If you suggested to Karina Brown 12 months ago she would collaborate with talented Queensland artist Jess Harlen and release her debut single, she probably would have laughed at you.
But fast forward a year later, the Titans NRLW marquee has released her masterpiece, 'She's Got Confidence' to the world, hoping to inspire the next generation of females who have the whole world at their feet.
"I totally would have laughed at you if I suggested 12 months ago there was a collaboration between a talented musician and an athlete who has very limited experience," Brown joked.
"But she really nurtured my talents and I’m so lucky to be able to work with someone as talented and artistic as Jess to make a positive difference to the world.
"I’m really proud because this is something I can leave behind. Not everyone gets to launch a song or pull on a Titans jersey or pull on an Australian jersey, so it’s just something I can leave behind for the next generation or my kids if I end up having any.
"It is easy to get caught up in the things you don’t have or the lack of women’s equality or what have, but that’s why we’ve tried to put a positive spin on it with the song. It’s about what we want to look like and the positive outlook, like girls growing up confident and with opportunities like never before."
It actually turns out music has been a big part of the Australian Jillaroo's life since such a young age, given her whole family is quite talented with instruments in hand. But the 32-year-old gave it away to follow her sporting dream.
"I actually grew up surrounded by music. My mum was in a band with my aunty, so we used to always be at the RSLs and different places listening to mum," Brown said.
"Her brother was a rock guitarist, so he was always performing and then our other uncle was an opera singer in musicals, so music was always around me.
‘The Titans is where I should be’ - Brown
"However, mum tried to get me into music and I did like three piano lessons, but I loved sport too much and all I wanted to do was play sport, so she just let me do that... but I still had music surrounding me.
"Me and my sisters would perform concerts at our cubby house for our parents. So, I guess I was absorbing a lot of musical influence and taking a lot in that I just didn’t realise.
"I then met a musician, Jess Harlen, who has done the song with me. She actually plays the guitar and sings, so she could bring all the musical ideas to life.
"She taught me how to produce a song using a laptop and in a studio and it sort of started out as fun, because we were hanging out during a three-day lockdown that turned into ten - pretty much right after State of Origin."
It was in that lockdown period the 'She's Got Confidence' concept began.
"We were sitting there and she had a little toy guitar... she didn’t even have her real guitar in her apartment at that moment. The little mini guitar she had barely even strummed," Brown recalled.
"We thought… let’s just write a song just for fun, and then we thought… what are we going to write about?
"Then we were thinking of that photo the Titans posted last year with the class of 21 and class of 31 – which was the top 5 marquee [NRLW] players with five little girls on our shoulders.
"It was just a really cool photo and we thought, let’s write a song on what we thought the graduating class of 2031 would be like with all the opportunities in the world that we didn’t get growing up but are now paving the way for them - so that was sort of the inspiration for the song.
"We came up with a couple of chords and put down some lyrics and then we both thought we were onto something, so we fired up the laptop, plugged in the mic and real instruments and off we went.
"We thought it would turn out to be a very powerful song with a very important message for young girls to be positive and be whoever they want to be to take opportunities and believe in themselves I suppose."
Through the production of her inspirational anthem, the Origin winner was able to realise the huge similarities between her field and others for women in the world.
"I think that through Jess and I’s friendship, we discovered the parallel between music and sport and the challenges that women face in those industries – they’re very similar," Brown said.
"We feel like we have to work twice as hard for half as much just because of how it is and I know that things are changing, but it’s certainly been a hard slog, especially for her given she’s a woman of colour and part of the LGBTIQ+ community.
"There’s been a lot of challenges for her personally and for me and of course with that equality piece for women, we want this song to be the anthem for all women in any field, not just sport. I’m using sport as a vehicle to get the message out there.
"I want young girls to hear it and maybe their thing is that they love doing speeches and picture themselves one day being Jacinda Ardern or if they want to be a doctor, or whatever it is that they want to be and to just have the confidence to do that.
"I think what is also very powerful is the opening line of the song... 'young boys in line, now is her time, she takes the pen and is the hero like the men.'
"I talk about that in the song because female role models in the community are now signing boots for young boys and in the eyes of young boys, they are heroes and they get to see strong, female athletes but that wasn’t the case when we were growing up.
"My cousins’ young boys... they didn’t get to see that, so it’s becoming the norm now and that’s the next generation that will make the biggest changes because it’s normal for them to see strong females and support strong females."
With the single being now available on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, Brown said the entire journey has been a challenge, but is passionate to get the empowering message out to women around the world.
"Let me just say… the music industry is very hard. Just putting together a three minute song, we spent hundreds of hours and the costs involved to get it mix-mastered... I definitely have a newfound respect for musicians," Brown said.
"It’s a hard slog and you have to be very passionate about it to put in the work which I’m no stranger to that in rugby league putting gin the work.
"But I’ve been very fortunate through football and all the contacts I’ve made through the way that we’ve got some really good support recently. Just through people I’ve met along the way.
"I've started, but there’s definitely more work to be done and through each small yes we get, we can carry on because it’s really important to me the message gets out there and is accessible to all Australian women and even the world."
