As Melbourne is revamping after the struggles of coronavirus second wave, the busy city life is getting back to normal.
The city's centre of attraction, the iconic Federation Square that was deserted when Melbourne reeled from the pandemic, is again abuzz with live music concerts, cultural events and Christmas lights.
A Melbourne-based musician Jessie Hillel is among the few who got an opportunity to fill the air with music and entertain the crowd at this landmark recently.
Jessie Hillel, crowned the Fed Live music competition winner, got this opportunity as part of 100,000 dollars worth of prizes she received.
Fed Live is a music competition held in collaboration between Fed Square and some key music heavyweights to support the music industry that was hit by the pandemic. According to the Fed Live website, Fed Square’s biggest-ever foray is to support the Victorian music industry directly.
Jessie Hillel, an Indian origin music student at Monash University says she was lucky to be crowned the winner from the number of entries they received.
It was part of her winning prize worth $100,000 that she got an opportunity to perform at this city landmark in front of a large crowd on 19 December, potentially kickstarting her performance career.
This 19-year-old who is into writing and composing songs was taken aback when she came to know that she has been chosen as the winner of Fed Live by public voting.
“I was so surprised, and I was in a shock when I saw the mail that I am the winner. It came about most unpredictably,” Jessie Hillel told SBS Malayalam.
Source: Jessie Hillel
Jessie’s song titled ‘The Rain’ was among the top-10 shortlisted for the competition. The competition was held online, and each participant had to make a video with a song of their own and upload it to the website.
“I happened to know about this contest only three days before the deadline. I then had to think of something to send or make a music video. I already had a song which I had written as part of a University assignment. So, my dad suggested to me to get the help of someone who could make a video for me.”
"I then put an advertisement on a website asking for someone to help with it. A person from Nigeria picked my ad and said that he would do an animated video for me. So, then we messaged him back and forth. It was completely online, and it was done in three days, and I met the deadline,” added Jessie.
According to Federation Square, Fed Live is the first-ever competition held to support the music industry.
"The FED LIVE competition ran for the first time in 2020. It was a collaboration between Fed Square and some key music heavyweights including MTV, Melbourne Music Week, DITTO Music, and the Mushroom Group. It's the first time Fed Square has supported the industry in this way," Asha Holmes of Fed Square told SBS Malayalam.
A hand-picked panel of judges from music heavyweights chose the top-10 songs for the competition, and the public chose a winner.
Excited to be crowned the winner, Jessie said it is with her friends and family members' support that she won this prize.
“I posted about it on Facebook; my parents send it to their social groups. Many family members and friends came together to support.”
Source: Jessie Hillel
Jessie also expressed her gratitude to all who came forward to support her.
“I am so grateful and feel really really lucky to be supported by so many people, and it's really cool that people enjoy the music that I make at home.”
100,000 worth of prizes with a gig
Besides being declared the winner, this 19-year-old is also excited about the prizes she has received.
“The prizes are for kick-starting a music career. This includes MTV, distribution companies, collaboration with record companies, publishing companies that would just give advice, a gig in Fed Square and yes, it is all about making yourself better as an artist.”
Jessie says she is looking forward to such live performances in the future.
“I thoroughly enjoyed performing live. The crowd was so responsive and it was so exciting. I not only performed the winning song but other songs too, which I wrote and composed," she said.
