like, I'm right here with you, but you feel so far away.

And so Ape Shit came from being the only gay dude in a room full of straight guys. Yeah. How did that become a song? Was that a real situation?

Yeah, it's a real situation. Every week. You know, I think recently, when I say recently, maybe four to three or four months ago, I've really, really started to dive into lyrics as something that I want to completely finesse and obsess over and apeshit. I mean, I go to a lot of parties where, you know, with my friends, but I'm looking around. I'm the only gay person here right now. I am hung over. I do not want to be here, but I have to be here because I think, you know, if you want the village, takes a villager. That's kind of where that spawned. And then I remember I was actually like probably just about to go to a party when I wrote it, still in my gown, didn't get ready until I had to go.

And you were hung over?

I wasn't hung over on that day. But there's nothing worse than being in the club or like at a party when you're hung over and you don't want to drink. You're like, this sucks. Why did I go so hard yesterday? But yeah, and then like smashed out in half an hour for the first part of the song. I'm really proud of that song.

Is it in Canberra where you experienced a lot of this that you told in Ape Shit? Yeah. How accurate would the song be in terms of how you live your life in Canberra and going out and like, is there beer pong? What kind of games? Like, cause that's what I imagine. Was it beer pong?

Yeah. I mean, I would say that song is like 90% accurate to like the way that I live my life. There's a few fun tropes and whatnot that we throw in there.

There's no dog shit on the pavement.

No, it's eight shit on the pavement. Like tripped over. Yeah. But people say that a lot. And I'm like, ah, I really hope that isn't eliciting the wrong response in the brain. But yeah, no, it's very true to me. And you know, I love my circle in Canberra so much. And you know, the people that I party with, all very fun, so.

I watched one of the behind the scenes videos for needing a break. Yeah. You joked the whole thing had a budget of $8, and I could see it was shot on an iPhone. I think there was a gimbal, and you had spinach and pinot noir, red wine. It's pretty good for something that stripped back.

Yeah. To me, this whole era is kind of just about like excess, you know, excess in the Sonics. And I was like, how do we convey that in music video? I don't know. I'm going to eat so much spinach. I'm going to drink so much wine. I'm going to pour it all over myself. I'm going to run around and just act a fool. Because why not? It's so fun.

Was that really just the setup of an iPhone and stabilizer?

We had some professional camera shots as well, and kind of like did a bit of a mix. And like, it was a very fun shoot.

What inspired that?

I couldn't tell you. I have no idea. I must have been on a Murray's bus and just thinking, you know what, why not just go ham on this music video with the fruits and the vegetables.

Do you think that low-budget freedom helped you be more creative?

I think it forces you to think about what will work. It's nice to be able to think, oh yeah, I'm going to have a music video, and then I'm going to be flying, and we'll just green screen it. Nope. Looks so bad if you try to do that and you have no experience. Not speaking from experience, but there's also so many fun things you could do with a green screen instead. You could make a silly little music video. I know Malcolm Todd made a great music video with a green screen and his friends, and I think you can be so creative with a low budget.

You have that camcorder vibe, I think, with Atypical as well. Was that a camcorder, how did you filter it?

It was a camcorder, actually it was like one of the old ones that had those tiny CDs in them or DVDs, and it was spinning the whole time, me and my friends just walked around for a day, and just filmed it, because why not?

You've called Needing a Break Club Kid Recession Corps anthem. What does that mean to you?

I think the sonic world that the song sits in takes a lot of inspiration from the music people were dancing to in New York in the 80s, that real club kid era, but also referencing types of Lady Gaga and a little bit of Madonna. Definitely, they had their recession pop moments. Lady Gaga more than Madonna.

Is there an Ape Ship video coming?

No.

Why not?

I don't know. Just because. Because I think I'm happy with where the song sits, and we are doing a little piano version-y thing for a Discord exclusive. But-

Interesting.

I'm gonna do something funny with that. It won't be on Spotify. Full forewarning. No Spotify.

Discord. Okay, so you're going to have to sign up to listen. Okay.

Community.

Yes.

It's going to be free.

On that point, so piano, I was reading some comments, and I think there are a couple there that were frustrated that they had listened to the TikTok, which kind of blew up, and they were hoping for a piano version.

Yeah.

And it made me think about how there's people commenting on songs, and they want a different thing, or they want a different, they say the bass line is too much.

Yeah.

What do you kind of think about people who are just saying, well, it should be this, it should be that?

