Take 5 with Zan Rowe

Television ABC
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Episode 3 - Missy Higgins

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Tuesday 4 October 8.00pm

In her first media interview since separating from her husband, Missy Higgins opens up to Zan Rowe in an extraordinary interview you won’t forget.

Since the release of her nine-time platinum debut album “The Sound of White’ in 2005 Australia has been deeply invested in Missy Higgins. We have sung her breakup songs and danced to music about her falling in love.

In her first media interview since separating from her husband, Missy arrives ready to share. Zan says of the interview “I’ve interviewed Missy many times over the last 15 years, this was the most open I have ever seen her, it’s an interview that has stayed with me and I was moved that Missy trusted me to share so honestly.”

Missy explores her struggles with mental health, the secrecy of her first same sex relationship and the pressures of fame all through her five songs that celebrate an instrument so connected with her: the piano.

This is an episode about letting go of the expectations of others and breaking free from the confining narratives that we build around our own lives. It’s an episode about writing new chapters and accepting that we’ll never finish the book.

Production credit: Take 5 with Zan Rowe is an ABC Production. Created and hosted by Zan Rowe, Executive Producer: Nikita Agzarian, Series Producer: Josh Schmidt, Director/DOP: Aaron Smith, Double J Content Director: Ryan Egan, Head of Music: Meagan Loader, Executive Producer Arts: Kalita Corrigan, Acting Head of Factual and Culture: Richard Huddleston.

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Episode 4 - Tony Armstrong

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Tuesday 11 October 8.00pm

Tony Armstrong burst onto the Australian media landscape and straight into our hearts. Blending exceptional skill at presenting live television with charisma money just can’t buy, it’s no wonder Tony received the Graham Kennedy award for Best New Talent at the Logies this year.But beneath his charming exterior is a story filled with bumps in the road.

In this episode of Take 5 Tony shares the highs of being a professional AFL player: “It was one of the only times I’ve stopped to smell the roses… I’ve just kicked it to Goodsey. He’s like Aboriginal superman.”

As well as the crushing lows: “People start to do revisionist history on your behalf. They’re like why did you retire? I didn’t retire. I got sacked cause I wasn’t good enough. And that’s fine, but it’s pretty brutal… I was gutted. It took me years to get over.”

We see our favourite sports presenter like we’ve never seen him before, as he generously shares the lessons life has taught him so far, all through the lens of music: “It soundtracks everything I do. It makes everything infinitely better or it makes you feel whatever you’re feeling way more. Sometimes when you’re feeling a bit sad it’s ok to lean in I think.”

Production credit: Take 5 with Zan Rowe is an ABC Production. Created and hosted by Zan Rowe, Executive Producer: Nikita Agzarian, Series Producer: Josh Schmidt, Director/DOP: Aaron Smith, Double J Content Director: Ryan Egan, Head of Music: Meagan Loader, Executive Producer Arts: Kalita Corrigan, Acting Head of Factual and Culture: Richard Huddleston.

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From The Age Green Guide today

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Episode 5 - Tori Amos

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The legendary Tori Amos joins Zan Rowe to talk about her fight to be heard as a woman in music, the endemic nature of sexual assault and how the fight continues.

Powerhouse Tori Amos stormed the pop charts in the 1990s with her unforgettable album Little Earthquakes. Her signature sound redefined the boundaries of the pop genre and paved the way for other artists to follow their own paths.

In this episode of Take 5 with Zan Rowe, Tori opens up about where it all began: being the youngest person ever accepted into a prestigious music school… and then being expelled. “I think I said something like ‘You’re so stupid.’ I started challenging when I was about 8 or 9 and by the time, I was 11 it was just insubordinate.”

The industry hasn’t always been a safe space. She has faced plenty of rejection and fierce criticism of her unconventional musical choices. “I had seven years of rejection. Every company rejected me many, many, many times… Billboard called me a bimbo. How do you go from child prodigy to bimbo?”

A survivor and activist, Tori speaks candidly about sexual assault and channelling her own experiences into her art: “As a woman I’m trying to deal with the emotions that are coming up as the song is coming. It’s overwhelming. To perform it I’m allowing the song to inhabit my body, and I’m just an observer.”

But Tori has faced everything life has thrown at her head on, and she is still selling out tours globally.

This episode of Take 5 is filled with stories of resistance, rebellion and finding one’s voice. "You find your own style because you’re on your knees and you surrender.” All told through the songs that soundtrack the life of an extraordinary woman.

