With clever, confessional songwriting and a knack for transforming raw emotion into sparkling indie-pop, Tamara & The Dreams has become a standout voice in Melbourne’s music scene. On Saturday, 17 May, she’ll step back into the spotlight at the Merri Creek Tavern, officially launching her brand new single ‘Successful Bisexual’ into the world. Equal parts chaotic, cathartic, and joyful, it’s a bold new chapter from an artist who’s never shied away from saying exactly how she feels. We had a chat with Tamara about backpacking epiphanies, songwriting as time capsules, and what it really means to be a successful bisexual.
You wrote Successful Bisexual while backpacking through the Greek Islands. How did that experience shape the lyrics and overall mood of the song?
l write songs when I’m sitting on my bedroom floor, when I’m in the car driving somewhere mundane in Melbourne, or while I’m travelling and having some crazy life-changing experience. I think it was the experience of travelling after a breakup and after lockdown – feeling kind of let out of many different cages – that just allowed me to go very ‘stream of consciousness’ with the lyrics.
Since writing this song, how has your understanding of identity, independence, and self-discovery evolved? How many of the experiences in the lyrics have you checked off your bucket list? And what are you hoping to check off next?
I really love this question, because for me, writing a song is like capturing a memory, a moment, a feeling, or something that would otherwise be impossible to document in a photo or writing or something. My songs are snapshots of where I am in that moment, and I’ve changed heaps since then – I’ve travelled more, lived more, and have done lots of the things mentioned in the lyrics – but I definitely still have a way to go. I guess we always have to have something to strive for, and being a Successful Bisexual is a lifelong goal.
Let’s see….. I’ve definitely had the warmth of a thousand suns, got effervescence and luminescence in my body, felt so much I burn, had charisma break out the cracks of my skin, become hot and street smart, and had nostalgia almost kill me. The main thing I checked off was that I actually did drive a van around a great big land in Aotearoa this past summer – it was so, so incredible.
The original lyric ‘I wanna grow up in the city’ was supposed to be ‘move north of the city’ and I’m still yet to do that… as well as have cool tattoos (I don’t have a single tattoo). I still want to be adored to the point I get bored, have more sapphic situationships, shave my head and maintain it, have my life changed by someone I meet on an airplane, and never feel at home again.
I guess the lyrics earlier in the song are more achievable, and then they get more outlandish. I’m working on it all. Being a Successful Bisexual is not a destination – it’s a motto, it’s a journey.
Your songwriting blends humour, vulnerability, and sharp observation. How do you balance those elements when writing?
Thank you! I like to write songs by imagining I’m playing them at a pub to a crowd, and I have to be equal parts in all of those things to keep people hooked. I like to explain to people that I struggle with a lot of things, but saying stuff on a stage or in a song comes naturally. I want people crying as well as laughing, while at the same time thinking “she’s soooo smart”. I hate music that takes itself too seriously, but at the same time, it has to sound beautiful and melodic and express my deepest emotions. I want people to feel understood as well as entertained. It is a delicate balance 🙂
There’s a tension in the lyrics between embracing the present and fearing the passage of time. How do you personally navigate that balance?
I am obsessed with time, and with my complicated relationship with it. I feel, especially at the moment, that I’m always battling with time, always running behind, running out, waiting, missing things, being too early or too late, and trying to catch up to other people’s ideas of time, on an hourly, as well as life-long basis. I feel viscerally that I’m living in an hourglass and I’m conscious of every moment passing. Lots of people try to practise being more mindful. I feel like I’m stuck being incredibly present in each moment, but that I’m also looking at my life from above, as my past selves and future selves. They live with me through every moment.
What would you like listeners to take away from Successful Bisexual—both in terms of its message and its energy?
All those clichés we used to make fun of are true. Dance like no one is watching, sing like no one is listening, laugh loudly, love fully – literally live, laugh, love. Also, I want people to make more TikToks lip syncing to my songs. That’s fun.
‘The antidote to grief is a lust for life’—this is such a powerful statement. How does that philosophy shape your approach to music and life in 2025?
It really is true that all you need in life is a purpose that drives you, and without purpose you struggle. I think life, and planet earth, is this incredible gift we’ve been given. It’s not something to endure, or to do what others think you should do – it’s to enjoy how you wish.
What’s next for Tamara & the Dreams?
Successful Bisexual will be launched in Melbourne/Naarm on May 17 at Merri Creek Tavern, and I’m working on my album 🙂
