“The right person heard the song,” she recalls. “And then all of a sudden we got the phone call and the next day it was on TV on the promo. And I was like ‘What!?’.
“That’s how it happens. That’s so much of the music industry.
“There are so many things that go into making an artist. You have to have talent first and foremost. You have to have drive, you have to have limitless ambition, you have to be resilient and you have to have the right people around you.”
“My friend Sam Smith, right,” she begins. “His last five years has been everything coming together perfectly at once. The talent, the personality, the good people.
“He’s worked his butt off since he was 14, writing songs, doing all this. All of it, the ambition, the drive, all of it has come together. The talent, the right songs, the right time. He’s incredibly talented, but it all worked. And he’s the biggest star in the whole world.
“That’s just … that’s being an artist. That’s how it works.”
For Ricki-Lee, now was the right time to take on her new role as host of Australia’s Got Talent – and she is loving every minute of it. Giving a unique insight into what went down behind the scenes during filming, the star reveals there were times when she couldn’t help but get swept up in the emotional roller-coaster that goes on with the contestants backstage.
“When I’m side of stage, I’m just sympathetic and empathetic with the contestants and their loved ones,” she says.
“My aim is to be there for them, whether it’s to celebrate and have fun or to stand there and cuddle their mums while they’re crying. I try to not be as much of a wreck as them, but I probably always am.”
For more, see this week’s New Idea – out now