
Aotearoa's Pickle Darling Shares New Single On U.S. Label Father/Daughter Records
" Maybe the first kind of 'pop' song I've ever made. And I think the most lyrically direct too, there's no poetry or cleverness to it, I felt strongly about clear communication this time. I love Robyn, Ray of Light-era Madonna, Cher, Donna Lewis, I love those kinds of 'empathetic' pop songs that feel like a hug from a friend." And it shows. 'Massive Everything' pulses with a bright, synthetic heart through lush synth beds and flickers of drum machine melancholy. It's outwardly buoyant, but under the surface, there's something deeply human. ' Everyone has their own invisible pains that are unexplainable, and this is a love song that tries to include as much of that as possible,' Lukas reflects.
It's a kind of radical intimacy: a love song not in spite of those interior shadows, but because of them. 'Massive Everything' marks the beginning of a new chapter for Pickle Darling, one that reaches toward bigness without losing the cracked, glinting beauty of their past work.
The new single, 'Massive Everything' follows the playful and innovative celebration of indie music and digital creativity, from last month, NZ Music Month, when Pickle Darling (Lukas Mayo) along with visual artist Christiane Shortal released "Pickle Darling: The Game", an immersive online experience.
The charming, nostalgia-driven game invites players to join Pickle Darling on a whimsical quest: tracking down their mysteriously lost album. Blending Mayo's quirky musical sensibilities with Shortal's distinctive visual artistry, "Pickle Darling: The Game" offers fans a delightful glimpse into the trials, tribulations, and sheer magic behind an indie album release.
The game features exclusive 8-bit renditions of beloved Pickle Darling tracks, including fan favourites "Bicycle Weather," "King Of Joy," and "Invercargill Angel". These uniquely reimagined versions were produced specifically for the game and will soon be available on TikTok and Instagram, encouraging fans to soundtrack their own online creations.
Play the game here: itch.io
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Scoop
11 hours ago
- Scoop
Celebrating The Kiwis Shaping A Better World
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University's Distinguished Alumni Award winners for 2025 showcase how their study at the creative, scientific, and political centre of New Zealand continues to help them shape a better world. Every two years, Te Herenga Waka awards the brightest and boldest innovators, visionaries, and community connectors from within its 140,000 alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards. For 2025, five exceptional alumni have been named as winners: Dai Henwood ONZM —comedian, author, and beloved entertainer. Tanea Heke MNZM —actor and Director of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, nurturing the next generation of performing arts talent. Dr Ratu Mataira —physicist and CEO of OpenStar Technologies, leading groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Dr Vincent O'Malley —acclaimed author and historian, illuminating forgotten parts of our shared history. Dr David Harland —respected diplomat, brokering peace between nations. The five winners are trailblazers and leaders whose diverse work—from inspiring performing arts students to fostering peace, from pioneering science to uniting us through laughter—exemplifies the University's core values of kaitiakitanga, manaatikanga, whanaungatanga, akoranga, and whai mātauranga. Chancellor Alan Judge says, 'Our distinguished alumni award winners reflect the high calibre of graduates we produce at Te Herenga Waka. They share a profound commitment to excellence and our mission to mobilise understanding and action for a better world. 'We are proud to call them alumni and are excited to celebrate their achievements next month,' he said. The Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented at an event in Wellington on Thursday 18 September. Biographies David Harland, BA 1983 Dr David Harland is a diplomat and the executive director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a Geneva-based foundation that specialises in the mediation of armed conflict. He previously worked for the United Nations, including in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti and Timor Leste, and he wrote the UN Secretary-General's landmark report on the fall of Srebrenica. David serves on the UN Secretary-General's high-level advisory board on mediation. He has degrees from Harvard University, Tufts University, Beijing University and Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Tanea Heke, BA 1995 Tanea Heke MNZM is an actor, director and producer of theatre, and has been Tumuaki/Director of Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School since 2019. As an actor, Tanea has starred in several theatre, film and television productions over the years, including the film Cousins by Briar Grace Smith. She co-founded Hāpai Productions, a mana wahine, kaupapa Māori theatre company in 2013. She is an artist Trustee on The Arts Foundation—Te Tumu Toi and was the 2020 recipient of the Creative New Zealand Ngā Tohu Hautūtanga Auaha Toi Making a Difference Award. She was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours List 2022. Dai Henwood, BA 1999 Dai Henwood ONZM has been performing comedy for over 25 years, beginning in Wellington at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, where he studied theatre and film. Well-recognised for his appearances on 7 Days, Dai has also hosted the NZ Music Awards, Family Feud, Dancing with the Stars, and Lego Masters New Zealand. He has won numerous awards for comedy, including Best Male Comedian at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards nine times. In 2024, he published the bestselling book Life of Dai, as well as the documentary Live and Let Dai, both of which share his journey with stage four cancer. He was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours. Ratu Mataira, BSc (Hons) 2017, PhD 2022 Physicist Dr Ratu Mataira is on a mission to harness the power of the sun, right here in Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington. Ratu completed his PhD in Applied Superconductivity at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. By the end of his PhD, he had set the bar as the most prodigious student to graduate from the Robinson Research Institute, the world leader in such technologies. The 33-year-old leads OpenStar Technologies, a Wellington-based start-up building a 'levitated dipole' fusion reactor prototype. Multi-national groups have been trying to achieve this same goal for decades, with massive teams and enormous budgets. Vincent O'Malley, PhD 2004 Dr Vincent O'Malley FRHistS FRSNZ is an award-winning Wellington writer and historian who has authored many bestselling and acclaimed works on Aotearoa New Zealand history, including The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800-2000 (2016) and The New Zealand Wars/Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (2019). His book Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa won the general non-fiction prize at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. In the same year, he received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction. In 2023, he was awarded the Humanities Aronui Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and was a semi-finalist for Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.

