There are artists who set their sights on ticket and album sales, five-star reviews or awards as the benchmark for a successful tour. However, Emmy-winning and multi-Grammy-nominated recording artist Toni Childs appears more aligned with a different metric of success.

It’s what her music and life experience can give. And Childs hopes, what it might also ignite or inspire in those who join her as fellow travellers.

As part of her current Toni Childs – A Retrospective tour, Childs will be returning to the Canberra Theatre on Saturday 5 July.

And she has a simple wish for her guests,

“I want people to feel loved up! I want them to walk away from the show actually getting a reset connection to their joy,” she said.

Childs believes that this is much needed in today’s world.

“I’m all about bringing another frequency. That’s what my music does, and the new music is filled with so much love,” she shared.

Childs seems to be hitting the mark with her intention.

Toni Childs – A Retrospective is being lauded by reviewers and audience members alike as “Like no other performance we have ever been to,” “Toni sat on the edge of the stage like an old friend,” and “Evocative, evanescent music that allows you to immerse yourself and drift away.”

Despite the Retrospective descriptor, this Toni Childs experience, a combination of story and song, seems as much about bringing us into the present and reminding us of what makes us feel human, as it is about losing ourselves to the nostalgia.

The show will include beloved 1980s and 90s hits like ‘Don’t Walk Away’, ‘Stop Your Fussin’ and a personal favourite, ‘Where’s The Ocean’.

In the second act, though, guests will be immersed in the new music from upcoming albums, ‘It’s All a Beautiful Noise’ and ‘Citizens of the Planet’.

“The show is a chocolate box of memories… but when you get a chocolate box, there’s also some new tasty treats. And I just want to say this to everybody… read the reviews, read what people have been saying. Because the new stuff kicks the old stuff’s ass,” she said.

There was a period in Childs’ life though where she did not feel initially that she was still ‘kicking ass’.

Childs didn’t perform for over a decade and had a 19-year gap between albums due to a diagnosis of Graves’ Disease; an autoimmune disorder that causes the thyroid gland to become overactive.

However, Childs took the opportunity to care for herself and reevaluate life.

 “When you have something like Grave’s disease, that takes a huge chunk out of your life. Then you’re coming out of that a different artist with more to say,” said Childs.

“And you want to say it, you want to expand. You’re willing to go into cracks and crevices and go down roads you’ve never gone down before. And bring new life into what you’re doing.”

And speaking with Childs, it’s hard to imagine that guests at her upcoming shows won’t walk away with just a little bit more of that too.

The last time Childs was in Canberra was in 2019, when she performed as part of her 30-year anniversary of the Union tour.

At that time, she was an American artist living in Australia.

This time, however, Childs will stand proudly on stage as a bona fide ‘Aussie’ since becoming an Australian citizen in 2022.

Childs makes no secret of the many reasons why she is delighted to be a ‘fair dinkum’ Aussie.

“There’s a real taking care of each other here,” she says. “Decent people are the real rockstars of humanity.”

Speaking with Childs feels like having a cuppa with an old friend, where even the technology couldn’t get in the way.

Childs is a fan of real conversations, “In terms of actually having a conversation, like we’re having, I think that we’re at a place where it’s about connecting, isn’t it? And I really love that,” she said.

 And then we can have real conversations and that’s the best.“

What advice does Childs have for women, musicians, anyone?

“I think the beauty of each one of us as a musician, as an artist, as an entrepreneur, whatever your focus is, is following where you’re delighted to learn. Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, but it’s calling you, that’s the adventure,” she said.

“That’s why we’re all here… to follow these beautiful inspirational threads.”

Are there really any mistakes?

“Well, that’s what makes life rich. You know, of course we’re going to make mistakes. We’re going to fail, we’re going to do all of that,” she said.

“But out of that, we’re going to learn. And sometimes we need to make the biggest mistakes. And that big mistake will lead to something far greater, but you had to make that mistake to find that gold in another place.“

After spending half an hour with Toni Childs, I still get goosebumps thinking about what those in The Playhouse seats at the Canberra Theatre have in store for them.

It’s not just about the music, which I’ve no doubt does ‘kick ass’. But what it and her life journey might give us in those three hours.

At the end of our conversation, Childs said, “It’s kind of a reframing and a reorienting of oneself to believe in ourselves.”

“To say, no matter what is going on around us, ‘We’ve got this. That life is good, and all the good things that we do know truly in our heart, is so.’

“We’re not getting enough of those messages. And I think that’s my superpower!”

I hung up and booked my tickets straight away.

Tickets still available: canberratheatrecentre.com.au