By Tyler Wright
A Yarra Ranges local is set to hit television screens across the country as a contestant on this season of Australian Idol.
Anya Hynninen, 19, grew up playing gigs in the Dandenong Ranges including open mic nights at Sooki Lounge in Belgrave, and has now taken her talent to the international stage with a performance of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire.
Accompanied by step-dad Bernard on guitar, the Selby local said it was “daunting” stepping in front of the panel of judges.
“I didn’t have my glasses on, so I couldn’t see them very well thankfully, but I thought they all looked a little bit like wax figures,” she said.
“I wanted to touch them and see if they melt[ed]… it was definitely crazy.”
From a young age, Hynninen was taught to harmonise by her mother, but it wasn’t until her step-dad, musician Bernard, came into her life at age six that a professional music career would begin.
“He started off doing funk and that’s all he would play…it definitely influenced my sound, and he plays a certain way, he’s very intuitive so we mesh whenever we play together,” she said.
“It’s cool because now it’s at the point where I can sing any note and I know exactly what he’s going to play next because there’s so much chemistry and we’ve done it for so long…he’s definitely been there the whole time.”
Hynninen released her debut single ’Home’ in 2019 featuring fellow Melbourne artist, Pez as a collaboration with World Vision, which gained over 73,000 streams.
Following that success, Hynninen submitted her unreleased single ‘How Do You Sleep At Night’ into the International Songwriting Competition in 2021, ending up as a semi-finalist out thousands of teens globally.
Still in high school, Hynninen decided to apply for Australian Idol after seeing a friend’s social media post about the auditions.
“I didn’t really want to apply to any of the others because I didn’t like the structure of it…especially when it makes you battle people,” she said.
“I never applied for anything else, and I didn’t really think I ever would, and then I saw a friend post about applying for it as a joke, and I was like, ’you know what? I’ve got nothing to lose. I might as well do and see what happens.”
With the first video audition tape filmed in her university classroom, the application process involved several auditions.
“I thought it was crazy… it just kept going and I was like ‘we’ll just see how it goes’; and then as it got kind of closer and closer, I’m like, ‘s**t, this is actually real’.
“Especially being there on the day, it was like a battlefield.
“People were crying and passing out because they had nothing but tim tams and green tea, and I was passing through the bodies…It was definitely a really full on experience.”
Now, with around 400 songs in her backlog, the musician hopes to tour an EP once she gathers a team.
“I remember going to Adele’s concert…when I saw her I burst into tears,” she said.
“I was like, ‘Imagine being in that position and having someone love you so much that they uncontrollably cry the moment they see you. One day, I’ll be there, and people will be crying’.”
