But some of the teammates and people you're playing up against, it's kind of not normal.

Exactly.

No, it's, I kept saying this, like throughout, like, you know, over the last 10 years is more I've gotten into footy.

Like I have dreams of playing like genuine, real, like vivid dreams of, you know, playing a game of footy, whether it's at Marvel against the bond or like, you know, um against dusty something like that like those dreams i've genuinely had and like when i got out there for the first time and you know looked around it was like it was it was deja vu it was crazy how similar it was like it didn't feel any dissimilar so i think that was the main thing that was kind of coming over me was like this deja vu from like literal dreams i've had so it was like really living that so yeah other than that i don't know i kind of went you know blank most of the time especially when you know i took a mark for the one goal i was like it was only relief coming over me when i kicked it instead of enjoy it was yeah i that was there was still terrifying moments but yeah like you know rubbing shoulders with those guys and everyone was just so nice as well like you just don't know coming from a different industry, you know, entertainment, you go into sport, you don't know whether they're going to take you in with open arms or kind of be a bit like, Oh, what is he doing? But literally everybody in the locker room was, couldn't have been kinder, nicer and more welcoming.

So yeah, it was, it was really nice to see that.

Anyway, have you always been musically gifted essentially or have you had to work really hard for it?

Um, I mean, yeah, there's, there's no Lemusos in my family, but my, my dad is just like a crazy music fan.

And since I was around seven or eight, he was like, I want you to, you know, get into guitar lessons.

Oh.

Yeah.

I, I only really just started kind of attentively, you know, watching every game and falling in love with the game maybe, like, seven or eight years ago, so around 2018.

And, uh, it was, like, my partner's whole family are from Footscray, and they kinda got me into it and got me playing and, you know, uh, got me obsessed with the sport.

So I, I feel like, yeah, my, my loyalties lie with the Doggies even though I'm a Sydney boy.

What an opportunity.

Honestly, it, it's a dream, you know, to, to get out there and, you know, kind of live the life of a, of a player, you know, for one night, just to see what it'd be like, you know, having that...

You know, whether it's the pressure or the lights or just, you know, being on the grass at, at Marvel is gonna be...

And have you got any history in it? Did you play Aussie rules when you were growing up at all?

Like maybe one or two Aussie dress sessions when I was a kid.

But I have been, you know, playing very, you know, I've never actually played a full organized game of AFL, but I've been watching footy my whole life.

I know how to cook the footy.

I've like played sport like basketball, soccer, you know, my whole life.

and I've studied it.

Look, I'm probably going to go out there like a headless chook, but I'm going to do my best to just, you know, get out of Buddy's way and hopefully maybe, you know, Get it in my hands and just have a few nice kicks.

What an opportunity.

How does that, how does that come about?

Honestly, it's like, it's, it's funny how songs work 'cause when you, you start singing about something that could be about anything.

It could be about, you know, a friendship, or a working relationship, or anything, like, you know, platonic, or just, you know, talking about the past or whatever, and as soon as you start singing and put it on, put it on a melody with, like, you know, a song behind it, it sounds like a girl, [laughs] you know?

Mm

... for creativeness.

It's like i- it really gets me going, it gets my juices flowing.

I feel like I go in there for as long as I can and, you know, just work as hard as I can for as long as I can be- before I burn out, and then I fly back to Sydney-

And so I guess the question is, when you think back to that time, what do you think that the album says about how you were at that point?

yeah it was it was a very strange time to be writing a debut album because yeah i i put out around two or three aps i think of um you know music that i've written from 14 to 17 i say or 14 to yeah yeah brand 17 so like real child type music and you know talking about child experiences and teenage uh you know ups and downs.

And then Fourth Wall was kind of my journey into adulthood, I guess, you know, writing it from like 18 to 20 in COVID as well, all in COVID.

So I was going through so many changes of kind of what I, who I wanted to be, what the music I wanted to make, the artists I wanted to be perceived as.

It was so much like flip-flopping for me.

And it was a nightmare for my team and my label, I'm sure, because I remember like the first 20 songs that I wrote, it was kind of mostly by myself in COVID.

I was only listening to like Elliot Smith and Jeff Buckley and I don't know, Arthur Russell, even like Phoebe Bridges.

So I would love for you to elaborate and say, like, how now do you know you want to be perceived?

Yeah.

So I was like, didn't really think anything, you know, like this could be possible.

But then, you know, when I was 12 or something I w- I was, like, making little, you know, videos for YouTube, and I was making little demos of, like, covers and stuff.

And then, uh, you know, one of these found, found its way to a, to a producer, um, and found its way to my manager and, uh, who's now...

And I think, uh, after that it kinda just snowballed and I just started taking every opportunity that came and, you know, taking time off school.

And my parents are super supportive, and-

Yeah

... just kept coming and I, I, I just kept taking them.