Latest news with #Ladi6
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- RNZ News
Music reviewer Grant Smithies
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions. Photo: supplied Nineteen long years after their 2006 classic Hello, Are You There? , Auckland quartet Voom finally released a follow-up this month. We'll hear two key tracks from that today, followed by a gorgeous new song from Ladi6 and some trippy cosmic Cuban funk from Dan Tyler and Juan Pablo Torres.
Otago Daily Times
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Christchurch soul singer: 'I wear my heart right on my forehead'
Whether she's writing deeply personal songs or counselling someone else through a tough time, Christchurch-born and raised soul singer Ladi6 - aka Karoline Tamati - believes that we're all in this together. On her upcoming record Le Vā, hip-hop soul singer Karoline Tamati (aka Ladi6) serves up a fresh set of dance tracks that celebrate the spirit of her late mum Fuarosa. While the lyrics express grief, Tamati says the tracks themselves are energetic and enlivening thanks to her unique creative dynamic with musical partner and husband Brent 'Parks' Park. "We want people to be dancing constantly and just feeling the vibe - not thinking about what I'm saying, just feeling the beats," she tells Music 101. Tamati and Park - who married in 2015 - work on their parts of the music separately, she says, and then 'see what happens' when they bring them together. 'He's always pushing me to try and be less literal and more metaphorical, and I'm always pushing him to take what I have and just figure it out." While she has 'absolutely no interest' in how Parks interprets her lyrics musically, Tamati knows he won't lean into emotionality, let alone 'chuck some violins on". Growing up in Christchurch, Tamati says she and Park thought they were too 'dumb' for academic study, but in recent years, they've both become keen university students - she is studying to be a counselling psychologist, while he has completed a Master of Arts. Tamati will play at the Loons in Lyttelton on Friday, June 30. 'You get influenced by the environment, going, 'Well, maybe we're just not those kinds of people. Those are the people who live in other suburbs, and that's cool for them, but we probably will get a job, help around the house economically, and then try and fork out a career for ourselves.' Many people don't have the opportunity to learn the organisational and time management skills required to keep up at university, Tamati says. She feels lucky that life as an independent recording artist had already equipped her in this way. 'You just have to put in the time to do the thing, get the grade, over and over and over again.' Tamati says being able to offer empathy and support as a counsellor is her 'favourite thing' because people need other people to get through life. 'I will walk with you through your stuff, and we'll connect, and we will figure out strategies to help us through or we'll just, you can dump on me, vent on me, tell me. I will help ... I'm basically with you, and we're just gonna walk through this." It's an honour to help another person develop awareness of themselves and improve their own lives, she says. 'It's such a beautiful and special moment to see things click together and know that they're like fully tooled up to go out into the world and face this exact same problem, but in a totally different way.' For Tamati, songwriting is a way to transform her own difficult experiences into something hopeful while conveying a message of human solidarity. "This happens to me, and it happens to you, and it happens to us all. This is how I found my way through, and this is what I think about this thing. "I can't do anything but wear my heart right on my forehead to show everybody." Fuarosa, who lived with Tamati and her family through years of treatment for diabetes, was covered in a beautiful tapa cloth on her deathbed and looked like an 'absolute royal queen', she says. 'There were a whole lot of really precious moments that came out of [her passing] that I can really hold on to and not be so overwhelmingly full of grief.'
The Spinoff
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Le Vā and the legacy of Ladi6: A soulful reckoning with grief, growth and groove
Seven years in the making, Ladi6's new album Le Vā is a deeply personal exploration of loss, healing and reinvention. Ahead of its release, she sits down with The Spinoff to talk about finding her voice again – musically and literally. When Caroline Park-Tamati walks into the room, she's every bit the icon her reputation promises: poised, magnetic, effortlessly cool. Better known as Ladi6, the pioneering voice of Aotearoa neo-soul is wearing a black tee stamped with one word: 'Angitū'. It's a nod to one of the country's most radical kapa haka collectives, and a fitting parallel for an artist whose career has consistently blurred genre lines and redefined what success looks like, on her own terms. Now 44, Park-Tamati has been making music since she was a teenager. Her roots are planted firmly in both Ōtautahi and Samoa, though she jokes her results added an unexpected 4% Māori to the mix. Her whakapapa in music is equally deep: cousin to Scribe and Tyra Hammond, and the founder of Sheelahroc – Aotearoa's first all-women hip-hop crew. But even with the legacy behind her, Le Vā marks new terrain. That liberation – creatively and emotionally – is the pulse of Le Vā, her first full-length release since 2017 EP Royal Blue 3000. The new record is a tribute to her late mother Fuarosa, a deep dive into the sacred space between life and death, and an unapologetic snapshot of where she's at as an artist and a woman. The journey hasn't been smooth. Following the release of Royal Blue 3000, Park-Tamati underwent multiple vocal surgeries for polyps that nearly ended her singing career. She describes the experience as a wake-up call: 'It was like, what are you actually good at if you can't sing? What else can you do?' The answer came, in part, through study. In the wake of her mother's death in 2020 – right at the start of New Zealand's first Covid lockdown – Park-Tamati enrolled in a psychology degree at AUT University. She now plans to continue postgraduate study in counselling at the University of Auckland, with the aim of walking alongside others through their own pain. 'It's almost like a political statement for me. I believe people need people to get through their shit,' she says. 