Shani Weiss of Australia on Life, Lessons & Legacy

We recently had the chance to connect with Shani Weiss and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Shani, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What is a normal day like for you right now?
My days are super packed.
I’ll give you my Monday for example, the morning usually starts of with a rush, getting my boys ready for drop offs, get to work- I teach music in a school. Then go home, teach a private student music, go pick up the boys take them to soccer practice, where at the moment in Melbourne winter I freeze my butt while playing ball with the little one, Luka, and try not to miss goals of the big one, Tom. Then drop the boys at home, maybe manage to snatch a bite and head off to a rehearsal with the band. Get home around 10/11 and go to bed. #livingthehustle

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Shani Weiss, I am a singer songwriter, musician mom and radio presenter. As a singer songwriter I am a Folk-Rock storyteller playing piano, guitar, vocals, ukulele and I loop live as well. On the 8th of August I released my third single, ‘Feel Alright’ from my upcoming EP which I will release in November 13th in a grand performance at the Toff in Town, so this year is super intense for me.
As a muso mom, I’m juggling musician life with raising two energetic boys 4 & 7 which is a job in itself in addition to teaching music full time.
lastly, I present a radio show called ‘Indie Spotlight Melbourne’ on J-air Radio, where I interview upcoming local indie musicians.

Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. Who saw you clearly before you could see yourself?
Probably my grandmother, she was a musician and she noticed when I was a toddler, barley able to reach the piano keys, that I would choose the keys I played and not just bang the piano like kids usually do. She noticed this and along with my grandfather, they paid for my piano lessons from 5 years old. Life’s journey lead me to be a musician, but that was the very first moment.

When did you last change your mind about something important?
My self definition has changed drastically over the the last two years. I always defined myself first as a musician, I’ve been doing it since, I was 5. I when to a music school, did a Bachelor’s and Master’s in music. Once I became a mum, I had an internal battle what was more important, the obvious choice would be a mum, but it took me a few years to come to that conclusion. I then finally found my place of peace I’m a mum, musician, Israeli, Jewish, and British (I was born in London).
Then October 7th happened and my world turned upside down, and I understood that the musician part of me was not the most important attribute. I am Israeli, I am Jewish and that was something that before October 7th didn’t seem like something that needed to be a matter of focus. As a musician, I thought that it was obvious that I am open minded, accepting, peace loving, but the world showed me very clearly that it works very differently and today, I have brought my full identity to the front, to the public. This is something you can unfortunately get cancelled for and I have seen that happen to many of my Jewish artist friends here in Melbourne. But I have decided I will not hide myself, and I will be proud of who I am.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Is the public version of you the real you?
Is the public version of anyone really them?
In general, yes. I bring myself with all I have to bring but as a muso, you also need to be a content creator and it’s a game I need to play and I do my best at it. I won’t show on socials when I’m hurting, I won’t talk about geopolitics. On stage it’s different, there I will allow myself to be more vulnerable, I will even allow myself to cry.

Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I do that constantly with my music. Of course I want exposure, I want people to hear my music, lot’s of people all over the world and I want my music to make them happy, but I don’t do it praise. I do it because I need to do it for me, I am my own boss (until a label picks me up haha). Going through the process of creating a song in my room to a produced track streaming on music platforms involves creating, arranging the music, recording, mixing, mastering. I try to do my absolute best because I want it to sound amazing, regardless of who listens to it. It needs to be quality and professional. Having said that, please go listen to my songs and Feel Alright!

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