INTERVIEW: Tori Darke on her new EP 'Who I Am': "A lot of this journey has really been finding myself again and finding who I am as an artist."
Interview: Shalane Connors
Image: Michelle Pitiris
Published: 12 November 2026
When Australian country-pop artist Tori Darke released her new EP Who I Am last week, it marked her first body of work in 11 years.
A reflection on the breakup of a long-term relationship, and the woman she becomes on the other side of that, the five tracks were written across Brisbane, Nashville and Sydney and include a co-write with country superstar Morgan Evans.
The EP starts with two songs that highlight both ends of a break-up: the messy, immediate aftermath and then the emergence of a stronger, more confident woman once the recovery process is complete. ‘Prettiest Wreck’ is an intoxicating country-pop-rock track where Darke handles the breakup by throwing herself into life despite still deeply hurting on the inside - ‘I’ll be the prettiest wreck / That you’ve ever seen’.
‘Who I Am (Without You)’ was co-written with Morgan Evans and is a country-pop song with a hefty dose of electric guitar where Darke has moved on and discovered who she really is: ‘I should thank you for everything you put me through / Cause that made me who I am without you.’
The EP takes on a more cinematic, dramatic moment with ‘The Boy You Knew’. It is a dark, brooding pop-rock track that is dripping with atmosphere as Darke sings of the need to move on from a previous relationship: ‘Its time that you start moving on / The boy you knew is gone.’
‘Buy My Own Beer’ is a traditional country song that is a declaration of independence- ‘Got my own money /
Don’t need nobody else but me’ - while the album ends on the pop-rock of ‘You Ain’t It’, which completes the relationship circle with Darke declaring she will no longer entertain a relationship unless she is sure it is right for her. ‘I ain't gonna waste my time / Man if you ain’t it.’
Entirely independent and self-managed, Darke has had one of her biggest years yet, appearing at festivals across the US, UK and Australia, with the release of Who I Am the sparkling cap on her 2026. Next year things look even bigger for her with performances confirmed at two major Queensland festivals - CMC Rocks and QLD Music Trails. We recently sat down with Darke to chat all about the EP’s creation.
Hi Tori! Congratulations on your new EP Who I Am. It's been quite a long time since you've released a body of work. You've been on the singles train for some time.
I have. It's been 11 years!
Well, everyone needs a break! Talk to us a little bit about what the impetus was behind Who I Am, and why here, why now?
I'm at a point in my life and in my career where I know exactly who I am. I know where I've come from, I know where I've been, and I know who I am right now. I also know where I'm heading. I feel like Who I Am was the the perfect title for this EP. There is a song called ‘Who I Am (Without You)’ on the EP, which is that empowering breakup song of just finding yourself again, which I had to do for a very long time after a big breakup. This EP is kind of that chapter of being the hot mess and going through the breakup, and then being who I am without that breakup, and finding my independence again.
There’s a song called ‘Buy My Own Beer’ which is all about being able to do things on your own and being like, ‘No, no, honey, I got this. I can buy my own beer.’ Getting into the world again and meeting people again and being like, ‘I know what I want, and that's not you’. The only ballad on the EP is called 'The Boy You Knew’ which when I originally wrote it, I had some friends going through breakups, and I was writing it for them. When I looked back on it, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is totally a song to my younger self.’ What I wish I knew, and telling yourself it's okay to let somebody go when they change, and to move on. That comes into my career as well of just being where are we going now, and what are we letting go of, and what are we taking through with us? A lot of this journey has really been finding myself again and finding who I am as an artist, and just embracing it and being confident about it, rather than second guessing everything or being like ‘but what if it's the wrong move?’ You know what? Let's risk it all and let's just follow the dreams that I absolutely love and chase music as a career. And I've been so so lucky to be able to do that.
Amazing! It is a breakup EP, and it does deal with a hard time in one's life, but it does it in a way that's very hearty and very empowering. It's equal parts fuck you, and I got this.
Very much so. It's like you know what, buddy? Screw you, but I've got this. I don't need you, and I don't need anyone. There was definitely a phase in my life when I went through that, and it was a big stage of my life. The first couple of songs on the EP are me when I wasn't ready to share that part yet and what I was going through, and then later on came the songs of empowerment and trying to forget that person that you knew. People change and you’ve just got to go with it and say goodbye to the old and hello to the new.
Talk to me a little bit about the the writing and producing of this EP. You seem to have been all over the world with it. Talk to me a bit about the team and the co-writes that you did on the EP
Sometimes you go into that first initial songwriting session with someone, and it’s like ‘Nice to meet you. Let's write about my life’, and sometimes it’s like ‘oh my god, does this even make any sense?’ It’s really awkward first meeting someone and being like, ‘I'm just gonna bear all and tell you everything’.
I'm really proud to say that I wrote this whole record with Australians. Two of the songs were written in Nashville, but with Australians. The first two tracks, ‘Prettiest Wreck’ and ‘Who I Am (Without You)’ were both written in Nashville about 10 years ago. Songs that I wrote when I was kind of going through it at the time and was like,’I might release these some someday, but I'm not ready yet’, Being in the most secure point of my life is why releasing this EP now and sort of closing a chapter on some of these songs is really empowering.