Production credit: Take 5 with Zan Rowe is an ABC Production. Created and hosted by Zan Rowe, Executive Producer: Nikita Agzarian, Series Producer: Josh Schmidt, Director/DOP: Aaron Smith, Double J Content Director: Ryan Egan, Head of Music: Meagan Loader, Executive Producer Arts: Kalita Corrigan, Acting Head of Factual and Culture: Richard Huddleston.

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According to The Guardian’s Amanda Meade in her weekly column:

Armstrong tells Rowe he used to be really self conscious, which is quite the admission for someone who won a Logie for best new TV talent. “Being a kid who was an only child, also being an Indigenous kid, you already stand out … and you’re always trying to kind of not stand out,” he said. “When I was a kid I was always obsessed with making new friends and meeting people because it was just mum and I.”

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The Age TV writer Debi Enker has praised the show in her weekly column in Green Guide.

(Zan Rowe) doesn’t make the common mistake of inserting herself too insistently or expansively into the mix. Her questions are astute and concise, revealing her knowledge of music and her guest. She unobtrusively guides the discussion and allows the interviewees ample room for reflections and anecdotes. Each episode produces memorable and sometimes moving exchanges.

Take 5 gets the basics right. The decor provides a fitting frame for the conversations: a couple of chairs, a small table, turntables, images of records stacked against the back wall when the interview is shot in a studio. No fussy bells and whistles. The opening credits feature an audio cassette being flipped into an old-style tape recorder with a satisfying clunk.

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The show premieres on ABC Australia across Asia-Pacific region this Thursday (November 24) at 9.30pm AEDT with the Guy Pearce episode.

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Returning in 2023

You can learn a lot about someone from their mixtape. What if you asked extraordinary people to share 5 songs that made them who they are today? Take 5 with Zan Rowe is back by popular demand for a second series! What began as a segment on Zan’s much loved radio show 15 years ago, evolved into the award-winning podcast and a hit 5-part ABC TV series. Through their song choices each guest takes us deep into the moments that shaped them. The results are intimate, revelation fuelled conversations that cast the people you know in a whole new light… In 2023 Let’s Take Five!

An ABC Production. Series Producer Josh Schmidt, Executive Producer Nikita Agzarian, Double J Content Director Ryan Egan, Executive Producer Arts Kalita Corrigan

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Season 2

Take 5 is back on ABC TV and ABC iview, following a premiere season embraced by audiences in 2022, making it the #1 arts/ cultural program for ABC in the last two years.

Season two sees Zan return with her signature warmth, expert knowledge and disarming interview style. The guestlist is huge. Noel Gallagher, Natalie Imbruglia, Jimmy Barnes, Mark Coles Smith, G Flip, and Lin-Manuel Miranda . All sharing their unique record collections and deeply personal stories.

Noel Gallagher reveals his songs of escape, Barnesy celebrates the music that made him, G Flip shares their determination, Mark Coles Smith centers himself with home, and Natalie Imbruglia and Lin-Manuel Miranda have story at their centre, their own and others. As the songs play and conversation flows, we see a different, more vulnerable side to these artists than we’re used to. And hear some wild tales.

Music is memory. Hearing a song can take you back to a place, a feeling, a singular time in your life. It unlocks us and has the power to unite us.

Come along for the Take 5 journey.

“The second series of Take 5 grew even bigger in heart and revelation. From London, to Melbourne, Brisbane to Sydney, extraordinary people from all walks of life showed their softer side through the songs that made them. As a journalist, I read the energy of every person I interview. And if there is ever a wall upon meeting, it melts quickly away when my guests flip to fan mode about their songs. Seeing Noel Gallagher relive childhood memories from a Manchester council flat, watching Natalie Imbruglia unpack years of tumult, and capturing Lin-Manuel Miranda at a creative crossroads, is a true privilege. Jimmy Barnes and G Flip show the scaffolding of who they are with their song choices, and Mark Coles Smith sits down for one of the first in-depth conversations about his story. I’ve been lucky to be front row at Take 5 for seventeen years, and the deep well of memory and emotion that music can stir up continues to floor me.”

“The** success of Take 5’s first season confirmed what **I’ve long believed; songs hold our stories and no matter who we are, we all have a deep connection

to music. I’m so proud and happy that Take 5 is returning to prime time with even more incredible epiphanies from the people we love, sharing the songs that made them.” - Zan Rowe

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Episode 1

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Tuesday 10 October 8.00pm

Take 5 with Zan Rowe returns with a star-studded second season. Zan is back with her signature warmth, expert knowledge and disarming interview style. Noel Gallagher is Zan’s first guest.