'Music can do that too, but counselling is tangible. You're in the room. You're doing the mahi with them.' Helping others, she notes, is in her bloodline. Her father, Vic Tamati, founded the anti-violence trust Safe Man Safe Family. Her mother created community theatre and arts programmes for Pacific and Māori rangatahi. And Park-Tamati's music has long reflected a commitment to wairua, honesty and political resistance. While Royal Blue 3000 was dedicated to her late cousin Lils3000, and her debut album The Liberation Of…… carried tributes to other lost whānau, Le Vā is an excavation of grief on a different scale. The rupture caused by her mother's passing – and the family fallout that followed – became the album's emotional bedrock. 'We were a tight family, but losing Mum created a massive crack. We were navigating death during Covid, with a Zoom funeral and no clear protocol. It was raw, confusing, and heartbreaking.' Rather than shy away, Park-Tamati poured that emotion into the music. But she did so with subtlety and intention, cloaking the personal in metaphor. 'I don't want to put all my trash out there,' she says. 'But I can't write in any other way than from my whole heart. That's just who I am.' Musically, Le Vā is another leap forward for the Ladi6 sonic universe. While her early work blended soulful hip-hop and jazzy flow, the new album – produced by her partner Brent 'Parks' Park-Tamati with long-time collaborators Julien Dyne and Brandon Haru – embraces modular synthesis, layered textures, and beat-forward experimentation. Park-Tamati is quick to credit Parks with building the soundscape: 'I don't touch the production. I just say, 'I like that one.' But we trust each other completely. We throw ideas over the fence and build something together.' With Le Vā, the pair have crafted a record that is both futuristic and deeply rooted, intimate yet expansive. The name itself refers to the sacred space between people – a Samoan concept that also captures the essence of the album: the invisible threads of connection, loss and love. Looking ahead, Park-Tamati feels excited about what comes next. She and Parks are already sketching ideas for new music. And for the first time in decades, financial stability through counselling work means she can approach her art on her own terms. 'I used to stress about rent, about whether the music would pay. Now I feel like I can say no to things that don't align. That's empowering.' Most importantly, she says, Le Vā has allowed her to lay something to rest. 'I think of albums like journals. Once I've written it all down, I can let go. I can move forward.' As for how it will be received? 'No nerves. I listen to it front to back and I'm like, yep – that's us. That's the sound. That's the story. It's solid. 'Honestly, at my age, who gives a shit?' she laughs. 'If people don't like it, that's alright. I don't mind.' Le Vā is not just a tribute to a mother lost, or a career reborn. It's a document of survival, a declaration of purpose, and a reminder of what can bloom when you give yourself space to heal.
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Award-winning Samoan artist Ladi6 unpacks life leading up to her first album since her mother's passing
She's sound-tracked various moments in our lives over the decades, and now with a brand new album on the horizon, Ladi6 is still bringing the alofa through her music. Awards and accolades aside, there was much to unpack with the legendary Samoan artist, mother, and student counsellor who is now on the cusp of releasing her fifth album, Le Vā. From hilarious high school memories with her cousin, Scribe, to the conflicting feelings she felt after being named a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Ladi6 gets nostalgic with Nesia Daily before discussing what this new record tells us about the era she finds herself in today.
Scoop
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Scoop
Ladi6 Announces Le Vā: Album Release Tour
Press Release – Banished Music Ladi6 returns with Le Vā – her long-awaited new album and most personal project to date. Years in the making, Le Vā represents a creative reinvention and a recalibration of the signature wavey electronic soul sound she's known for. It also marks a profound chapter of personal growth and healing. At its heart, Le Vā is a dedication to Ladi6's beloved mother, Fuarosa, who passed in 2020. Her memory and spirit are woven through every note and lyric – the album standing as a tribute to her life, her influence, and the space her absence has created. 'Le Vā explores that sacred space between us – the seen and unseen, what we carry and what we release,' says Ladi6. 'This project is both a farewell and a becoming.' To celebrate the album, Ladi6 will embark on the Le Vā Album Tour – a series of live shows that will bring the new project to life while revisiting iconic songs from her back catalogue. This tour is infused with gratitude – a thank you to the loyal community that has walked alongside her journey for over two decades. 'We've curated a show that honours where we've come from and where we're headed. It's our way of saying thank you to everyone who has held us up through all the seasons.' Le Vā is a sonic offering of healing, transformation, and legacy. The album and tour together serve as an invitation: to feel, to remember, and to move forward – together. Ladi6 is well known for her authentic and innovative approach to music. She draws inspiration from her own experiences and Moana heritage. Her unique sound and heartfelt lyrics resonate with listeners, offering a refreshing perspective in the soul/pop/electronica genre. Ladi6 is an iconic Aotearoa artist whose music reflects her penchant for emotional authenticity and visionary musical trend-bending. With a hip hop history as founding member of Aotearoa's first all female hip hop crew, Sheelahroc, a passion for storytelling and a commitment to self-exploration, Ladi6 makes a unique mark in the music industry, gaining a loyal following and critical acclaim. Working closely with longtime collaborator Robert Wallace from Parallel Teeth, Ladi6 has also created a stunning 12' vinyl edition of Le Vā that captures the spirit of the project. The vinyl is peppered with original poetry by acclaimed published author Grace Iwashita Taylor featuring celebrated actor Bella Kalolo-Suraj. Le Vā is available on 12' pink coloured vinyl at 180gm, with full colour sleeve insert. This limited first pressing will be available alongside exclusive tour merch at shows. Thursday June 19 – Dropkicks, Dunedin Friday June 20 – Loons, Lyttelton Saturday June 21 – Devilles, Nelson Saturday June 28 – San Fran, Wellington Friday July 4 – The Yard, Raglan Saturday July 5 – Hollywood Avondale, Auckland Friday July 11 – Artworks Theatre, Waiheke Island Saturday July 12 – Butter Factory, Whangarei Friday July 18 – Sherwood, Queenstown Saturday July 19 – Rhyme x Reason, Wānaka Pre-sale tickets – 10AM, Monday 28th April General tickets – 10AM, Wednesday 30th April