I thought all the songs really married together well. I have so many songs that I haven't recorded yet or that are going on a future album, but they just felt like the right five songs for this project. It's been 11 years since I've done a body of work, so it was kind of like how do I just not just release songs? When I was 21, it was like these are all cool songs, put them on an album, but there's no story, no substance there. It's just a cool song, or a song I wrote about a boy. I really wanted to be strategic with this EP, especially going through to an album next year. I wanted to start that chapter now and say goodbye to that old era before we move into a brand new one next year.
One of my favourite tracks on the EP is ‘Buy My Own Beer’. It seems like a very country core response to the Miley Cyrus song ‘Flowers’, but far more amusing. It seems to speak to me about you in general, and how you've approached your music career, because you've been in the game now for over a decade, and for the most part, completely self-managed and Independent. Tell us a little bit about what that looks like, because I think from the outside it's easy to assume that it's all glamour, and you just turn up, plug in your guitar, and here we go.
It is just an everyday hustle, and I actually love it. I know that sounds so crazy, it is 100% a full time job, and I love it, and it is so good. But there's some days where you just go, ‘Fuck, what am I doing? This is a lot.’ But I have been self managed and independent for as long as I've been doing this for, and I've got a great team around me now. My husband's actually managing me now, so it's very much a family affair. It's finding the right people and the people you want to work with. That's what's been really important about this whole journey is how do we do this, and how do we do it with the right people? How do we get to where we want to go? By doing it that way, and not having people influence you and what you're doing and where you're going. That's been the biggest learning curve for me. When you're younger, you take all this advice on from all these different people - you should do this, you should do that. And you kind of think, ‘should I though?’ Then you make some choices that you probably shouldn't have. Now we've got a really strategic team and everything is planned out, everything's laid out how we're doing it, why we're doing it. Not just ‘oh yeah, cool, let's just do it just because we can’.
I feel like right now is the right time for everything to just be happening so effortlessly. There's still a lot of hard work going into it, don't get me wrong, but it just feels like everything has finally clicked, and we've got the right team. We've got the right strategy. We have the right songs. I have the most incredible band that I get to tour with. It never feels like work anymore. I can do this for a living and this is pretty damn cool. I feel very grateful.
You’ve had the biggest year of your career to date. You've had your debuts in the USA and the UK, playing some incredible festivals and lineups over there. What was that experience like?
Just out of this world. It really was. I had no idea what to expect, people didn't know who I was, I didn't know who they were, and they knew my music, and that blew me away. People in the US and in the UK, front row screaming my songs at me. I feel so much gratitude that I've had those opportunities, and I've worked really hard to get those opportunities too. I'm at this point where if an opportunity comes my way, I'm going to grab it with both hands and use it to my advantage as best as I can. I will be back in the UK again next year, which I'm very excited about, and I have plans to go back to the US as well. So it's just the beginning, it really is. It feels like I'm on the right trajectory and everything's going really well, but it's just the start.
You grew up in Sydney, and you're currently living on the outskirts of Brisbane. What specifically, or who specifically, was the draw towards country music for you when you first started out?
I was a '90s country fan. I loved Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, they were just some of my absolute faves. I'm friends with LeAnn Rimes now, which is the most crazy thing to say because she was my coach on The Voice a couple of years back, which is crazy. I've had so many influences, but they were definitely two huge ones for me.
Did you come from a musical family, or was music that something you had to fight your way into?
I came from a performing family, I guess you would say. My parents were rock and roll dancers, so they weren't musical as such, they didn't play any instruments, they didn't sing, but they just like loved entertainment and entertaining. I was very lucky to grow up with a family that loved music and I was someone that just loved to sing. One day they were like, ‘we're gonna put you into singing lessons’, they couldn't shut me up anyway, so it was kind of the next move to just go off to singing lessons.
Amazing. So you’ve got the Who I Am EP out now, and you've got an album coming up next year. More international touring. What's happening here in Australia?
So much is happening here in Australia. Next year, along with an album, we want to do a lot of Australian touring, so we're just in the works of planning that now and how that looks and where we want to go, There’s some incredible festivals that I'm on, like CMC Rocks next year, Howlin’ Country Music Festival. I'm the ambassador for Queensland Music Trails, so I'm off there again. Then a lot of other festivals of coming out of the woodworks that I can't announce yet.
That's very exciting. You mentioned before about lots of people dishing out advice. Is there a piece of advice that you have found really helpful that has really stuck with you that you'd like to pass on to other young women who are entering into the music industry?
The best advice I've ever been given was not to take no for an answer, or don't let a no break you. Ask the question. If you get a no, what changes? Nothing. If they say yes, or if you get a good outcome out of asking a question, then you're laughing. Shoot your shot. Don't be waiting for that ‘no’, or don't hesitate asking something because you're anticipating a no. If you get a no, it doesn't change anything. If you don't, amazing.
Who I Am is out now. You can buy here and stream here.
Follow Tori Darke on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok.
UPCOMING LIVE SHOWS
13 February 2027 - Howlin’ - Newcastle Foreshore - Newcastle, NSW
19 – 21 March 2027 - CMC Rocks QLD (20th Anniversary) - Willowbank, QLD
QLD Music Trails: Outback Trail (Charleville to Mount Isa) 2027
8 May - Charleville (Saddle Up)
11 May - Blackall (Blackall Bush Dance)
12 May - Barcaldine (Outback Exchange)
14 May - Longreach (Dusty Days)
17 May -Winton (Diamonds)
19 May - Julia Creek (Dinner Under the Stars)
22 May - Mount Isa (Outback Sounds)
