With Popstars returning to our screens tonight, we turn back the clock and relive some of New Zealand’s most memorable talent show stars.

Being the country that essentially invented the reality talent show, New Zealand has no shortage of memorable performers from the last 22 years of the genre. Ben Lummis. Rosita Vai. Jackie Thomas. Beau Monga. These names are etched into the halls of reality TV fame, but what about those who didn’t come away with the win? Or those who never even got to finish their audition because Frankie Stevens was cranky? Or those simply lost to the annals of time? 

In preparation for the new rebooted season of Popstars, the show that started it all, Alex Casey and Stewart Sowman-Lund returned to some of our favourite auditions and performances from New Zealand’s rich archive of televised singing competitions. 

Indira Stewart, ‘I Have Nothing’ (NZ Idol, 2006) 

Does New Zealand have an equivalent of an EGOT? If not, we urgently need to make one and we urgently need to give it to Breakfast’s Indira Stewart for her stint on NZ Idol that took her all the way to second place. Is it even legal to be good at radio, good at telly and good at singing? The police are yet to respond to my request for comment, so in the meantime please also enjoy this divine clip of Indira singing ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas‘ just last year. Je suis Matty McLean wistfully resting his head in his hands. / Alex Casey

Mitchell Wahl, ‘I Can’t Help Falling In Love With You’ (X Factor NZ, 2013)

Mitchell Wahl, aka chicken man, aka New Zealand’s greatest person. In my mind, the true heroes of reality TV aren’t those who go on to win but those who put themselves on the line, face the cruelty of the public and just totally own it. Move over Siouxsie Wiles, I’d like to retrospectively crown Mitchell Wahl the New Zealander of not just this year, but every year. / Stewart Sowman-Lund

Mae Valley ‘Landslide’ (X Factor NZ, 2015)

Amazing to think that without this one-shot Mae Valley triumph, Sam Mendes probably would have never picked up his camcorder and made 1917. I find something new in the background of this delicately orchestrated performance every time, one involving what appears to be the entire team of 4.596 million (at the time). Also, extremely funny to think about the audience in the other room staring at an empty stage for nearly two minutes. This was the Valley gals at their peak. / AC

Ben, ‘My Alien’ (NZ Idol, 2006)

Forget Ben’s actual singing and enjoy these out-of-context quotes from his audition:

“It’s the era of Ben.” 

“I was in the toilet and who did I bump into… Frankie Stevens.”

“I wasn’t impressed in the loo and I’m not impressed here.”

“Judges: you haven’t seen the last of Ben” *high kicks air.*

Sadly, it’s been 15 years so I think it’s very likely that was the last the judges ever saw of Ben. / SSL

Olivia Turner ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ (New Zealand’s Got Talent, 2012)

I could have criiiiiieeed all night and I plan to crryyyyyy all night. Where our Idols and our X Factors tended to favour the young and malleable for a top 10, New Zealand’s Got Talent threw their arms wide open to all Kiwis to let their star shine. And look what happened – bloody 92 year-old legend Olivia Turner in the bloody final. / AC

Joe Irvine ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (X Factor NZ, 2015)

Joe Irvine is basically a household name, but we only know him because of that performance. You know, the one that made Natalia Kills go into witness protection. But in his very first audition, the Willy Moon doppelganger wowed the judges and the New Zealand public alike with possibly the most energetic, karaoke rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ possible. Is it good? I don’t know, you’d have to ask Freddie Mercury. But regardless, Irvine made it through to the next round of the competition and cemented his position in the NZ singing show hall of fame. / SSL

Megan Kane, ‘Sk8er Boi’ (Stars in Their Eyes, 2008) 

I’m just a girl, she’s just an Avril Lavigne impersonator from Timaru, can I make it any more obvious? We don’t talk nearly enough about Stars in Their Eyes NZ, and to be honest I could have chosen any performance from the terrific Simon Barnett joint to make this holy list. Meat Loaf. Norah Jones. Johnny Cash. Because every single bloody time these absolute punters come out of the smoke transformed into a celebrity, I can’t help but gasp. Even though I am 98% sure I know how they do it now, I continue to be hustled, scammed, bamboozled and hood-winked by this TV sorcery. / AC

