Noughties Brit pop star unrecognisable as she lands in Australia 18 years after big hit – can you guess who she is?
A noughties hitmaker looked unrecognisable as she touched down in Australia this week.
Scottish singer Sandi Thom’s track I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker shot to number one in seven different countries back in 2006.
Sandi Thom, now 43, also saw debut album Smile… It Confuses People go to number one in the UK charts that same year.
But now the star looks worlds away from her former pop star self as she arrived down under ahead of her 2024 tour.
Make-up free and dressed in comfy clothes, the singer landed Down Under with her dark hair in a half up half down style.
She was wrapped up in a denim jacket with an oversized cream scarf as she pushed her luggage through the airport.
Thom arrived at Sydney Airport and kept a low profile wearing black leggings, a white T-shirt and trainers as she pushed a trolley with her suitcase and guitar balanced on.
Her debut single knocked Gnarls Barkley’s hit Crazy off the top of the UK charts and was named Australia‘s number one hit of 2006.
The mother and songwriter previously accused BBC Radio 2 of being anti-Scottish after the station refused to playlist her new single Earthquake in 2017.
She ranted on a soon-deleted YouTube video: “Honest to God I’m f***ing sick to death of the bulls*** this industry pulls on people like me and I’ve had it.
“Enough I’m done. F*** you Radio 2. F*** you Bauer network and f*** the lot of you.
“It is utter s***. It’s a f***ing good song, ok. There is no reason why you need to do this to me once again.
“That is it. I’m done. I have better things to do with my life and time and this is utter bulls***.
“See you later Radio 2. Go shove it up your a*** because I really don’t care anymore.”
Thom told STV’s Scotland Tonight at the time: “This week on the Radio 2 playlist, there are no Scottish artists.
“This is not due to a lack of talent from Scotland or a lack of artists looking to be put on the playlist.
“I don’t know if you think that’s fair or not but I certainly don’t.”
Appearing live on air, Thom added: “I think there’s many reasons and I think there is a massive bias [against Scottish artists] within the BBC network and within Radio 2.
“The facts really speak for themselves. If you go back through the playlists for weeks and even months, you can see there is a real lack of Scottish presence there.”
The star moved to LA in 2010 to focus on blues and country music. She gave birth to her son in 2016 and has since returned to the UK.