Getting Candid With Brisbane Singer-Songwriter Hope D
All about hope
By Natalie McGowan | 15th July 2025It’s hard to picture Hope Defteros as anything other than Hope D: musician, artist, singer-songwriter. But rewind to Grade 11, and a career in music wasn’t even on her radar – until a talk with her high school counsellor changed everything.
“I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, I thought maybe neuroscience,” recalls Hope. “I was terrible at science and math, but I thought I could possibly get into it. Then my counsellor asked why I don’t do music, and I was like ‘Oh, that’s an option?’.” That same day, she floated the idea with her parents, who were instantly supportive. The rest was history.
Hope picked up her first instrument in Grade 2: a Barbie-pink guitar she taught herself to play, writing her own songs from the very beginning. By high school, she was performing covers anywhere that would have her – bars, cafés, weddings, and events – sometimes up to eight gigs a week. She eventually began performing original music under the name Hope D, with her first show at The Brightside in 2017, opening for a friend of a friend’s band.
Pursuing a Bachelor of Music at QUT not only expanded on her technical knowledge of the industry, but it also introduced her to a like-minded community and some of her closest friends.
“We were all doing the same thing and seeing live gigs together, discovering venues when we turned 18,” she says. “We all collaborated in each other’s bands and music and became really good friends. I truly believe Brisbane has one of the best community music scenes. Everyone really roots for each other.”
Hope’s music explores identity, queerness, and figuring out your early twenties. Her creative process is fluid – sometimes sparked by fiction (like a recent track inspired by hit TV show Severance), other times pulled from random words and observations written down in her Notes app. Most often, her songs are personal, drawing from her own experiences – a vulnerability she didn’t always feel comfortable sharing, even after coming out to her loved ones.
“When I first started releasing music and showing my friends and family, I would put he/him pronouns in the songs,” Hope recalls. “Over time, I became more comfortable with myself and started writing about my love interests being who they actually are, and it changed my life – it was so cathartic and incredibly therapeutic.”
Her openness has clearly struck a chord – just ask her 43k+ monthly listeners on Spotify. “The feedback I get from people saying a song of mine has changed their life has been incredible. If I can make someone feel less alone, like so many songwriters did for me when I was growing up, feeling alienated and different, that helped me through such hard times.”
Among Hope’s biggest influences? G Flip, King Princess, and Frank Ocean – so it was a full-circle moment when she joined G Flip on their DRUMMER tour as an opening act two years ago. She’s also graced the Laneway Festival stage, been recognised by the Queensland Music Awards, and landed a coveted spot in Triple J’s Hottest 100, ranking #69 in 2020 with her single Second. It’s a long way from the neuroscience labs she once imagined for her future – but for the Brissy girl with a Barbie-pink guitar, it’s proof that the best plans are the ones you didn’t see coming.
Song on high rotation: It Isn’t Perfect But It Might Be – Olivia Dean
Best hidden gem in Brisbane: Quivr
When I’m not making music, I’m… looking up cocktail recipes
Dream artist to collab with: Remi Wolf
Pre-show ritual: Have a couple of beers, then sing through all my lyrics
Header: Casey Garnsey
