You might know Ayesha Madon as Amerie Wadia, the whip-smart, sassy teenager at the centre of Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot. What you might not know is that acting is only one of Ayesha’s many skills – she’s also been a musician for as long as she can remember.

Growing up in the suburbs of Sydney with creative siblings – her brother was an actor, her sister a singer – Ayesha always loved to perform. She started out as a dancer, doing tap lessons as a kid, then moved on to playing the drums.

There was a short-lived childhood dream of being an athlete – “I played soccer growing up, and I wanted to be a Matilda,” she laughs – but music was always Ayesha’s greatest passion. Though her tastes have evolved as she’s gotten older, there’s a certain type of tune that will always have her heart: “From the time that I was little I’ve just had this intense love of pop music and I feel like that has remained unwavering… At my core I think I’m still a pop girlie because of all those years of So Fresh and Hilary Duff.”

While studying musical theatre at uni, Ayesha was writing her own songs and experimenting with who she wanted to be as an artist. She released some singles in 2020 and even taught herself how to produce, but lacked confidence.  “It took me a minute to find the team that I felt like I needed to be with, and also to grow up and back my own ideas, and not try and just make what is hot at the moment or what other people think I should make,” she says. “It took me a minute to actually be like, ‘I believe in myself enough to just make what I want to make and put it out,’ and that’s where I’m at now.”

That confidence shines through on Ayesha’s latest single, “Eulogy”. It’s a fizzy, addictive slice of electro-pop goodness and a taste of things to come. She also hopes to hit the stage to share the songs with a live audience, after her first-ever gigs supporting Meg Mac last year. “My second-ever show was at the Enmore, which is crazy,” she says. “I feel like I’m getting chucked into the deep end constantly, which is awesome. It was a great learning curve and a really awesome tour.”

The second season of Heartbreak High dropped earlier this year. Being on the show has been a learning curve for Ayesha, too – it’s her first major TV role and has helped her develop her screen acting chops, as someone who comes from a stage background. Playing a teenager is a fun experience: “I can relate to Amerie in the way that we both are pretty brash and constantly making mistakes and fucking up in different ways… it’s such a joy to escape from myself for a minute and play this absolutely unhinged batshit crazy character.”

Being in a lead role is a surreal dream for Ayesha as a person of colour in a historically white industry, particularly because Amerie feels so natural. “The character wasn’t written for a South Asian – the character was just written and then I stepped into it, which I could never have imagined,” she says.

Representation on Australian screens is improving, but there’s still more work to do – Ayesha is aware of the fact that even as a person of colour, she is privileged. “It’s massive that I was able to do this but I can’t not acknowledge that I am a light-skinned person of colour, and we still don’t see dark-skinned Indians or Black people in those leading roles,” she says. “I think that’s the next step.”

Ayesha is grateful for the show, but she admits that overnight fame was a bit tricky at first. “I feel like I’m a people watcher, not a person to be watched, so it’s quite vulnerable,” she says. “I often go to Chemist Warehouse to buy something that’s maybe a little embarrassing, and I’ll see teenage girls and I will have to literally turn around and drive home because I get anxiety from it.”

But it’s also made her a part of a new artistic community – her fellow cast members are now her best mates and cheerleaders. They all have their own creative hustles outside of the show, and have become each other’s sounding boards. “The cast of Heartbreak High have unbelievable minds – they are so tasteful, so I really trust asking them about music video ideas, or what they think about a song,” Ayesha says. “Because we’re so close, we can give honest feedback, which is so great.”

Between music and acting, Ayesha is one busy gal – but she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I actually don’t think I could function in one creative pursuit or one creative form – I’ve got ADHD so I get very bored of things very quickly,” she says.

“Having the two side by side, it almost works symbiotically because if one isn’t working out, I can just jump to the other – I’m a big believer that the moment you put pressure on something, it falls to shit. Having multiple things going lets me loosen my grip on everything, and allows me to enjoy them more.”

This interview comes straight from the pages of issue 120. To get your mitts on a copy, swing past the frankie shop, subscribe or visit one of our lovely stockists.