KOCHI: In 2012, 11-year-old Jessie Hillel from Kottayam vowed the Kiwis on New Zealand’s national TV with her powerful-yet-mesmerising voice. Three years down, Jessie has changed but her inimitable passion for music is unruffled.
She can barely contain her excitement when she speaks about songs, her music lessons and dabbling with languages. She may be just 14, but Jessie Hillel’s grip over music is much beyond her years.
Back home for a month-long vacation, Jessie, who is now a student at Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School in Melbourne, is gearing up to perform at General Hospital for the Arts and Medicine Programme.
In fluent Malayalam, Jessie says that she looks forward to performing in Kochi. “I come here every year and would like to sing Malayalam and Tamil songs. I would be singing ‘Kanne Kanmaniye’ from ‘Life of Pi’ and a few Malayalam songs besides English and Italian,” says Jessie.
Jessie Hillel shot to fame when she became the youngest contestant in the finals of New Zealands’s Got Talent. Life post the show hasn’t been the same to Jessie. “It was a wonderful avenue. People do recognise me post the show but otherwise everything is the same,” says Jessie.
The show also paved way for her debut album ‘With Love’ that was released by Sony Music. The album had seven tracks which included the Pi’s Lullaby.
“When Sony Music approached us with the offer, it was a dream come true moment for me. Undoubtedly it was the best too. I got to experience a different setting altogether, that of studio atmosphere. Unlike stage shows, here we have our private space and it molded the singer in me,” says Jessie.The teen sensation, however, maintains that be it a stage or a studio performance, the effect music has on her is that of bliss.
“After all, its is the same. The focus is on singing, the effect it has on those who listen to it too is same. Basically, they should feel entertained,” says Jessie whose tryst with music began when she was five. She may have been born and raised there but Jessie does ensure that she gets a hand of everything desi. She says she loves to sing in different languages.
Jessie has also performed at the Grand Hall of New Zealand Parliament. Right now, she is doing a five-year scholarship in music in Australia.