By Xavier Smerdon
BALANCING life’s duties is a stress that one Werribee South musician knows all too well, but that has not stopped her from winning awards.
Andrea Barnett recently won the ABC 774 radio Play Apollo Bay competition for her original recording, Friday on My Mind 2.
Entrants in the competition had to write a song that fit in with the theme of change and was a tribute to the legendary Easybeats songwriters Vanda and Young.
Andrea said she was shocked when her song was announced as the judges choice.
“I was happy with the song I had written, I just wanted to see what they made of it,” Andrea said. “When they were announcing the winner they said that they would just play it on the radio instead.
“I thought to myself well they’re not going to play my song on the radio and then when I heard it, I nearly fell over.”
Not only did Andrea’s song receive extensive radio play time, it also won her the chance to perform at the Apollo Bay music festival.
Andrea said that her song was about how every generation continues to have “Friday on their mind”.
“When I was a teenager in the ’80s we were waiting for Friday so that we could catch up with friends,” she said.
“The song sort of said that I hope the youth of today still have Friday on their minds even though they have so much to think about.”
The mother of an energetic two-year-old called Beau, Andrea said it was important to find time to set aside for her music.
Andrea will perform at the Wyndham Relay for Life later this month.