Noel Gallagher still has his trademark confidence “It’s ok If I never write another song, I’ve written some of the best songs of our f%#&ing era.” After 3 decades his songs with Oasis have withstood the test of time, making this statement not just bravado but a fact.

Now all grown up, Noel Gallagher shows a surprising softer side as he sits down with Zan to share his songs of escape. He talks about his early years in Manchester before becoming one of the biggest rock stars of his generation.

“I don’t think there’s anything more soul-destroying than you and your brother and your dad… all going to sign on at the unemployment office… looking back on it now, it’s like what message does that send? My dad’s got no future, I’ve got no future.”

Luckily for Noel, and for anyone who has ever put their arms around a mate’s shoulders at a pub and sung “Because maybe, you’re gonna be the one that saved me” Noel’s future was pretty bloody bright.

Now a father, still making music and touring with his band ‘The High Flying Birds’, the wild days of the 90’s, trashing hotel rooms and being thrown off planes have passed.

Noel lived fast, but thankfully he is still here to tell the tale. Escape can mean many things, and what an amazing story of escape and success it is.

Episode 2: Natalie Imbruglia
Episode 3: Jimmy Barnes
Episode 4: Mark Coles Smith
Episode 5: G Flip
Episode 6: Lin-Manuel Miranda

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Episode 2

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Tuesday 17 October 8.00pm

Pop sensation Natalie Imbruglia sits down with Zan Rowe to share five songs that reflect her journey.

From overnight worldwide fame with her hit ‘Torn’, which took her to superstar status, to mental health struggles and the journey back to herself, Natalie is an empowering force.

Natalie exudes strength and talent; her personality is infectious. She sits down for the interview, ready to share her story through five songs, including a wild night out with her idol Michael Hutchence when she was 17, the deal she made with ex-husband Daniel Johns about writing break-up songs and how being dropped by her label led to a near nervous breakdown.

Amongst the intimate chat, belly laughs, and daggy dancing, this is the story of a woman getting her power back. Listening to her talk there is no mistaking Natalie is in her prime.

Get ready to step-touch to Whitney Houston and swoon over INXS as Natalie shares her incredible life. This is an episode not to be missed.

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Episode 3

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Tuesday 24 October 8.00pm

Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes takes us on a journey through the music that built him. This not to be missed conversation reveals the power of music to shape identity.

Australian rock icon Jimmy Barnes sits down with Zan to talk about the music that made him, taking him from a tough childhood, onto the biggest stages in Australia.

He comes to the show armed with 5 songs that he used to build “Jimmy Barnes”. “That’s what musicians do. You find your own voice through these influences”

The songs lead us through his early years, the wild days of Cold Chisel, and ultimately to self-realization and being comfortable in his own skin.

It is one hell of a journey; “I was going through it in an industry that wanted me to be wild, it wanted me to be crazy it wanted me to be reckless. It wanted me to be killing myself. The more I did it the more people liked me”

“I had to come off stage at some point and when I did, I had to face life.”

Jimmy opens up about aging and having a new understanding of what being a real man is. It’s a fascinating conversation about finding solace between the dark and the light, as an artist and as a human being.
If you grew up in Australia, it’s pretty much guaranteed at some point you’ve been on a dancefloor and sung Kha Sahn as the lights got turned on or found yourself belting out Flame Trees on a solo country drive. Jimmy Barnes is part of the fabric that binds us.

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Episode 4

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Gold Logie nominated actor Mark Coles Smith shares his journey from rural Australia to fame through five incredible song choices.

Mark Coles Smith made history as the first Indigenous actor to be nominated for a Gold Logie, for his role in Mystery Road: Origin.

However, Mark has done surprisingly few interviews about his story. Growing up in rural Western Australia and moving from town to town this actor, producer and musician has some amazing tales to tell as he shares the songs that bring him back to earth.

At one point in the interview as Zan places a David Bowie record on the player Mark reveals “Funny bit of trivia. Bowie almost became my grandfather-in-law….it was during his time in Australia, he met my grandmother, she was a beautiful young thing at Bangarra Dance Theatre in Sydney. And they had this three-month long romance.”

This episode is full of dancing, laughs, charm, heartbreak and wisdom. From being discovered at 14 to losing his best friend to suicide and the journey in his 20’s to believe in himself, Mark brings five incredible songs to soundtrack his story.

Mark sums up Take 5 beautifully “Everything that I’ve spoken about, it’s kind of the first time in a way. This is why this is such an amazing exercise to be a part of, because you’ve literally asked me about things that are deeply meaningful to me and that I care about. These are songs that kind of held chapters of my life so far, my journey.”