RNZ News
15 hours ago
- RNZ News
Bringing some Disney magic to the ice
sport media 41 minutes ago How do you make Disney magic even more magical? You put it on ice of course. The famous Disney on Ice production is coming back to New Zealand this month with its show 'Find Your Hero.' We wanted to learn a bit more about the inner workings, so it's a pleasure to welcome Sarah Santee who performs as Ariel in the show. She spoke to Emile.


Scoop
16 hours ago
- Scoop
Celebrating The Kiwis Shaping A Better World
Press Release – Victoria University of Wellington Every two years, Te Herenga Waka awards the brightest and boldest innovators, visionaries, and community connectors from within its 140,000 alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards. Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University's Distinguished Alumni Award winners for 2025 showcase how their study at the creative, scientific, and political centre of New Zealand continues to help them shape a better world. Every two years, Te Herenga Waka awards the brightest and boldest innovators, visionaries, and community connectors from within its 140,000 alumni with Distinguished Alumni Awards. For 2025, five exceptional alumni have been named as winners: Dai Henwood ONZM —comedian, author, and beloved entertainer. Tanea Heke MNZM —actor and Director of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, nurturing the next generation of performing arts talent. Dr Ratu Mataira —physicist and CEO of OpenStar Technologies, leading groundbreaking scientific discoveries. Dr Vincent O'Malley —acclaimed author and historian, illuminating forgotten parts of our shared history. Dr David Harland —respected diplomat, brokering peace between nations. The five winners are trailblazers and leaders whose diverse work—from inspiring performing arts students to fostering peace, from pioneering science to uniting us through laughter—exemplifies the University's core values of kaitiakitanga, manaatikanga, whanaungatanga, akoranga, and whai mātauranga. Chancellor Alan Judge says, 'Our distinguished alumni award winners reflect the high calibre of graduates we produce at Te Herenga Waka. They share a profound commitment to excellence and our mission to mobilise understanding and action for a better world. 'We are proud to call them alumni and are excited to celebrate their achievements next month,' he said. The Distinguished Alumni Awards will be presented at an event in Wellington on Thursday 18 September. Biographies David Harland, BA 1983 Dr David Harland is a diplomat and the executive director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a Geneva-based foundation that specialises in the mediation of armed conflict. He previously worked for the United Nations, including in Bosnia, Kosovo, Haiti and Timor Leste, and he wrote the UN Secretary-General's landmark report on the fall of Srebrenica. David serves on the UN Secretary-General's high-level advisory board on mediation. He has degrees from Harvard University, Tufts University, Beijing University and Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. Tanea Heke, BA 1995 Tanea Heke MNZM is an actor, director and producer of theatre, and has been Tumuaki/Director of Toi Whakaari New Zealand Drama School since 2019. As an actor, Tanea has starred in several theatre, film and television productions over the years, including the film Cousins by Briar Grace Smith. She co-founded Hāpai Productions, a mana wahine, kaupapa Māori theatre company in 2013. She is an artist Trustee on The Arts Foundation—Te Tumu Toi and was the 2020 recipient of the Creative New Zealand Ngā Tohu Hautūtanga Auaha Toi Making a Difference Award. She was named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the New Year Honours List 2022. Dai Henwood, BA 1999 Dai Henwood ONZM has been performing comedy for over 25 years, beginning in Wellington at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, where he studied theatre and film. Well-recognised for his appearances on 7 Days, Dai has also hosted the NZ Music Awards, Family Feud, Dancing with the Stars, and Lego Masters New Zealand. He has won numerous awards for comedy, including Best Male Comedian at the NZ Comedy Guild Awards nine times. In 2024, he published the bestselling book Life of Dai, as well as the documentary Live and Let Dai, both of which share his journey with stage four cancer. He was named an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours. Ratu Mataira, BSc (Hons) 2017, PhD 2022 Physicist Dr Ratu Mataira is on a mission to harness the power of the sun, right here in Te Whanganui-a-tara Wellington. Ratu completed his PhD in Applied Superconductivity at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. By the end of his PhD, he had set the bar as the most prodigious student to graduate from the Robinson Research Institute, the world leader in such technologies. The 33-year-old leads OpenStar Technologies, a Wellington-based start-up building a 'levitated dipole' fusion reactor prototype. Multi-national groups have been trying to achieve this same goal for decades, with massive teams and enormous budgets. Vincent O'Malley, PhD 2004 Dr Vincent O'Malley FRHistS FRSNZ is an award-winning Wellington writer and historian who has authored many bestselling and acclaimed works on Aotearoa New Zealand history, including The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800-2000 (2016) and The New Zealand Wars/Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (2019). His book Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa won the general non-fiction prize at the 2022 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards. In the same year, he received the Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction. In 2023, he was awarded the Humanities Aronui Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi and was a semi-finalist for Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year.