6 years later in January 2006, Vanessa relaunched her recording career by signing to Universal Music worldwide with new manager, Ralph Carr. The 2008 album ‘Somewhere In The Real World’ achieved a top 5 position on the ARIA charts and was Vanessa’s third Australian Gold Album, displaying her lyrical maturity and amazing musicianship. The album is home to Top 5 Platinum Single 'Perfect', 'Kiss Ya Mama' and 3rd single 'The Simple Things (Something Emotional)'.
2009 saw the release of Vanessa’s most successful album so far, the Platinum selling ‘Hazardous’. The album debuted in the top 10, achieving Gold status in the first week and continued to sell to gain Platinum sales. The first single to be released, “This Is Who I Am’, debuted at #1 on the ARIA singles chart and achieved Double Platinum sales. To date, the single has sold over 150,000 units in Australia alone and continues to be played nationwide.
‘Hazardous’ the single was also successful, achieving Gold status. After a thrilling first week of sales, Vanessa was the first artist in 2009 to debut at #1 on the Australian Singles Chart. This made her the first Australian female to achieve this debut since 2007 when Kylie Minogue gained the accolade. The single remained at #1 for 3 weeks, the first since Silverchair’s ‘Straight Lines’ in 2007. ‘Mr Mysterious’, the third single from the album, was a top 5 ARIA single, achieving Platinum sales and was the #1 most added song by an Australian artist at the time of release.
Vanessa’s lifetime career has held some outstanding achievements including her hit single ‘Perfect’ being nominated for APRA’s ‘Most Performed Song’. The single has recently been given the illustrious title of Most Played Song on Radio by an Australian artist in the past decade (114 weeks on 29th June 2011), an accolade only beaten internationally by two other artists - Coldplay and Kings of Leon. She has also received eight ARIA nominations to date and has had the honour of recording duets with superstar Mary J Blige and Hoobastank in 2009. Vanessa has toured nationally to over 1 million people, becoming the #1 female Australian live touring act (alongside Rob Thomas and Jimmy Barnes).