After 21 years in Shepparton, Robert (who uses they/them pronouns) moved to Melbourne a bit over two years ago.
Since then, Robert has been focused on releasing music and their modelling career.
Self-expression is why they love it.
“Writing music is just the way I express myself,” they said.
“If I ever feel a strong emotion or something happens that impacts me a lot, I’ll write a song about it.”
It is Robert’s first EP, with seven songs in total — four of which have been released as singles.
“The EP itself is about love in all different forms — friendship love, romantic love, losing love, gaining love, things changing,” Robert said.
“I think that’s what a lot of my life is about.”
Despite moving on to the big smoke, Robert still had a piece of their home town in one of the EP’s tracks.
“Ryan Black was a teacher at Notre Dame College when I was there,” Robert said.
“He always made me feel very encouraged.
“For the single Supernova, I decided to ask Ryan to play on it. I always loved listening to him play piano.”
So they made it happen.
“I went back to Shepp and recorded him and then added that into the production, I’m so proud of it,” Robert said.
“It feels like such a full-circle moment, now there’s a little piece of Shepparton in the song.”
Mr Black said it felt like a ‘student has become the master’ moment.
“Working with any past student is always a rewarding experience, and a talented artist like Robert Baxter is no exception,” Mr Black said.
“I always like to think I’ve had some positive influence or to bring out the best in someone.
“This time, I believe Robert brought out the best in me.
“Robert observed that my first few piano takes were quite safe and held back, and maybe that was not what the song required.
“With some enthusiastic encouragement, the next few takes involved more risk and were a lot more dramatic, which ultimately, suited the direction Robert wanted for the song.”
Both Robert and Mr Black said they highly enjoyed working together.
“It was a lot of fun and an honour to be involved,” Mr Black said.
The future of Robert’s music is up in the air, with the release of the new EP signalling the end of a high-energy time.
“I do have music planned for the future, but I need to have a big break after this before I start thinking about releasing them because I’ve been in release mode since October,” Robert said.
Robert Baxter will host a launch party called Club Cupid in Collingwood on April 21 at The Gasometer Hotel.
Tickets can be bought online at tinyurl.com/Club-Cupid
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