NEWS 11
TORRES NEWS THURSDAY 16 FEBRUARY 2023
Idol contestant Royston living his dream to sing same opportunity, or no opportunities really in remote communities or islands’.
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Royston spoke to the Torres News on Tuesday morning and said it had been awesome to watch their performance again. “Just watching that all back is just so crazy,” he said. “To relive it all, but also just really awesome seeing how proud I am, especially of the group challenge because we worked so hard on that. “Top 50 was extremely intense and we were all so very, very tired, we just woke up at 6.30 to have hair and makeup done, and then we were there all day. “So yeah, I’m just really proud of that, it was really cool.” Royston said he hoped he would still be there at the show’s finale at the end of March. “I have no idea,” he said. “I don’t know, but I know that obviously I’m going to work really, really hard. “This is something that I’ve dreamt of since I was a little kid back in Old Mapoon, growing up in a small Indigenous community, less than 350 people. “I had no musical opportunities, none of my family sang, no one in the community really sang, so it was really just me.
“And if I could change their mindsets and have them think like, ‘oh, if he could do it, I could do it’. “Jessica Mauboy has been somebody that’s really done that for me growing up. “To think that I might be able to do that for somebody else would be just so amazing, that’s probably one of the biggest reasons I’m on this show as well.” He said he had never been to his father’s home island of Badhu but was keen. “I would really love to reconnect with my mob up there,” he said. MONDAY NIGHT: Five Soul perform Jess Glynne’s I’ll Be There. Pics courtesy Seven Network.
“I always had that dream, and it started from when I first got a prize from my high primary school teacher, she gave me a High School Musical DVD and I took it home and watched it religiously and I knew from that point I wanted to be a singer. “I didn’t know how I was going to do that, but I just know I always had that dream. “So I’m excited and I’m going to work so hard.
“I had to leave my community and move all the way to Brisbane once I graduated, to follow my dreams, I’ve even moved states. “I had to go through three years worth of vocal training. “I’ve been to America singing. “I’ve done a lot of things since graduating high school and it’s all led up to this moment. “So I’m going to push really hard.”
He said he was motivated by the idea of inspiring others. “One of the main reasons I wanted to come on the show was to have that representation for mob,” he said. “That’s something that I really wanted to do. “If I could change one little kid’s heart, if they could hear my story, see what I’m doing, and just know that ‘hey, this is a blackfella just like me – he grew up same way, all the
“I really want to meet my dad’s, and my mom’s family as well but I just haven’t had the chance.” As a Fine Arts student in Music at QUT, he said for now, while his future was on the line, it was all a ‘wait and see’. “Everything is really up in the air at the moment, even university is up in the air, it depends on how far I progress in the show and what opportunities I get after that,” he said.
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