Teen singer-songwriter Harriet Killips lands surprise Mullum Roots Festival slot in last minute line-up change

MULLUMBIMBY High School captain Harriet Killips has been given an exciting opportunity, stepping into the lineup at this weekend’s Mullum Roots Festival after soul legend JoJo Smith was forced to cancel her Australian tour due to personal reasons.

The aspiring singer-songwriter was shocked and honoured when she received the news from festival director Lou Bradley, who is passionate about providing a platform for emerging artists.

Killips, 17, was runner-up in the year 11–12 category of the 2025 Australian Children’s Music Foundation National Songwriting Competition for her original song I Hate the Piano, which she wrote when she was meant to be studying for a piano exam.

“It is actually a cabaret piece in a Tim Minchin style and pays homage to my musical influences, including Billy Joel, Judith Durham and The Beatles,” she said. “The song echoes my musical journey and struggle to forge my identity as a musician.”

Despite this, she did pass her piano exam and said she no longer hates the instrument.

Killips, who has been compared to young Joni Mitchell, began singing in choir at primary school before branching into keyboard, piano and guitar lessons.

She started writing songs when she was around nine years old after watching Grace VanderWaal on America’s Got Talent.

“She was only 12 years old and sang and played her ukelele and won,” she said. “I learnt her songs then started writing my own. Songwriting is a space to escape to and helps me make sense of the world and myself.”

She did not begin formal singing lessons until high school, when her music teacher Joshua Sharpe encouraged her to perform at annual school music showcases.

“Learning to sing is highly technical once you do it seriously,” Killips said. “I love that it is a portable instrument you can take anywhere and the harmonies and layers you can create. I love musical theatre, having just finished performing in the Ballina Players’ production of A Chorus Line where you sing, dance and act all at once with your friends – there is nothing else like it.”

As part of her songwriting competition prize, Killips recorded a session with the Australian Institute of Music in Sydney and has since released her first three songs on Spotify and Apple Music.

“My guitar teacher often sets me homework to write a new song each week,” she said.

“It might start out as a little riff or as some lyrics and grow into something organically from there.”

Her songs explore themes of self-discovery, love and loss and how life transforms people. They include Are You Listening?, an anthem to the earth told from the perspective of animals and landforms calling for action.

Killips is hoping to release her debut album, with the working title Finding Harriet, after she finishes her HSC exams later this year.

She missed last year’s Mullum Roots as she was performing in Ballina Players’ production of Chicago at the time.

“I went to the last Blues and Splendour festivals and I’m so grateful to have an amazing festival like the Mullum Roots Festival here on our doorstep,” she said.

She will perform a mix of folk, country and western, cabaret and jazz at the event.

“I’ve had fun playing harmonies with my loop pedal so I might share some of those sounds too,” she said.

Harriet Killips is performing in the songwriter showcase at the Drill Hall Theatre at 1.30pm and at Mullumbimby Civic Centre at 8pm on Sunday 12 July.

For more information and tickets, visit mullumrootsfest.com

Mullum Roots Festival coverage continues on Page 6, where Australia’s self-proclaimed queen of honky tonk, Wanita Bahtiyar, shares her remarkable story ahead of this weekend’s festival.