Lisa Mitchell is an English-born singer–songwriter who grew up in Albury, New South Wales. She rose to fame in the 2006 Australian Idol. Her debut extended EP, Said One to the Other, topped iTunes in Australia. Lisa relocated to the United Kingdom where she recorded her debut studio album, Wonder, which peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Chart and won the 2009 Australian Music Prize.

Hey Lise,

So you’re 13, a really cool age! This will be a fun year; high school is a whole new world of learning about everything, playing more music and writing more songs, and navigating new friends and social circles. You’re not very cool and you don’t look like Summer from The O.C., but hey, you’re talented and smart and that will be cool in a few years, don’t worry! You’ll work out all that social stuff soon. You’ll also get your period, which is the beginning of the next stage of your life; becoming a woman! Savour these young and carefree days! Go for big adventures with your sister on the farm, deep into the bush, and pretend you can live out there forever …! Nature is still a huge part of your life and always will be. Be grateful for those trips to the white sunny ski-fields in Falls Creek and enjoy zipping through the cross-country runs …! You are playing a LOT of soccer! You love being part of the team … You are a hard worker at school but make sure you savour those moments in art class and really let yourself experiment and let go. What you learn and observe in art class will help you let go and create in other ways, like songwriting as well … Be brave and make that girl-band! Rehearse in the ad breaks of your favourite TV show in the living room, and be silly and crazy if you want to be! Make sure you give yourself time alone at home to digest everything that’s going on around you. You are really concerned about being individual and unique and you want to stand for something but you don’t know what … You are shy and quiet but you know you have a lot to say but you don’t know quite how … This is totally normal; write in your journal and sing and draw and make up songs to help you establish who you are and what you think and what you care about. Listen to yourself, and observe what you are drawn to in bookstores and the library and on TV … Maybe there are some patterns … Be the detective … Perhaps you see Missy Higgins singing ‘Scar’ on RAGE and feel a very overwhelming bubbly fizzy infinite feeling in your body and think, ‘I think I could do that … I think I want to do that …!’ What I most want to tell you is that you are beautiful and not shy at all, just a dark horse waiting to bloom.

x endless love, past self!

Lisa (written from a hotel bed in London, June 2015)