Georgia Nott (Broods) for The Venus Project. Photo / Supplied
Georgia Nott's had enough.
Enough of changing herself, doubting herself and apologising. So she's stopped doing it, thanks to a new solo project that helped her "find who I truly am".
Nott's new album, The Venus Project Vol. 1 is the result of a group of women in the music industry saying Time's Up.
It's emotional, raw and sometimes even unedited, and everyone who helped make it - from the engineers to the manager - are all women.
"This project is all about expressing yourself as a woman and not feeling like you have to prove something or change yourself to compete with the men in the industry," says Nott.
"As a woman, I have something special to offer and I know a lot of other women that feel the same, so I wanted to make something that was a little more personal and a little more emotional and vulnerable to actually say, 'yeah this is how it feels to be a woman and we're not going to pretend that we're sorry for it'."
Nott entered the music industry at just 18 years old with her older brother Caleb in Broods. And although no one was ever overt in doubting her talent, she noticed the "strange looks" and allowed it to make her doubt herself.
Now 23, Nott says The Venus Project has helped her change that.
"I realised; 'I think that I'm good, and I think my ideas are valuable so why do I have to pretend that I'm waiting for somebody older than me - and often a male - to approve my artistry?'"
"That's the biggest thing that I've felt is different [from Broods] in this project is that I've felt like a boss, I've felt empowered and super unapologetic. I've been trying to take that energy of, 'I'm not sorry that I'm an emotional, erratic, passionate songwriter', because at the end of the day I want to feel the way that I've felt on this project in every project that I attack from now on."
Her hope for the project is that it will spark conversation, add to the current movements like Me Too and Time's Up and challenge the stigma around feminism.
"This album is about showing that we actually have something incredible to give the world if the world accepts that we wanna be just ourselves," she says.
"Since I've started working on this album, I've had so many walls brought down within myself to find who I truly am rather than just who I am as a songwriter or who I am because I've got boobs. It's something deeper than that, that I think all human beings are looking for."
And for any fans fearing The Venus Project and Caleb Nott's side project Fizzy Milk will mark the end of Broods, Nott says: "I'm literally sitting outside the studio where I'm having a session for Broods for album three - so no, there should be no fear that this is the end of Broods.
"We've come back from our side projects with a completely new perspective of how we write songs together and what we want to achieve as a band and I think the next record is definitely my favourite so far."
LOWDOWN:
Who: Georgia Nott from Broods
What: The Venus Project: Vol. 1
When: Out today, for International Women's Day
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