The 34-year-old Australian singer, who won the 2016 season of the talent show, was left stranded in Europe last year during the height of the pandemic when he suffered a nasty fall.Arcuri was in Europe in August to perform at the international music contest ‘New Wave’ in Russia, before realising he was unable to return back home to Sydney due to the second wave of Covid gripping the state.He told news.com.au he then moved into a loft in Tuscany, Italy when he fell off a ladder inside his home, ultimately shattering discs in his back.“I fell for two metres and landed on my feet,” Arcuri recalled. “I was holding a packet of M&Ms and just slipped, and when I fell the people I was living with all ran because they thought (the M&Ms) was my teeth. “I couldn’t breathe for like 20 seconds, my whole body was winded. Which is what would’ve shattered the disc. “I was worried at first, but then it all slowly went away.”That relief was short-lived. Arcuri began suffering severe back pain and, several months later after returning back home to Sydney, he performed a gig with Anthony Callea in Melbourne and struggled to stand for more than two minutes during his set.He sought medical help in March when he was forced to undergo his first ever surgery.“I was just desperate to work at that point, but I was in so much pain. I had lost feeling in my feet,” Arcuri said.“I had an MRI and they could see I shattered my discs. I had a microdiscectomy, where they opened up the spine and took out the disc fragments.”But the initial procedure was unsuccessful in fixing the problem, with Arcuri saying he suffered “the worst pain of his life” 24 hours after the initial surgery.“It was like I was in labour, not that I know what that’s like, but it was the most painful thing I’ve ever gone through in my life. It was 200 times worse than the pain I had before. So I had another MRI and they saw there was still disc fragments touching the nerve,” Arcuri said.He had to undergo surgery yet again just a day later. But finally, he’s on the road to recovery, which includes personal training sessions and reformer pilates. And of course, new music.He released his new single, Overtime, last week, which details his long-running struggles with anxiety.“I wrote this just before Covid. My struggles with anxiety have been going on for a long time, from growing up, I came out late at 26. And I knew I was gay from about 11,” he said.“From that whole period of time I had severe social anxiety.“And then Covid happened and I lost 90 per cent of my work, and that anxiety from my youth came back ten-fold.”He added: “On The Voice, I became addicted to the validation. I wasn’t used to hearing people compliment me. It was the most incredible experience, but once I left I then dealt with impostor syndrome.“I would get anxious about doing gigs, I was worried people wouldn’t take me seriously.“I was so anxious and nervous when I released this song – you put everything into these things as an independent artist, financially and emotionally, but ultimately I’m a very honest writer … I wanted to share my story and hopefully help others who are suffering.”Overtime is out now. You can watch the music video here and listen to the audio track here.
Powered by WPeMatico
