By Luke Voogt
Ceres singer and talent show finalist Taylor Henderson led thousands of kids in song across Australia on Thursday.
About 3400 schools sang Shine Together, a song five secondary school students wrote with Taylor and iconic music director John Foreman.
“It has been my job but the kids have made it a breeze,” Taylor said.
“I’ve had recording sessions with songwriters – that’s their literal job description – and I’ve had a harder time with some of them.”
Taylor played the song in front of thousands of students at Federation Square in Melbourne on Thursday.
The 24-year-old former reality show contestant got involved in the event after working alongside Foreman.
“I really wanted to do it,” he said.
“I love kids – my Dad’s girlfriend’s got a couple of kids and I’m always looking after them.”
Count Us In is a Federal Government program which selects five children to write a song for thousands of schools around the country to sing.
Taylor enjoyed his role as mentor for the song writing prodigies.
“It’s nice having someone that’s gone through a little bit,” he said.
“I’ve grown up in the spotlight from a young age and there’s been some tough times and some amazing times.”
But often the kids taught him instead, he said.
“They came with these chord progressions that I never even thought of using. These kids are so talented, man. I see a lot of myself in these them.”
Taylor had lived in Ceres or “out of a suitcase” on the road since coming second in X Factor in 2013.
He planned to release new single Once More and a new album soon, after putting aside some time for Count Us In.
“I’ve been working on some amazing stuff but I feel like I’ve let some people down by not releasing this album,” he said.
“I want to give something to them – they’ve been waiting for too long.”
