Whatever happened to 'Sweet About Me' singer Gabriella Cilmi?

Apologies in advance for getting this 2008 banger stuck in your head, but whatever happened to ‘Sweet About Me’ singer Gabriella Cilmi?

The Melbourne girl with a raspy, Amy Winehouse-esque voice burst onto the Aussie music scene with her catchy tune as a 16-year-old, only to disappear from our orbit.

Watch: Gabriella Cilmi performs Sweet About Me at the 2008 ARIA Awards. Post continues below.

Here, we investigate the whereabouts of Gabriella.

According to the world wide web, the 31-year-old’s now living her best life in the UK, a place she’s called home for more than a decade – and it doesn’t look like she’ll move back to Melbs anytime soon, because she’s fallen head over heels in love with a Scot.

In a chat with The Morning Show in 2022, she revealed, "My partner is Scottish. I love travelling there. I love Scotland. But all the time I think about coming home.

"Obviously home is always where the heart is. Now, every time I go back I really appreciate where I grew up and I come back as often as I can… I try not to think about it too much. I never intended to say here for that long," she admitted.

Fifteen years after she found success, Gabriella’s work’s evolved into a more folk sound. She's graced major stages at Glastonbury, and has some upcoming dates at Victorious Festival in the UK alongside Jamiroquai, Natalie Imbruglia, Kaiser Chiefs and Ellie Goulding.

She’s also released countless tracks since the noughties, just nothing you’ve heard on mainstream radio.

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"It’s a pretty special feeling when you see people singing along and connecting to your songs," she told Atwood Magazine in 2019.

"I remember the first festival I played in the UK, T in the Park in Scotland, I couldn’t believe people had come into the tent to see me play. I think it shocks me till this day that people show up to my shows."

She also hinted that her ‘Sweet About Me’ days weren’t so sweet after all.

"There have been times in my career where I’ve taken a path that didn’t feel authentic because I didn’t want to let people down or I felt like I simply wasn’t good enough and didn’t know enough to do what I really wanted."

Back then she was more of a pop princess than the indie crooner she is today, which is why you probably haven’t heard from her since that catchy one-hit wonder. To put it simply, Gabriella is finally her authentic self after more than 15 years in the industry, and she’s loving it.

"I would love young artists to be aware that it’s okay to say ‘no’ to something that doesn’t sit right with them and to follow their intuition, as I’ve always found it to be my greatest ally!"

She referred to a time in 2010 when she appeared topless on the cover of FHM magazine. According to Gabriella, she thought she’d have more creative freedom over the shoot, and control over what went to print. By then, she was 18 and living in London, but her proud Italian family found the images of their cover star daughter confronting.

"My dad was really upset and said, 'right, you're not going back to London'," she told The Independent. "At the time it was sold to me that I would have approval over all shots, but it turns out we didn't. I was in Australia at the time it came out and I just bawled my eyes out. I did the shoot, so I can't really blame anyone else for doing it.

"There's nothing wrong with women celebrating their bodies, but I was so upset because I didn't want to do it," she admitted.

In 2023, Gabriella is still very much in music mode, but she’s also using her social media platforms to flex her interviewer muscles in ‘Chillin’ with Cilme’ sessions. She interviews everyone from environmentalists to astrologers, fellow artists and spiritual healers. To say it’s a raging success to her followers is an understatement. Now she has plans to turn it into a podcast.

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As for that new sound she spoke about earlier, she can confirm it’s here to stay. And in a way, she’s come full circle. "I definitely feel at home within the music I’m making now and intend to continue it and build on what I’ve done. The sound and everything," she told Songwriting Magazine.

"When I think about when I was a kid, all the people I looked up to like Janis Joplin, I always loved that kind of vibe and I think I’m a bit closer to how I should be and what I should be."

And there you have it. Gabriella never went MIA, she just went to the UK!

Feature Image: Getty/Mamamia.