Amy Shark strips back for ‘Soft Pop’, citing fame’s ‘ugly’ side and tech copyright gaps

Gold Coast singer-songwriter Amy Shark has released her fourth studio album, Soft Pop, marking a significant departure from the polished pop production and drum-heavy arrangements of her previous work. The new record features minimal instrumentation, centreing primarily on vocals and acoustic guitar. Shark, who serves as a judge on Australian Idol, describes the project as the best work of her career, noting that the creative process was accelerated by a one-month deadline set by her husband and manager, Shane Billings.

The album includes tracks such as The Biggest Dick and Singapore Noodles, with the latter capturing a raw moment where Shark makes a false start on her guitar before being counted in by producer Dann Hume. Shark designed the album cover herself using fabric, scissors, and glue from Spotlight, featuring a purple prototype that reflects her desire to return to an indie artist aesthetic. This visual approach aligns with her intention to make the album sound different, aiming to make listeners second-guess who they are listening to rather than delivering another predictable Amy Shark record.

Shark’s shift towards minimalism followed a period of creative stagnation after her 2024 album, Sunday Sadness. Having previously mined her romantic history and collaborated with high-profile figures such as Ed Sheeran and Jack Antonoff, she found herself with a songwriting block. Billings booked studio time with Hume in the UK to break the impasse, a move Shark initially resisted but ultimately credited with forcing her to sink her teeth into songwriting again. The resulting material explores old flames, friendship fallouts, and marital challenges, moving away from the themes of her first three albums.

Beyond the music, Shark has used the platform to critique the Australian government’s stance on creative copyright, particularly regarding large language models scraping Australian music without consent or compensation. She described the current climate as one where musicians are getting people stealing their work and are often expected to perform charity gigs or comment on political issues they do not wish to engage with. Shark, who is not a political artist, emphasised that she is not trying to change the world but is frustrated by the entitlement she perceives in the public’s expectation of her.

The release of Soft Pop comes a decade after her debut album, Adore, sparked a major-label bidding war and went five times platinum. Shark, who worked as a video producer for an NRL team for 15 years before her breakthrough, noted that she still lives on the Gold Coast and has been married since 2013. She also recently acted in the film Beast, an opportunity facilitated by co-star Russell Crowe, who had previously invited her to dinner parties with Nicole Kidman. Despite the commercial success and fame, Shark admitted that being a full-time musician takes the magic out of the work and that the public perception of fame is often quite ugly.