Where do you think that love for the NFL in Australia comes from? And do you think it's going to be like a big thing or do you think it's just a one-off kind of interest in seeing what it is?

I don't know.

I think it's hard to tell if it's like because it's somewhat of a novelty having, you know, not happening here very often or whether it is kind of like a general interest in the sport.

And then, you know, I feel like as Australians, we do have a natural interest in American culture.

I think it's probably just people wanting to see something new in the MCG and, and, um, I'm sure there are a lot of NFL fans in Oz, and it's probably the only chance they've ever had to see a game.

So it's going to be cracking.

Is it more daunting, Cody, doing the anthem just because everybody obviously knows how it's meant to sound? Is it more daunting doing that than just one of your songs?

In a way, yeah, for sure.

It's

nice to be talking and walking again.

A few obstacles thrown at me, but I don't mind a challenge, and it was one of those things I had to just...

I had to just deal with, and it certainly threw my whole kind of plan for my album this year off course and everything, and I haven't been able to work that much, but started speaking again about two weeks ago.

Wow, how scary was that? Yeah, damaged vocal cord, and yeah, nice to be back and healed.

Like, how did you do that with everything that

was going on? Yeah, well, I was working pretty much for the last 18 months in the studio, figuring out what I wanted to do again musically and, like, being back and playing full-time and dropped a single kind of right before all this happened that...

Started doing extremely well and everyone was loving it.

When, when you think about the darkest period for you, so we can understand what you were going through, what was that? What was happening?

happening?Um, to preface it, it wasn't all bad because I was doing a lot of musical and creative soul-searching at the time.

I was, like, discovering all this music I didn't know.

I was actually practicing a lot of guitar.

Like, I was...

There w- it was directed in some ways.

It was just that it was all very angsty and I was partying a lot, and I was doing drugs, and I was treating people poorly.

How did, how did your parents know y- you had slipped?

Mm.

And it's being in there and arranging vocals and, and produc- Like, I've been doing that since I was in middle school almost [laughs] at this stage.

And so, like, it's so, it's, like, so second nature for me, and, like, I love it so much.

Mm.

And when I'm not doing it, I notice, you know, that I'm not as happy.

[laughs] So it's, like, my thing.

It's, it's what I love.

And I, and I love performing live, so just the whole, the whole thing, honestly.

Are they about someone in particular?

unfortunately like no unfortunately not and and i was talking about this the other day i was like um it was it was kind of it was me starting to really see the light again in my life and i um and just being on my own and kind of figuring out what i want my the next five years of my life to look like and and starting to just really feel hopeful and optimistic again and really excited to do this as a job and feeling really grateful that I could.

And I was just like, I just sat down one day and I was like – because sometimes I like to write songs like a novelist, like fictionally, of like what do I want to be experiencing? Not like what am I actually – I write a lot about what I'm actually experiencing and what I'm going through.

But sometimes I sit down and it's almost like a form of escapism for me, like writing a story.

I was like, I'd love to be sitting in Paris right now at a little cafe, springtime, see a cute little girl in the corner.

She looks at me, you know, and we just have the most – spontaneous night out ever, you know, one of those like little European nights where you're falling in and out of bars.

Yeah.

and I was like, I

what happens because this when i look at your life like yeah this is a major inflection point right at that age

yeah this was a real shift now so like i i'd been putting up these videos and songs on online um And then a music producer messages on MySpace and he's like, I think you're really talented and I'd love to cut some demos.

I live in the US, I live in New York and I want to fly you over here.

And I think we could get some, if we, you know, if these demos go well, I think we could get some meetings at labels.

I've got some connections, blah, blah, blah.

And so I'm like, oh my God, you know what I mean? This was kind of the, this was kind of like the, almost like the democratization of like, young stars, like, and, and separating from, from the Disney and Nickelodeon machines and stuff.

Cause that was like the, those were the sole outlets for young artists and actors and stuff to be given platforms was through, um, these TV channels, right? Yes.

So now there is not one person I've ever talked to who has experienced extreme fame at a young age, and there's not been a negative consequence to it.