From the very age of 5, Bianca began to live her Art as a beautifully talented songwriter and a singer with a powerful voice. The kind of voice that leaves listeners with that perfect sound accompanied by goosebumps. We are elated as Bianca ushers us into her beautiful world, sharing with us some behind the scene reality of what it entails to live one’s art beyond all odds.

Enjoy and Stay Inspired: 

Please can we meet YOU?

I’m Bianca Oechsle, I’m a Sydney local and apart from music, I’m obsessed with animals and plants (I’m in the process of turning my house into a jungle). 

• Can you remember the first song you ever wrote and what inspired it? 

I wrote my first song when I was 5. It was just a piano song called “My Choo Choo Train” and then my first lyrical song was “Music School Is Fun” which I wrote when I was 5 and I think it’s pretty clear the inspiration was my love for music school haha. But I really started to get into songwriting properly when I was 12. I think most of my songs back then were teen angsty songs about mean friends (this was when the great emo phase was alive and thriving).

Have you ever held back your gifts at some point, perhaps through self doubt? Have you ever felt it ‘boxed’ by someone else or an experience? 

I’m definitely incredibly self critical. I have a habit of feeling like I don’t deserve small wins even if I’ve worked SO hard for a long to achieve them. I think trying to always be ultra realistic and play down any opportunity I get as “its not happening until it happens” has also kind of dampened a bit of that confidence in myself. Having said that I still have always created and put out what I’ve wanted to, it just might come along with stress and meltdowns haha.

You have a super powerful voice and all the cover songs you do can simply be described as refined versions of their originals. What inspires your selection of a particular cover song? 

Thank you so much! It totally varies, some songs I immediately click with and cover because I love them and follow the artists but I also get a HEAP of requests. That’s great because I find artists that I otherwise would never have come across and can also do what my followers would like to hear. For example requests for BTS (just before their global takeover) lead me to discovering and doing Kpop covers in Korean and it’s become one of the most popular styles on my channel.

You recently shared the inspiration behind your single “Arcade,” how you dealt with the “worst depression” at that time. Please can you share how you overcame this phase of your life and some words for anyone going through same thing right now? 

Yeah it was a really difficult time for me and started when I was around 17. I realized that being on the pill for my skin had been the cause of the severe depression, but I only discovered that in my mid 20s so I had to deal with it at the time without that knowledge. 

I was very secretive about my depression because I was embarrassed by it and when I finally opened up to my only close friends at the time they actually (shockingly) encouraged me to become bulimic as a coping mechanism. I knew it was terrible advice and these people didn’t care about me but out of self hate I did end up suffering with that eating disorder for over a year and a half. Music was the only thing I really loved at the time and I became really worried that I’d damage my voice, I was also really sick of being so unhappy all the time and not having anyone who knew about my problems that wanted to help me. So I cut off those people and figured I was better off having no friends than ones that were so toxic. It lead me to hanging out with some other people who listened to me when I talked about what I was going through and were really kind and supportive. That made the absolute biggest difference for me and since then I’ve always made sure that if I’m in a dark place I tell someone in that moment. Even if there’s nothing that can be done it just helps so much saying the words and getting the thoughts out of your head.

Your tribute song for your Grandma is so beautiful, how would you best describe your kind of music? 

I really appreciate that, it was a really hard song to write. We lost her during the Sydney lockdown and I wasn’t able to see her in person at the end, which was devastating, so I wanted to write something special for her funeral. 

I write in a lot of different styles because I do a lot of pitching for other artists and top lining for producers and DJs but when it comes to my own music, I’m heavily influenced by 80’s synthwave and pop.

How was growing up like?

 I had a really wonderful childhood, I was born in Melbourne but my family moved up to Sydney when I was 1 and I’ve spent the rest of my life living here. I grew up doing all kinds of dancing, singing, acting, sport and I had some beautiful pets as well. It was full of activities and fun.

You recently featured in the Jaysound’s project “Change We Need.” Please can you briefly share what this is all about? 

“Change We Need” is an event run by JaySounds on “The Glass Island”, which is essentially a day/night club on a beautiful boat. He and I have worked together on music for many years and he’s a really good friend. I’ve performed as both a singer and a DJ at that event and it’s always a really good time.

* We saw you perform at the Ultra Electronic Music Festival in 2020. What are the two words that best describe how you feel while performing on any stage? 

Euphoric and Electrified.

Combining your amazing voice with all the energy in your single “H.E.L.L.” is one of your many great creations, working on this right in your garage make the story behind it even more beautiful. Please what’s the inspiration behind the song title? 

Haha welllll after music being something that saved me, it then became something really draining. After exiting a label deal that was going nowhere, I had a lot of people who I’d met leading up to, and throughout that deal just kind of abandon me. It felt really horrible because I saw them as really good friends. H.E.L.L. stands for Help Ends and Love Lies and it was just kind of about being used, stepped on and left behind to help someone else achieve their dream.

Do you feel Creatives in developed countries are at advantage than those in developing countries? 

I think it totally depends on your art form. Creativity has no bounds so no matter where you are in the world you have the ability to be creative. I think the biggest factor would be who the intended audience is and how you can get your art to them. The internet has made it much easier for people all over the world to connect and show what they can create, but for certain people/industries I’m sure there are big advantages living in a ‘developed’ country.

Who are your ‘ICONS’ in the music world? 

Charli XCX, Kim Petras, Grimes, Dua Lipa, Blackpink and sooo many more…

* What does success mean to you? 

Success to me is feeling satisfied with what you’re doing, being valued, loved and having a sense of stability.

* Let’s go a little poetic: If poetry is a rainbow and you have a choice of one color in that palette, what would that be and why? 

Green. It’s not a particularly happy or sad color, I’ve always found green to be really comforting (potentially why I’m enjoying this plant phase I’m in so much).

If you could do a collab as a singer with any other artist, what Art would that be?

I would LOVE to create something in fashion. My favorite designer is Nixi Killick and it would be a dream to collaborate on a collection with her.

* Please briefly tell us something we do not know about Bianca.

Ooo that’s hard, I’m a pretty open book so it’s hard think of something people wouldn’t know. My guilty pleasure tv is house renovation, real crime documentaries and medical emergency shows haha. 

You Are Everything Beautiful, Bianca.

Massive Love Bianca!

The ICONIC Team.