It was one of Natalie Imbruglia and her friends' first concerts.
After catching the train to Sydney from the Central Coast of New South Wales, they ran through the city's streets, busting to get to the INXS gig.
"We were really up close to the front of the stage," she recalls.
"It was when hormones were raging, and I just remember us all screaming for Michael.
"It was the sexy rock-god thing."
But Imbruglia didn't just spend the night admiring lead singer Michael Hutchence.
She watched on from the front of the crowd, dreaming about trading places with those on the stage.
"Recently, a photographer posted a picture on Instagram and I was tagged in it," she says.
"I see this image of me in the front row of that show, and I literally look like I'm studying, 'How can I get up there?'
"Oh, my God, I just wanted to be up there doing what he's doing."
About a decade later, she was.
An early passion
From very early on in her life, there was no doubt what Imbruglia wanted to do when she grew up.
"I used to say often that I wanted to be a star, which makes me cringe now," she says.
"But also, [I'm] really envious of the confidence that I had.
"That gets beaten out of you, I think, in an industry like this."
Imbruglia soon realised, though, not everyone carried such certainty about their future.
"I remember having a fight with my sister Carla, my older sister, about it," she says.
"I'm like, 'Oh, don't be so ridiculous. Everybody knows what they want to do'.
"She looked at me deadpan and was like, 'No, they don't, and you're really lucky and you should appreciate that'.
"It never had occurred to me that for some people, that's like a lifelong thing to try and figure out what they want to be, what they want to do."
Undeterred by her parents' refusal to enrol her in singing lessons, Imbruglia practised her craft in her own way — sometimes putting on Whitney Houston performances in the backyard, or trying to emulate the voice of Karen Carpenter on road trips with her family.
Taking her power back
Her sense of self-belief and determination paid off in spades.
Imbruglia went from being the girl at the front of the crowd, to the star on the stage.
Her debut album Left of the Middle, and 1997 hit single Torn, catapulted her to the top of the charts worldwide.
"It was a mix of gratitude and terror and excitement," Imbruglia recalls.
But while realising a childhood dream and moving to the United Kingdom might sound like the pinnacle of success, the intensity of the experience wasn't what she had imagined.
"I'm not going to lie, I've always found the fame side of it hard," she says.
"I got very paranoid, and I moved out to Windsor and was hiding away.
"I think the pressure to live up to it was difficult, but also amazing."
Despite her sheer determination, powerhouse vocals and commercial success, Imbruglia wasn't immune to having her worth questioned by those in the music and media industries.
She fielded questions about the connection between her success and her looks, and shares that on one occasion, was asked to audition in a bikini for a guest TV spot.
"I just found it really terrible and dysmorphic," she says.
Imbruglia has spoken openly about her history of body dysmorphia and told Take 5 it began long before she became famous.
After that audition experience, Imbruglia found her voice and the confidence to push back.
"I'd go do a photo shoot, and I wouldn't want to wear the dresses," she says.
"I'd want to cover up, and that was a problem.
"I'd ruffle feathers, but it was taking my power back."
Imbruglia says that included choosing the clothes she wore in the video clip for Torn.
"The way I was dressed and everything, well, that didn't come from nowhere," she says.
"I was like, 'Can I just wear my own clothes?'
"I think all of those things came from feeling very young, like I'd made bad decisions or let things happen that didn't make me comfortable."
Reopening the 'floodgates of creativity'
More recently, Imbruglia has spoken about the years spent struggling with writer's block after being dropped by her label.
She returned to music with her 2021 album Firebird, which was a moment of pride for her and proof she could overcome her writing difficulties.
"A lot of my stifled creativity fell into place," Imbruglia says.
"It was a long, hard five years leading up to that moment."
Another important factor she credits with helping to unleash her creativity is deciding to become a mother and having her son in 2019.
"I hadn't really realised that could be seriously affecting my songwriting as well," Imbruglia says.
Loading...Wanting to become a mother but feeling like she "might not get there" had a direct impact on Imbruglia's songwriting.
"Even if you try and ignore it as a woman — and I know a lot of women will relate to this … that's a fundamental primal need, desire [or] want," she says.
"You can see how that could have also opened the floodgates of creativity once that was in place."
While that creativity is what Imbruglia thrives on, she has relinquished the fear of commercial failure in favour of a different driver — finding happiness.
"A lot of my ambition has died," she says.
"When you have success overnight like that, you realise there's nowhere to arrive to. There's no moment where you've made it.
"I enjoy making music and getting excited about things that could happen without any expectation."
Despite the curve balls her career has thrown at her, Imbruglia says if she had her time again she wouldn't change a thing.
"Because the worst things that have happened to me, on the other side of that has been so much better," she says.
"And really, I just want to be happy."
Watch Natalie Imbruglia on Take 5 tonight, 8pm on ABC TV or on ABC iview and hear the extended conversation on the Take 5 podcast on the ABC listen app.
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2023-10-16 19:54:08Z
CBMia2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIzLTEwLTE3L25hdGFsaWUtaW1icnVnbGlhLWpvdXJuZXktc2luZ2luZy1mYW1lLW92ZXJjb21lLWNoYWxsZW5nZXMvMTAyODQxNzQ20gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMjg0MTc0Ng
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