Of all the artists who’ve seen a swift rise in 2016, few of them have exploded in the way that Tash Sultana has. The 21-year-old one-woman-band has gone from being a viral sensation on Facebook to international tours and nabbing a spot on just about every festival lineup this summer.
But the singer and songwriter, who’s developed a reputation for putting on absolutely mesmerising performances, has been open about the struggles she went through to get to where she is today. Before finding internet stardom, Tash was what she described as “a complete drug addict”.
Speaking recently to SBS’s The Feed, Tash revealed more about this tumultuous period in her life. “I was a complete drug addict,” she told Marc Fennell. “I really was a complete drug addict… doing pretty much every drug except for heroin.”
Tash’s addiction eventually culminated in a nine-month drug-induced psychosis, triggered by a bad trip on magic mushrooms. “It was hell and I put myself in that position. And that’s the worst, because you can’t blame anyone for it because you did it. And you end up on your arse at the end of it,” she said.
Tash had previously spoken about her psychosis in an interview with triple j. “I lost the complete purpose of life,” Tash told the network, describing the difficulty of pulling herself “from a psychotic state back into reality”.
However, as she explained to SBS, music helped her heal. “As soon as I play, in that first strum I’m just completely zoned into what I’m doing and I have absolutley no focus on anything else that’s happening around me,” she said. Check out the full interview below.
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Tash Sultana National Tour Dates
Saturday, 10th December 2016
Pleasure Garden Festival, Melbourne
