DELTA force

Delta Goodrem is a gazelle: graceful, long-limbed and full of bouncy energy. “You have to get down and dirty with Delta,” says fashion photographer Simon Lekias, crawling around on the concrete floor of a studio in Sydney’s Alexandria, poised to capture the shot. “You just have to let her go wild and wait for her to do her thing, like a National Geographic photographer.”

Sure enough, moments later, Delta tilts her face to catch the afternoon light as a leaf blower mimics an African savanna breeze, perfectly tousling her hair. And there it is: the shot. Fittingly, ‘Wild Thing’ plays in the background.

The marie claire crew gather around the photographer’s screen and stare admiringly at the capture. Delta’s boyfriend of two-years, musician Matthew Copley, joins the chorus of praise: “My favourite [look] is Delta in a T-shirt around the house: raw, authentic, natural beauty – no false eyelashes.”

At 35, having just wrapped her ninth year as a judge on and on the cusp of releasing