Spectacular Southbanker

17-year-old Southbank resident Tamika McNaughton is one of 20 secondary students from across Victoria to be selected as a principal vocalist for this year’s State Schools Spectacular.

The Year 12 Elwood Secondary College student was one of 600 to audition for an exclusive position and will now perform in the televised event in front of a live audience at Hisense Arena on September 12.  

Tamika told Southbank Local News she was thrilled to be featuring in the renowned event, having kept her talents a secret for most of her childhood.

“I’d been singing in secret for a really long time,” she said. “I first told my mum that I was going to sing at a school talent show in front of everyone and she was like ‘I hope she can sing’ and then I could!”

Since letting her vocal abilities be known, she said singing had rapidly become a passion having been busking and performing in gigs and competitions for a number of years now.

However, she is now looking forward to performing in her biggest event to date after being encouraged to do so by her music teacher.

“My teacher at my school asked why don’t you audition for ‘Spec’? It’s a great platform in an arena and a good experience. So I just went for it and I made the top 20!”

“I am so excited just to be a part of it I’ve never done a production anywhere near this scale so it’s really exciting,” she said.

This year’s State Schools Spectacular will take on extra significance as it celebrates its 20th anniversary and Tamika said she hoped to use it as a platform for greater things.

“After school I hope to move to Los Angeles and try the music scene over there so hopefully this will give me a good insight into how the industry works,” she said.

“I’ve never sung in front of this many people before so I’m really excited.”

To listen to some of Tamika’s work visit: www.facebook.com/finetuningduo