I would say, if you don't like the version of the song I put out, you're probably not going to like the rest of my music. And it's important to me that everything I put out sounds like something that I want to put out. And so if it happens to sound a bit different, I think we pushed it into a really cool spot. And I'm very proud of, you know, the kind of the turnaround and how quick we managed to get that lightning in a bottle. But I also think, you know, there is a real space for acoustic music and I would love to explore that one day. I just knew that this wasn't the song for it.

Landline and Apeshit feel like your funnest songs.

Yeah.

Were they from the start?

I mean, Apeshit we only wrote in, I mean, I only wrote it in like the end of July, start of August. So that just kind of happened. Landmine was really fun to do. We just went into the studio, knowing that we wanted to make a really fun song. And I went in with someone called Thomas Porter, and someone called Hannah Brewer, and we just, yeah, wrote a really fun song.

What do you remember about the moment that Apeshit clicked?

I remember writing it and just being like, this is good, this is a fun song. I've been wanting to write in that, you know, stream of consciousness style for a long time. And, you know, it was a good excuse to do it. And I remember just like the opening line, like the carpet is wet, I'm hungover as fuck. I'm like, let's just put them in the shoes. I hate wet carpet. I hate wet carpet so much. Actually like my least favorite feeling in the world when you walk into like a venue or a nightclub and the carpet is like sticky and wet. I'm like, ah, it just, it really-

It can't get any worse.

It does, it ruins my brain.

You've called Apeshit MGMT meets Audrey Hobart, Low Key. What about those artists influenced it?

MGMT, we took a lot from their 2006 record for inspiration for the sound. I think, you know, especially a lot of the music around there, including LCD sound system, who I mentioned before, but the mixes are so interesting. When I say mixes, I mean like the way different parts of the song are balanced together, you know, the voice and the instrumentation, for instance. But, you know, the bass lines are pretty subdued, and the synths are blaring, and they're pretty jank, and they've got, you know, cool harmonics. And so, yeah, we tried to reference that. Audrey Hobart massively influenced me this year across everything I did. I just think she's one of the coolest upcoming artists. There's a video of her on the radio, probably three weeks back, talking about ape shit. First one is a guy named Jett Blyton.

Oh, I know this guy.

Yeah, no, you know. Yeah, he's into you. Good, right?

No, yeah. It's so melodically tight. It's so tight. Yeah. And I have friends who, like when that clip initially went viral, were showing it to me kind of like without any sort of connection, not being like, oh, there's some the comment says this reminds me of Audrey or whatever. That's like, that's totally singular, I think. And also, yeah, just tight as shit.

It's hot.

Yeah.

I just can't believe she knows who I am. I just love her.

So Audrey Hubbard's touring next year.

Yeah.

You have a pitch for her, right?

Yeah. Hello. If you are Audrey Hubbard or you know Audrey Hubbard, or you perhaps even work at Frontier Touring, or you know someone that works at Frontier Touring. Hi, my name is Jett Blyton. I make fun pop songs, and I am the best option to support Audrey Hubbard next year. Please, pretty please, you can pay me $2, maybe $3.

Listen to Jett, that first TikTok of you playing Ape Sh**, or at least the first part of it hit 2.1 mil views before the song was even done.

Yeah.

What was that feeling like? Did it happen overnight?

It didn't happen overnight. It happened over the course of a few days, but I knew it was going to go well on the second day because my friends were messaging me saying, hey, this song is really good. It was getting a lot of comments, a lot of shares more than it usually does. And I'm like, oh, I wonder what's going to happen here. I mean, it's a very surreal feeling, you know, to be recognized for something you love doing. I think it's like, I'm so grateful for that opportunity. And you know what that's given me. Big shout out to the fans, Jett Blyton Nation.

Did that virality change how you approached finishing it?

We tried not to let it impact too much. I mean, obviously, we had to go in from the perspective that people will be listening to this song, you know. A lot of times, you're writing a song or you're finishing a song, and you're like, I wonder who's going to like this, who's going to listen to it, if it'll do well. We had to go in from the perspective of, okay, people are going to be here for this song, but let's make this a Jett Blyton song and not a piano song.

There was a comment under one of your TikToks that said, why does he have 73,000 followers, but only 6,000 listens on Spotify? What do you think about trying to get that audience from one platform to another and how difficult that can be sometimes?

