Nothing but love.

That is the message that 23-year-old performer Konnie Ampatzidis wishes to convey through her work. She admits that it is “love” that helps her personally get through the toughest of times. The love and acceptance that her family – most notably, her yiayia – shower her with are what keeps her grounded.

Recently young Konnie began her journey in the music industry with the release of her first single, titled “Baby Slow”. The talented musician told Neos Kosmos of the changes the track went through to become the cheerful pop song we hear today.

“I have a piano in my room where I mostly play my music and I was fiddling around with it, trying out some new pieces,” she said. “And then I wrote one song that was very serious (possibly due to the influence of Greek music) and I sent it to a producer. He sent me something back based on my keyboard notes and said ‘I actually made something upbeat instead, but I don’t think it goes with your lyrics anymore.’ I thought the new song was really fun, the tune got stuck in my head and and the new lyrics didn’t take me long at all. I just sat at my desk and imagined a high-school love kind of scenario and it came to me.”

The artistic song writer was invited to sing the Australian national anthem during the NBL play-offs final between United and the Perth Wildcats at the Melbourne Arena just a few short weeks ago. Her performance sent chills, leaving crowds wondering who that young girl with the powerful voice was. But Konnie describes the incident in a very unique way.

“The week before the NBL, I had to perform at a concert in my home town of Mornington. About 200-250 people were there, but they were mostly people I knew or people from the area. And I was more scared about that, than I was for the final! Because when I went out into that court, everything just shut down around me and I remembered why I love singing so much,” Konnie said. “It just feels like the entire world goes quiet and it’s only you. I admit, I was a little bit nervous, but nothing like what I went through a week earlier!”

Passionate Konnie, whose idols are Kylie Minogue and Rihanna, has great aspirations for the future and her rich talent allows her to set the bar high. Yet despite this, her upbringing and personal experiences make her never forget those that are less fortunate.

“I want to be able to perform all over the world and my dream was always to have my own charity foundation. My pappou grew up in an orphanage in Thessaloniki and he says the only thing that helped him get through it was that they had lots of musical instruments. That’s why I would love it if one day, even in the near future if possible, I could put on a concert in Thessaloniki and all funds that get raised could go towards the infrastructure of either orphanages or certain parts of towns. I’ve always wanted to do things like that.”

But no matter how far she goes within the musical industry, it’s definitely certain that people of Konnie’s character are like a breath of fresh air in this day and age. She deserves as much support as she can get!