Australian singer thaws out through music

Despite never having lived around snow her entire life, a little bit of ice and snow helped Katja Glieson launch her musical career.

The 18-year-old Australian became an internet hit in 2014 when she performed in a princess rap battle video as the character Elsa from the 2013 Disney movie Frozen.

51 million YouTube views and a year later, Glieson is living in Los Angeles and getting ready to perform across North America later this summer.

Born in Melbourne, Australia to working-class German parents, Glieson said this about the neighbourhood she grew up in:

“My neighbourhood as a child was pretty rough, so I lived a bit of a sheltered childhood,” she said.

Like most kids kept inside, Glieson said she took to singing and dancing for both her family and herself to pass the time.

But as she grew up and entered school, Glieson said she became overweight and entered a sad and lonely place in life, bullied at school and missing the care-free energy of her youth.

Looking back now, she credits music as the magic thing that got her through the tough times.

“Music and singing for myself, was the only thing that helped me through that time,” she said. “It wasn’t about putting on a show and expressing emotion, even the darkest ones and getting through the most difficult times.”

If she was lonely and bullied as a child, Glieson doesn’t have to have the same worries now.

Glieson is hugely active on social media and has a large following of friends and fans. She also has taken to new social media platforms to find new ways to connect with people and share her music.

One of those is the live-streaming app Periscope, where users can broadcast and interact with others in real-time on their phones and computer.

“I love that Periscope is live and real,” she said. “There is no Photoshop, no autotune, no editing, it’s just me, as I am.”

After getting noticed online and realizing that she had a real shot to make a career out of music, Glieson moved closer to the action and set herself up in Los Angeles.

Although she was excited to be getting the chance to do what she loved, she said moving halfway around the world at such a young age was a scary experience.

But thanks to a fellow Aussie living in LA, singer-songwriter Katie Cole, Glieson found a mentor to help her grow into her new home and mature as a musician.

“I would not have had the confidence or strength to do what I am doing if it wasn’t for her,” she said. “She is such a raw talent and gorgeous inside and out.”

As she gets ready to tour the east and west coasts of the United States this August, Glieson said she’s looking forward to doing what she loves to do best: perform.

“Every performance is the best time of my life because they’re always a new experience,” she said.