{"id":1892,"date":"2019-09-27T05:10:29","date_gmt":"2019-09-27T05:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/?p=1892"},"modified":"2019-09-27T05:34:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T05:34:33","slug":"at-13-nikki-webster-performed-at-the-sydney-olympics-this-is-what-her-life-looks-like-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/at-13-nikki-webster-performed-at-the-sydney-olympics-this-is-what-her-life-looks-like-now\/","title":{"rendered":"At 13, Nikki Webster performed at the Sydney Olympics. This is what her life looks like now."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

By Helen Vnuk<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n\r\n

The publicist makes it clear before my interview with Nikki Webster starts: \u201cNO questions about The Masked Singer<\/em><\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Okay,\r\n got it. But if anyone would be perfect for the show \u2013 which is all \r\nabout getting audiences to hear your vocal skills without knowing who \r\nyou are \u2013 it would be Nikki Webster. She\u2019s 32 years old, but most people\r\n still think of her as the little girl who flew at the Sydney Olympics, \r\nand then had a hit the following year with \u201cStrawberry Kisses\u201d. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In fact, Webster tells Mamamia<\/em> that when she meets new people, the conversation almost always starts the same way. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cMost\r\n people sing \u2018Strawberry Kisses\u2019,\u201d Webster says. \u201cThat\u2019s the test \u2013 if \r\nI\u2019m going to be offended, or if I\u2019m going to laugh with them. Then if \r\nI\u2019m laughing with them and singing along with them, it goes to a \r\nconversation.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The song \r\nwent to number two in the Australian charts, when Webster had just \r\nturned 14. So how does she feel, as a mum-of-two, running a string of dance studios<\/a>, that people still remind her of \u201cStrawberry Kisses\u201d almost every day?  <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI love it,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m very proud of the song. It\u2019s rewarding as an artist to know your song\u2019s lived on for 18 years.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

There was even a recent dance remix, Strawberry Kisses 2017, which proved its catchiness holds up almost two decades later.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Like a lot of kids, Nikki dreamed of being a performer. But unlike a lot of kids, Nikki\u2019s dreams came true. At the age of five she was cast in her first musical theatre production. Then, when she was 13, she scored one of the biggest gigs in the world: starring in the opening ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympics. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Webster says during the ceremony, she \u201cjust forgot\u201d that the eyes of the world were on her. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI was enjoying it as much as people at home watching it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

She still has the pink dress she wore that night. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI\u2019m never parting with that! And I\u2019ve still got the little bag I walked out with, and some confetti that I threw.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After the Olympics, opportunities came Webster\u2019s way. She got to travel the world, to record albums, to design her own clothing range.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cAnything I dreamed of as a kid and wrote in my diary was coming true at a very young age,\u201d she remembers. \u201cI was going, \u2018Oh my gosh, this is crazy!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At the age of 13, she was choosing her own musical direction. She remembers the first time she heard \u201cStrawberry Kisses\u201d, when she was going through possible songs to record. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt was just an automatic \u2018yes\u2019 from me. I remember going, \u2018I want this song.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But there was a downside. Not everyone was happy for her success. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re a child star and you\u2019re at a performing arts school, you\u2019re living everyone\u2019s dream. So there is going to be jealousy and there are going to be people that think they could have done better or been better or whatever. I think that happens in every school but mine was on a global scale.\u201d <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Then there was the media. Webster struggled to deal with the stories that were written about her \u2013 both by journalists that hadn\u2019t met her and those that had. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI\u2019d spend a great afternoon with a reporter and then they\u2019d flip the story into something else, so that\u2019s hurtful. I was like, \u2018I thought you were my friend!\u2019<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cNow I realise they had a job to do as well. But that was hard to deal with as a young kid.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Webster says there were also \u201ca lot of opportunists\u201d hanging around her, but she\u2019s saving the stories for a book she wants to write one day. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBut it made me stronger, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Throughout her teens, Webster had a string of singles that charted, including \u201cSomething More Beautiful\u201d and \u201cDancing In The Street\u201d. But none came close to the success of \u201cStrawberry Kisses\u201d. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 2005, Webster turned 18 and was officially no longer a \u201cchild star\u201d. She marked the occasion by doing a sexy shoot for men\u2019s magazine FHM. She agrees that it had \u201cshock value\u201d. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt was an interesting time,\u201d she reflects. \u201cI think all 18-year-olds go through that time in life where they\u2019re like, \u2018Who am I? What am I going to do?\u2019 It was a tough time to work out who I was. I did Dancing With The Stars and then FHM and it was a moment to show, obviously in a very classy way, that I was getting older, and it was okay to think of Nikki as getting older like everybody else.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Webster knows that there are people who still can\u2019t see her as having moved beyond the Olympics and \u201cStrawberry Kisses\u201d. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThere\u2019s people that don\u2019t take me seriously because I was a child star, but they\u2019re still singing my song, so it still made an impact. And then there are people that do take me seriously. I think a lot of people in my industry take me seriously.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Just over a decade ago, Webster opened the first of her dance studios. She calls them her \u201cescape\u201d. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI don\u2019t mind what people think about me because I get to see kids every day perform and find a love for music.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Webster is mum to Skylah, five, and Malachi, nearly two, with husband Matthew McMah. She says the dance studios are her children\u2019s \u201csecond home\u201d <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWith the business that I work in, I\u2019m lucky enough to have my children around when I can and they love it. They love what I do. They\u2019re very proud and my main goal as a mum is to make them proud and to show them that you have to work to support things, and I think I\u2019m doing a good job with that.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI\u2019m very lucky to be able to work and to be a mum.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So what\u2019s up next for Webster? <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got lots of things moving in different directions,\u201d she says. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

She still does occasional gigs, but most of her singing is done in her studios, where she teaches her students. She says her focus is now on seeing them succeed. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBeing in the front row supporting them\u2026 to me, that would be the best thing.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In celebration of One Hit Wonder Day, which is today, Webster has partnered with Deliveroo to launch a strawberry and chocolate dessert called, obviously, \u201cStrawberry Kisses\u201d. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It doesn\u2019t look likely that people will stop singing the song to her anytime soon. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be singing it when I\u2019m old,\u201d she laughs. <\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Source: mamamia.com.au<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Helen Vnuk The publicist makes it clear before my interview with Nikki Webster starts: \u201cNO questions about The Masked Singer\u201d. Okay, got it. But if anyone would be perfect for the show \u2013 which is all about getting audiences to hear your vocal skills without knowing who you are \u2013 it would be Nikki … Continue reading<\/a>At 13, Nikki Webster performed at the Sydney Olympics. This is what her life looks like now.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-64"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1892"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1911,"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1892\/revisions\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nikkiwebsterfan.net\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}