Interview: Empowering Melody While Sending A Message; Ben Hazlewood

Ben Hazelwood is showcasing his talents while sending a message with his lyrics and music videos. With experiencing many emotional moments in his career, Ben chats about The Voice: Australia, recent EP, and living in Australia.

Thank you for chatting with Music Update Central! You're originally from New Zealand; however, you're currently in Australia. How has living in that culture impacted your musical career? Living In Australia has given me so many opportunities to be able to work with talented people and ultimately led to my spending more time in the US and being able to continue to grow as an artist there, as well.

Your recent EP, 'Eos' is named after the Greek God of Dawn. Why did you choose such an original name for your EP? The theme of all the songs from VANTA and EOS were “Its always darkest before the dawn”. A lot of the lyrics were about being in a dark place but always looking to a more positive light. So I decided to break the album up and use VANTA as in Vanta Black (the darkest substance created by man) and EOS (the greek goddess of dawn) to create that imagery.

I loved the story and message behind your video 'Darkest Hour'. Why was it so important to you to tell such a meaningful story? I wanted to create an empowering video to celebrate how much the LGBT community have achieved throughout the years and pay homage to those who paved the way for a more accepting life for the next generation.

At the beginning of your musical career, you experienced emotions which led to pouring your heart on paper. Can you tell us the story/meaning behind your song 'Too Young’? "Too young" Is a message to myself to stay strong through the dark times, remember the strength that lies inside, what I have overcome and to take pride in where I am now.

Depression can be an Isolating, defeating feeling. Fighting back against your inner negativity is the hardest but most powerful option you have.

You were a part of The Voice in Australia. How did that help your musical career?The Voice was a great experience. I was so appreciative of the time I had with Joel Madden. He made me see that it [The Voice] wasn’t the be all and end all of my music career just another stepping stone along the way. It made me more determined than ever to write harder and grow as much as I can.

Where can our readers follow you at?

@Benhazlewood across all socials

STREAM 'EOS':