A childhood memory is helping propel Shepparton artist Tom Nethersole to switch from performing on stage to making his own music.
With an extensive background in modelling, videography and theatre arts, Mr Nethersole feels more than equipped to take on the music industry, starting with his debut single, Build a Bear, out February 5.
“I have done musical theatre for ages, and breaking into the music scene has always been a dream of mine,” he said.
“The shift from performing other people’s songs that have been around for a hundred years to composing and producing my own music and my own story has been very cool.”
Despite Mr Nethersole’s interest in a range of creative outlets, he said music was the one he always came back to.
“It allows me to be so vulnerable and it allows me to create something that, whether you know me or my story, you can resonate with, no matter what,” he said.
Mr Nethersole said in his childhood the epitome of teddy bears and toys were the Build-A-Bears.
“They were so special because there was only one store, two hours away in Melbourne — you’d walk in and there’d be all these bears, pandas and monkeys to choose from,” he said.
“You’d watch it get stuffed, choose its little costume, pick a name and get a little birth certificate. I thought they were so cool.
“But I completely forgot about them until about 12 months ago, when I was not feeling the best about my body and my appearance.
“I started to think of myself as that Build-A-Bear, and that my parents had made me in that same way, and put in the extra stuffing.
“They had made me to be the way that I am. That made me appreciate the little nuances of my body and the way that I am, and I thought it was a really cute way of looking at it.”
He said the song was about finding self-confidence, through the sound of an “alternative pop banger”.
“Regardless of whether you’re listening to the lyrics or not, it’s a fun song to listen and vibe to, whether you’re jumping around the kitchen late at night or by yourself on a drive home, it’s one of those songs that you can just listen to and enjoy,” he said.
“But on a deeper level, I think it’s a song that can resonate with people trying to find love within themselves.”
Mr Nethersole said he hoped to be able to perform his song for a live audience in the future.
“To have people singing the words you wrote back to you in a massive crowd would be such a wild experience,” he said.
“Nothing compares to being able to perform live in front of people.”
Although the key themes of his debut single include body positivity and self-love, Mr Nethersole said he wanted to express the highs and the lows we all go through.
“I want to convey the brutal and honest and exciting bits of life, whether that be the happy moments in life, or whether that be the moments filled with despair and misery and not a lot of hope,” he said.
“To me, that’s a fun thing to explore — all the nuances of the human experience.”