Georgia Denton, better known by her stage name Gia Vorne, is one of the country’s most promising R&B talents. Hailing from England and moving to Australia when she was 8, this year, the Sydney-based singer-songwriter is set on making her music known to the world. With a sound that sits somewhere between Summer Walker and Etta James, she combines the essence of new and old into her pseudonym, bringing it alive with a sound as raw and honest as ever.
Gia is no stranger to the entertainment industry. She has a resumé that includes musicals, The X Factor, and spent some time dabbling in modelling. At this stage in her career, she’s more determined than ever to forge her path in music. Vorne is completely independent, self-managed and self-funded—and there’s seemingly little she can’t do. Her drive and efforts aren’t being left unrecognised, with JD Sports and Champion choosing her to be a part of their latest seasonal campaign, “Champions in Session”, alongside four other up-and-coming creatives.
What’s next for Gia? Right now, she’s channelling her efforts into expanding her music catalogue and releasing her debut EP. Complex AU sat down with Gia to chat how she found her love for music, creating her debut EP, and her latest collab with JD Sports and Champion.
I’m curious to know how you went from Georgia to your stage name. What’s the story behind that?
I was tossing up different names for a while, ‘Gia’ and ‘Vorne’ both being individual ideas. Someone had suggested Gia, given that it’s the end of my name, but I thought it was a bit boring by itself. My parents were convinced I was going to be a boy and loved the name Vorne. It was a shock to them when I came out!
I kept asking friends what they thought about the names and a friend was actually the one who suggested I put the two together. Once I sat with it for a couple days, it truly felt like me and an extension of my personality, so I went with that!
I heard you’ve been performing since you were eight-years-old. What made you want to get into music?
I’ve always kind of sung. The first memories I have of performing are around six-years-old. At the time I used to sing at open karaoke nights, and I would bawl my eyes out because I was so nervous and scared, but I wanted to do it so badly. There was also that classic thing of singing at family parties—I would face the wall in the corner and not look at anyone. When I moved to Australia from England and got to high school, the school I went to had a great music program and was heavily invested in music, so I started doing singing at competitions at school. I even did X-Factor.
Oh wow, X-Factor, really?
Yeah, it was a huge swerve! I was 14 and it was a great experience for a 14-year-old. You’re on this huge stage and a part of this massive production. Honestly, I was kind of away with the fairies during that time. After it I went back to high school thinking, “What are you doing here, get out of here”—and so I left high school when I was 17. I then started learning more instruments and moved to Sydney when I was 18 to pursue songwriting and music.
I’ve listened to your tracks and I love your sound—I’m getting a Summer Walker kind of vibe. What are some of your influences?
Definitely, I love her sound and I’ve always been drawn to that kind of music. My mum used to play a lot of soul when I was growing up. I literally have this memory of coming home from school one day and mum being like, “Come I have a surprise for you,” and she played me the new Christina Aguilera music video and would get me to sing it for her. She would choose all my songs when I was young and it was always like Cher, Etta James, Beyoncé—it was all these huge female vocalists that sang with so much raw emotion, and I was really drawn to that.
I know artists tend to have their own individual ways of writing and finding inspiration. What’s the process like for you?
I’m very much someone that has to write from experience and about emotions I’m feeling at the time—whether it’s affecting me personally or someone I’m close to—it has to be something that I feel strongly about. I really struggle to write about nothing. Sometimes I have dry periods where I don’t really have anything to write about because maybe I’m just cruising along in life and nothing is really affecting me.
When you write your music, is there a message you want listeners to take away from your songs?
Whatever I’m writing about, I want someone else to be able to relate to it in some way—whether it’s having a similar outlook on a situation, or simply that they’re going through the same thing. Every time you listen to a song you take little bits from it, depending on how you feel or what you’re going through. For me, [my music] is about getting emotion out of people and maybe people finding comfort in it, or helping them process things. To me music is therapy.
Music is very much therapy. How’s your debut EP coming along and your next track?
I’m so excited for this EP! It’s coming along well. The next song that’s coming out is one I wrote probably three years ago, and it’s gone through such an evolution and has changed so many times. It was only two weeks ago that I was finally like, “Okay. I’m done. It’s done!” It’s finished and ready to be out in the world.
It’s called “Introspect” and it’s about a self-reflective time in my life, predominantly written during that second year of COVID. I was living alone; I went through grief for the first time, and I was also really sick—I got diagnosed with endometriosis. Before I found that out I was really unwell and I felt so isolated, and as though I’d completely lost who I was. I felt like I had to relearn my body again and find things that made me feel human. It was like I was starting from scratch. This EP in general is very much about that period of my life, and navigating my relationship with myself and my friendships. It’s almost like a coming-of-age tale.
That’s so exciting! In other exciting news, you’re one of the five stars in the latest JD Sports and Champion campaign, “Champions in Session”. How does that feel?
I loved being a part of the campaign! First of all, the crew was amazing. Having a female producer and quite a female-heavy crew working on the campaign was so refreshing, and everyone was young and just so hard working. Being in that environment was so inspirational. It was also nice to connect with so many different people from different creative worlds. To pull together what we did was really fun.
It’s great to see you get out there and show the world who you are and what you stand for. Do you have any advice for up-and-coming artists like yourself?
Work hard but also live your life at the same time. A huge turning point for my outlook on music and life in general was realising that it’s important to take the little steps. We’re always so overwhelmed with how we want things to look and looking five years down the line—and that can become a lot. You also become more prone to comparing yourself to other people’s path, but everyone is different. You’ve got to trust your own journey and what makes you special as an artist.
You can cop the latest JD Exclusive Champion drop online and in store now, only at JD.
