The Aussie TikTok crooner with a ‘weapons-grade' talent
This story is part of the May 3 edition of Good Weekend. See all 14 stories.
SPOTLIGHT / Smooth operator
If you've recently found yourself despairing of the listening habits of the à la carte TikTok generation, Grentperez may just be music to year ears. The Filipino-Australian crooner (real name: Grant Perez) has been singing his heart out since he was 13, posting covers to YouTube of everyone from Adele to Olivia Rodrigo and organically building up what's now a sizable international fan base. 'They're incredibly talented,' says Perez of his fans. 'I often receive handmade gifts when I meet them, whether something crocheted or a drawing. They're very wholesome.'
This direct approach paid dividends when his career launched in earnest a few years ago, his success made all the more sweet by the winsome, old-fashioned nature of his music. Perez, who writes pillowy love songs with modern production stylings, is perhaps best known for his show-stopping voice, which features what one reviewer called 'weapons-grade melisma'.
As much indebted to classic 1970s R&B as it is to more contemporary exponents – such as Britain's Rex Orange County or Dutch troubadour Benny Sings – Perez's long-awaited debut album, Backflips in a Restaurant, channels Herb Alpert and The Carpenters. Independently released, it comes off a banner year for Perez that includes back-to-back tours of the US, fashion magazine features and an ARIA debut at No.3. Not a bad showing for music that your kids will dig as their grandparents tap their toes to it, too. Jonathan Seidler
What do we do, now that we know? That's the question Kate Grenville, one of our finest writers and author of the iconic The Secret River (2005), poses to non-Indigenous Australians in Unsettled ($37), her new non-fiction book. How do we respond to the knowledge that we live on stolen land which the original owners fought a bloody war of resistance to defend? Grenville (once again) delves deep into her own family's history in her search for an answer as she drives north from Sydney, retracing the steps of her forebears. An unforgettable reimagining and retelling of history that is, in turns, intimate, unsparing – and confronting. Nicole Abadee
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