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Extended preview of episode 1

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Episode 5

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Tuesday 14 November 8.00pm

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a master storyteller. As the creator and star of the smash hit Hamilton, he brought musical theatre to a whole new audience. So, what are the 5 songs that tell his story.

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a master storyteller. As the creator and star of the smash hit Hamilton, he brought musical theatre to a whole new audience.

Lin-Manuel brings energy to this Take 5 that only a theatre kid could muster. In this episode you will see him belting out lyrics and teaching Zan to salsa. But it quickly becomes apparent that he has come to this conversation at a crossroads in life.

He reveals the story of his relationship with the late Stephen Sondheim, one of the most important figures of 20th century musical theatre.

Lin-Manuel opens up about a chance meeting with Sondheim in his younger days telling him he was writing a musical about Alexander Hamilton. From that day on, Lin would often go to Sondheim for advice. When he passed away towards the end of 2021 the world lost an artist, but Lin-Manuel lost a mentor and friend. As he plays Zan the Sondheim song ‘Move On’ he chokes back tears as he sings along.

In the last few years, Lin-Manuel has been writing chart topping hits that have redefined Disney for a new generation. His revolutionary approach has awarded him Tonys, Grammys, Emmys, and a Pulitzer.

This episode is a masterclass in music, the power of having someone believe in you, and in working hard to share your talent, whatever that may be, with the world.

Production credit: Take 5 is an ABC Production. Created, Hosted and Written by Zan Rowe. Executive Producer, Nikita Agzarian. Series Producer, Josh Schmidt. Director/DOP, Aaron Smith ACS. Producers Zan Rowe, Phoebe Bennett and Tania Doumit.

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Episode 5

gflip

Tuesday 7 November 8.00pm

“I was in my bedroom crying… holy shit… I think this is going to work. I think my life is about to change.”

G Flip wasn’t wrong. Spotted on Unearthed and then played on triple j was a dream year in the making. And over 200 million streams and a hit second album later, G Flip is taking on the world.

Since they were a little kid, G Flip’s determination has been the centre of their universe. In their Take 5, we hear the music that propelled them forward. Because G didn’t just step into the industry, they bashed the door down and graffitied ‘G Flip’ on the glass ceiling.

G writes queer love songs, non-binary anthems and straight up bangers making them a role model for people all over the world. Their current album has songs dedicated to their wife, something G only dreamed of when writing secret love songs in their room as a kid.

It’s impossible not to love G. They are honest, vibrant and wear their heart on their sleeve. G tears up when telling Zan about their first drum teacher who taught G the unique skills of being able to drum and sing at the same time. “She passed away. But every show I play, there’s a moment where I look up, and I’m like, “I know you’d be stoked with this.”

Through five songs that show G’s insatiable drive and love of drumming, we hear stories about what it takes to make it in music and to succeed in the journey to being 100 percent yourself.

Production credit: Take 5 is an ABC Production. Created, Hosted and Written by Zan Rowe. Executive Producer, Nikita Agzarian. Series Producer, Josh Schmidt. Director/DOP, Aaron Smith ACS. Producers Zan Rowe, Phoebe Bennett and Tania Doumit.

Preview

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Season 3

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Take 5 with Zan Rowe is back on ABC TV and ABC iview, following two critically acclaimed seasons. Music is memory. Hearing a song can take you back to a place, a feeling, singular time in your life. It unlocks us and has the power to reunite us.

You can learn a lot about someone from their mixtape. Join Zan Rowe as she asks extraordinary people to share the 5 songs that made them who they are today.

Come along for the journey, and let’s Take 5! ABOUT TAKE 5

Take 5 is Zan Rowe’s popular award-winning Double J radio segment and podcast turned critically acclaimed television series. Across six episodes, renowned figures in music and screen join Zan to delve into some of the most personal moments of their lives. They share five songs that have soundtracked their journey through life and invite us to think about our own.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Take 5 is an ABC Production. Created, Hosted and Written by Zan Rowe. Executive Producer Nikita Agzarian. Series Producer Josh Schmidt.

Director/DOP Aaron Smith ACS. Producers Zan Rowe, Phoebe Bennett and Tania Doumit. ABC Head Arts, Music and Events Kath Earle.

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Premiere Special

Tuesday 19 December 8:00 PM

You can learn a lot about someone from their mixtape. Icons in music and screen join Zan Rowe to delve deep into intimate moments in their lives, sharing songs that have made them who they are today.

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