Thirteen years ago, a 16-year-old Delta Goodrem made her first appearance on ‘Neighbours’ — arguably Australia’s biggest cultural export. Delta played the awkwardly shy but musically talented Nina Tucker, and revealed to the world the voice that would carry her name for years to come.

During her rise to success, Delta battled Hodgkin’s Lymphoma aged 18, released her debut #1 album ‘Innocent Eyes,’ earned a world record with four consecutive number one singles in Australia (beating pop predecessor Kylie) and penned three further massive albums. One of these records included her duet with Brian Mcfadden, which charted highly in both the UK and Ireland and led to an ill-fated romantic affair of seven years with the former Westlife star.

Back in March this year, seemingly not aged a second since her first ever episode as a freshie at Erinsborough High, Delta Goodrem re-joined the cast after a long spell in LA to play Nina again for the show’s 30th Anniversary. The episode coincided with the release of her track ‘Only Human,’ a song she performed as her character in the Ramsay Street soap opera. Whilst it only peaked at #46 in the ARIA charts, it seemed like big moment for the singer to come back to her Australian roots and the show which became her platform for global success. “I’m a very proud Neighbours girl,” Delta says. “I think it’s an institution, it’s our Mickey Mouse Club for Australia!” Despite her glamorous presence on Ramsay Street, the melancholic track featured some heavy lines that suggested all was not well in camp Delta: I’ve given my heart and can’t get it back / I’ve had too many knives thrown in my back / How do you love when you’re broken?’

Having rolled around on the floor in a couture gown for her shoot with NOTION, Delta now sits cross-legged to talk with me, enjoying a cup of tea and munching chocolate digestives, simply gorgeous in a tee and jeans. I ask her where she penned the powerful song that marked her comeback. “I wrote that in my home in LA. I was obviously going through a few things,” Delta tells me seriously before laughing. Delta never dwells on anything downbeat for too long. “It was before turning thirty. I was like, ‘Where am I going?'”

Discussing the lyrics in ‘Only Human,’ I ask her if she’s ever cautious about exposing her feelings through her lyrics and she’s quick to jump in and halt my questioning: “No, because that’s how you help other people.” She pauses. “I’m more cautious in conversations than I would be in my music.” It would be easy for any Delta fan to point out similarities between her lyrics and what appears to be happening in her life. As she told Australia’s `Daily Telegraph’ in the aftermath of her break-up with McFadden: “If there’s anything anyone wants to know about me, read my lyrics and listen to the record.”

“I do what I want to do, I own who I am, I know who I am, I know what I like and what I don’t…” “It’s so wild to think of how intense my first records were and how I just broke out on the scene… And then I didn’t come back for 10 years. I’m more in love with music than I ever have been. I’m refocused and I’m focused on sharing music again…”

For now, she’s quick to avoid any sense of negativity, and let her fans interpret their own meanings from her songs. Delta’s schedule over the past 6 months or so has been crazy-busy: releasing `Wings,’ her ninth #1 single in Australia; returning to Neighbours; starring as a coach on the Australian version of `The Voice’ (notoriously clashing with fellow judge Jesse J); landing herself the main part as Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of `Cats.’ “It feels like the perfect role for me,” Delta says of Grizabella. “I haven’t stepped into musical theatre before but it makes perfect sense to me; acting and singing and dancing and doing it all in one.”

I ask her how she has managed to work on so many different projects in 2015. “It’s been a really, really busy season in life and feels like a new era in life,” Delta reveals. “Even with the music, when it comes to the UK, it’s very much a new chapter. It’s so wild to think of how intense my first records were and how I just broke out on the scene, and then I didn’t come back for 10 years. I’m more in love with music then I ever have been. I’m refocused and I’m focused on sharing music again.”

And does Delta feel like she’s had a kind of rebirth since turning thirty? “Absolutely,” she agrees. “I think I shed everything. You let go of it all, that’s what ‘Wings’ is about; you let go of your twenties. It’s like, I got some of that right and I got some of that wrong. You stress over things in your twenties. You turn thirty and you go, `I’m not in my 20s any more. It’s like, no time to waste, shed everything.’ I do what I want to do, I own who I am, I know who I am, I know what I like and what I don’t.”

It was supporting Rikki Martin, her fellow coach from `The Voice,’ on his Australian tour which inspired Delta to write ‘Wings.’ With less pressure as a supporting act -“Ten thousand people a night, lights out, just a spotlight,” – Delta spent her thirty-minute sets belting out her big hits, rediscovering the piano-led tunes that set her apart from the pop of the early noughties. “Honestly, that tour made me fall back in love with the piano,” she reflects. “I’m a classical piano player and I was like, ‘I know exactly the type of songs I need to write.” And so, working alongside Aussie producers DNA Songs, ‘Wings’ took flight.

With four years having passed since the release of her last LP, ‘Child of the Universe,’ what has Delta been drawing on for her new work? “I think that I tend to be a writer that goes through things, then processes; then reflects; then resolves.” Delta hints at some difficulties – her recent romance with Nick Jonas, maybe? But as is her practice, she follows this with a positive spin. “There’s a lot of fun in the record too. There are moments like, ‘Yeah, I’m dealing with this and I’m dealing with that and I know you’re probably dealing with it too!’ But then there’s a lot of, you know, singing to the stars and the moon at night time (laughs). Barefoot, dancing around, running around with your friends.”

There are hints of heartbreak in her songs, but is there anyone new in her love life right now? “No I’m focused on music. I’m definitely just enjoying my time with music right now. My heart is with the piano right now.” With that, it’s time for Delta to be whisked off to another appointment, another date, ahead of her midnight slot at landmark London club, Heaven. Delta has had plenty of successes in her life so far, and but she’s determined it won’t end here. “I’ve got plenty more she laughs, and I know she’s serious. Once you’ve become a national treasure, you either burn bright or fade away. Delta Goodrem is burning bright.