It started in 2017 with a simple enough idea, get a bunch of the country’s best up-and-coming First Nations artists to cover a song that means something to them. Call it Deadly Hearts.
ABC Music Label Manager Peta Chew spearheaded the 2020 Deadly Hearts' release Walking Together.
"I have a deep respect for First Nations peoples and their cultures, so I felt honoured and humbled to be championing the storytelling and interpretations of this diverse collection of songs," Chew said.
"Working and curating an album showcasing our local talent and Indigenous cultures through the reimagining of iconic songs that are meaningful to the artist has been a career highlight of mine."
Now five years and three albums on and the beautiful, powerful covers have amassed millions of streams and Deadly Hearts alumni have performed all over the world (there’s even been a Eurovision contender!)
"The Deadly Hearts series has been a fantastic platform for Indigenous voices to be heard globally," Chew confirms.
To celebrate NAIDOC week 2022, we checked in with a couple of our Deadly Hearts mates to see what they’ve been up to lately.