I think doing the cross-platform migration is always tough, especially between TikTok, Spotify, and Instagram, kind of the big three, even YouTube as well to an extent. But I think if people are listening in any respect or tapped in, it genuinely is the coolest thing ever to me. And it never will not be the coolest thing ever if it's 500 people or 500,000 or however many, you know?

Do you ever feel like you release songs too early online and that fans fall in love with snippets before they're even out?

I have an ethos with my music that it's just music. And, you know, I don't really care about sharing it, you know, if people want to hear something or if I want people to hear something, even if it's not going to come out for a year, you know? Why not? Yeah, I love, yeah, I'm independent. I love making music.

So if there's a label involved, that's when it starts to probably confine or restrict that creativity and-

They might not like it, but I'm still gonna do it.

Yeah.

No, I just love sharing music. And I think it's also like, we have this tool as artists on TikTok, where you get instant audience feedback. That is insane. That has never been a thing that has been remotely possible ever. I think people, you know, might maybe take the TikTok route and they think, oh, I've got to make this TikTok to promote this new song. What if you just put out five songs and see which one people love, and then do that one first, and then you'll have more of an audience for the next one? I think music marketing is in a really interesting space in the sense that you can just do whatever. And if it works, it works. And if it doesn't, there's something else later.

Do you ever worry, it sounds like you don't, that the height peaks before the track drops?

It is what it is. You know, the internet will do what they do. I wish we put out Ape Ship a couple weeks earlier, but when that was out of my control.

So how do you know when something's ready to post now, or do you just go with instinct?

Posting is so easy. Let's make a post right now.

Okay.

I love posting. I'll post on my alt account. Hey guys, we're in an interview. We're in an interview. Let's go. Let's go post. It's that easy. I love that.

You said humor is kind of part of your process, I think. And where does that come from? You've said that, right?

Yeah, I'm sure. I say a lot of things. This mouth, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap.

Inserting humor into your songs, how important is that?

Lyrically, I'm trying to like beat myself up over lyrics and just make sure they are the perfect level of everything for anything that I'm going to be releasing into the future. You know, this EP was all about, you know, having fun and having vibes, but I really do want to be telling stories. And so I think incorporating humor is so fun. I posted a TikTok the other day of a song that I really love called Lavender, which will come out next year. But it's like, I had that thought yesterday as in like, I'll find the love of my life. I had that thought yesterday and it didn't work out, so I took the fast route, downloaded Hinge. Like, you can really just say whatever in a song, you know, you got three and a half minutes, captivate people.

The Massacus is one that you've been working on as well, or at least put on TikTok. It's kind of oddly deep. What sparked that?

It's kind of about, you know, hook up culture in the queer scene. I think hook up culture has a very, like, to be devil's advocate, I think it has had a very important and also kind of like a place built out of necessity for a lot of people who very openly could not be themselves in the past, which is like devastating. That being said, I think sometimes hook up culture can feel, you know, degrading in a sense. And, you know, what happens if you like someone and it's just not going anywhere, you know? At least I feel the sense that, like, you know, I owe it to myself to stand on ground and make boundaries sometimes. Yeah.

And then you've got another one unreleased. You just keep pumping them out over and over and over.

I write music so much.

And they're all really good.

Thank you.

One's called Really Fucking Sexy, and it was kind of this total musical theater energy vibe.

We will listen to a part of the time, definitely not pop music. And the way that she tells stories, like genuinely, I listen to the songs, and I'm like, damn, that's just so perfectly read my mind. I feel so like seen and also appreciated, and I feel like everything's going to be okay. But I listen to her songs.

You've got around 30,000 monthly Spotify listeners at the moment with London, Sydney and New York among your top cities. Were you surprised by that? I think London's leading the way at the moment.

I am surprised that London's leading the way. I mean, like pre-Ape shit, it was like Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane. And so I think London popping up is cool. I love the Brits.

What do you think about the UK listeners connect so strongly with the music?

I'll be honest, I have no idea. It might be just like an algorithmic thing. Maybe TikTok's just pushing it out to the UK, which is great. Thanks, TikTok.

I did wonder whether you write with a global audience in mind, like using miles instead of kilometers or, you know, some sort of American isms and your American accent also in music. What's, yeah. And then sometimes you've got a little bit that Australian twins.

Accent and, you know, those American isms always completely intentional. And you're onto something. It's a big part of the of the next thing that we're working on is taking that and branding that those American isms in a very campy way, which I'm very excited about. I think it's going to be, it's going to be so fun. But yeah, it's all very intentional at the Australian Accident. I've tapped into a lot for this upcoming EP. It's coming out in a couple of weeks. Just because I think an Australian accent in pop music is fun. That's going away for a bit. And then it'll come back at some point, I'm sure.

