Anika Moa "Anika Moa" 2018

...The album’s first single, and perhaps the most 90s sounding, ‘Buttercup’, went on to make the 2019 Top 20 shortlist for the APRA Silver Scroll Award.
Returning to her other day job in 2019, Moa launched the second season of chat show Unleashed, winning her another trophy for best entertainment presenter at the 2019 New Zealand Television Awards...
...And as for her other, other day job, she released Songs for Bubbas 3, winning her te kaipuoro waiata tamariki toa/ best children’s music artist at the 2020 Children’s Music Awards. It seems there is nothing she can’t do. And with her numerous paid sponsorships – from cars to supermarkets to smartphones – it also feels like there is nothing she won’t do. “It’s a dream because I’m poor,” she mused to Alex Casey. “I’m just a normal musician who has three children and struggles to survive.”
Moa’s significant social media presence has brought with it many opportunities for paid promotion, and she is planning to take the next step of any bona fide influencer by starting her own brand: baby products inspired by her new daughter Marigold, born in early 2019.
Among her television gigs, ad campaigns and co-hosting The Hits Drive Show, Moa still performs as a singer-songwriter when she can, but generally prefers to have the evenings free for her young family. They play a major role in her public image, especially on social media, and that has been a conscious decision. As she told Stuff in 2019, visibility of rainbow families is extremely important to her: “I feel like if there were role models like that in my day I might not have been in the closet for as long as I was ... You wouldn’t feel as distracted by what people think and that kind of shit.”
Anika Moa’s career has taken her to some interesting places and experiences. “Being kind to other people is the most important thing that I’ve realised you can do … you can work with real meanies, and it’s not a nice thing to wake up and work for meanies,” she says.
Authenticity is also fundamental to her music, and she knows her fan base is smart. “You have to maintain who you are … you just have to be you – no matter what! And people love it, people dig it. If you conform at all at any time, people will turn their heads.” - Amanda Mills and AudioCulture
trax:
01 To Be Young, to Be Sad 02 In the Arms of a Woman 03 Buttercup 04 1993 05 Heavy Head 06 Fade Awaymp3 07 Cry 08 Fire of Her Eyes 09 I Don't Wanna Break Your Heart Anymore 10 You're the Only Love I'm Near
…served by Gaius…