You've had a huge year. How do you unwind when you're off the clock?

I don't. I need to get better at it. I hate relaxing. I don't do it very often just by the nature of, you know, driving back and forth, always having something to do in Sydney and then working in Canberra. And so I don't get a lot of off days. But when I do, I literally have no idea what to do with myself. I'm like, should I like bake? I do a lot of baking on my off days.

What do you bake?

Oh, I love Claire Saffitz. If you know who she is, she's a really cool baker. She was from the Bon Appetit Test Kitchen, and then she left because they got in a scandal. And then now she's doing her own stuff. Really cool.

Wait, what are you baking?

Just her recipes. I love baking her stuff.

What's something that you baked recently?

The last thing I baked was bread, which is really boring. But it was good bread.

Cakes?

Yeah, I like making cakes for people's birthdays and stuff.

Canberra is peaceful, I imagine.

Too peaceful.

Maybe at night time, not so much. Are there any favourite local spots where you go to clear your head?

My bedroom. I love my bedroom. Also, there's a great walk near my house that I trail a lot. Not going to dox myself, but it's a beautiful walk, and also Goodbreeze with friends.

What's something fans would be surprised to know about you that you haven't said before?

What haven't I said? Oh, no. Do I have some weird obsession? Do I have some weird obsession? Probably. I do watch a lot of cooking videos to fall asleep and stuff.

A bit ASMR-y?

Kind of. I just think a lot of people who, like New York Times Cooking Channel, they all have really soothing voices, and it's a very pragmatic and personable approach to doing something. And so it's just like white noise to me. It's amazing.

So you've mentioned exploring a day vs. night duality in new music. What does that sound like?

That is double vision. You know, I think Volume 1 is very much like daytime. Volume 2 is very much the nighttime counterpart, and you know, like falling into the deep hours of the night. Volume 2 for me is like it's just a very danceable, very like club-inspired record, not in the sound, but like inspired by events at the club or at a party and just having a lot of fun. Volume 1 is- it just feels sunnier to me. And the next stuff that we're working on is very like 2pm kind of vibe.

If one of your songs could sit between Starships and Call Me Maybe on a 2012 playlist, which would it be?

Maybe a song that hasn't come out yet.

Okay.

Can I play some of it?

Can you play me that? Yeah, of course.

Should I reconnect to the Bluetooth?

Please.

It's so silly. It's like actually the silliest song I think I've ever made, and it's actually borderline, like lyrically terrible. But I'm so into it. It's really fun. It's like, it's just so silly. You'll hear it, it's so silly.

There's that Aussie accent again.

Yeah, major Aussie accent. But it's just like, it's a silly song. Very 2012 inspired.

What is it about?

It's about going to the club and pretending you're not in love with someone, but you are.

Okay. And they're there?

Sure.

Okay.

I'm not in love with you.

Is it another real situation?

Totally.

Okay. Do they know yet? What does success look like for you right now?

I've been thinking about this a lot. I don't know. I am one of those people who is just so determined to make it work. But what it looks like, I think it's going to have a magical journey, and I can't put myself in a box and try and be like, to be successful, I've got to do this, got to do that, got to do that. I'm going to completely let it lead me, because I have trust that it's going to work out.

You were recently on the cover of Stun magazine.

Yay.

Is that your first cover?

Yeah. That was cool. That was fun.

So that would have been, that would have been exciting.

Yeah. It was cool. I got like sent a photo of the magazine by my friend. They were like, what? And I was like, oh my God, I can't believe it's out. Yeah. It's really cool.

Hopefully more of them to come. Yay. And finally, where is that iconic Tostra Tower souvenir going to sit? Where are you going to put this?

That is a great question. There's a good spot in the kitchen for it. There's a good spot in the kitchen for it. There's a shelf in the kitchen that it would work well in.

Well, this is yours.

Thank you so much.

Amazing.

Yay, Canberra. One thing about me is Canberra.

Thanks for coming.

I can't believe they make these.

Yeah. I bought it from Parliament House during the bomb scares.

I believe that. Yeah, of course they do that.

Yeah.

That's awesome source.

Well, good luck with the future. I'm very excited. It sounds like you're off to overseas, LA maybe.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for coming.

Thanks for having me.