Chris Curtis ‘Summer of 69’ (NZ Idol, 2006)

The only comment on the YouTube video for Chris’ performance reads: “That’s my dad by the way.. Chris Curtis XD.” I can’t verify it, but I hope it’s true. / SSL

Archie Hill, ‘Thinking Out Loud’ (X Factor NZ, 2015)

The 14 year-old that stopped the nation in its tracks with his gorgeous yodelling tones, of-the-moment Ed Sheeran cover and Meet the Robinsons aesthetic. Charming young Archie even got dour king Willy Moon clicking his fingers, and to this day I still think about the way he pulls of singing “plaa-haAAAN” at the 1.45 mark. And to think: this wasn’t even his first rodeo! Where is he now, who is he now, how is he singing the word “plan” now. I must know. / AC

Sam Inder, Moulin Rouge medley (NZ Idol, 2006)

Sam makes the daring decision to perform both the Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman parts of this song from the hit movie Moulin Rouge. The judges were unimpressed but I guess they’ve never seen the film, because Sam absolutely nails it. He plays McGregor better than McGregor ever could. We can probably gloss over his Kidman. Either way, resubmit this to the Academy and Moulin Rouge will sweep the Oscars. / SSL

Talitha Blake ‘Feeling Good’ (X Factor NZ, 2015)

There’s nothing quite like when the person on screen says the name of the show or movie that they are starring in, and Talitha Blake takes the cake for this X Factor NZ fourth wall break. I was in the room for this moment and I still remember it like it was yesterday. A vengeful bird pooed on my shoulder on the way to the auditions at Skycity Theatre, but all the pain and humiliation went away when Talitha started singing. It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day. This is X FACTOOORRRR – and I’m feeling… goooooood about our return to talent shows as a nation. / AC

In the latest episode of Remember When…, Leonie Hayden and Mark Kelliher join host Jane Yee to relive their greatest Big Day Out moments. Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.

Ahead of the return of Popstars next week, we asked Megan Alatini and Erica Takacs from TrueBliss to take a walk down memory lane. 

It has been 22 years since girl group TrueBliss was formed on New Zealand national television, breaking new ground for both the reality television industry and the shiny clothing industry. With Popstars set to return to TVNZ2 next week, rebooted for a new generation, it seemed fitting to revisit the show – and the style – that started it all. Armed with a clear-file full of blurry Popstars screenshots, I sat down with Erika Takacs (then 21, now 43) and Megan Alatini (then 22, now 44) to go back, back to 1999. 

Megan and Erika in unison: THIS. IS. COVID.

Megan: We were so ahead of the times, we were already wearing PPE. This was our producers and management deciding that it was time for us to do a futuristic sci-fi look. 

Erika: For the record, I hated this video concept so much. I know we all look amazing, but I truly did not understand a single part of it. 

Megan: It was bizarre, it was blue men, it was Avatar. 

Megan: This was the ‘Tonight’ video – this particular part was shot at about midnight at someone’s house. We were poolside – not a heated pool – and it was us in bikinis with feathers and hula hoops and hula skirts. What that has to do with “tonight’s the night”? I have no idea.

Erika: It looked super tropical but it was actually freezing. We didn’t have a lot of say in what was going on there. 

Megan: There would be outfits that we would want to wear, but what the stylist had in mind was very different, so there was often some conflict there. To be honest, when I look back now I realise just how awesome the stylist was, we should have just let the professionals do their thing. In saying that, god we made some huge fashion mistakes.

Erika: But that wasn’t through their guidance, that was all us on our own. 

Erika: Megan! Your hair looks so great.

Megan: Thank you. This was such a special day for us, it was the battle of the codes, it was the battle of the Tasman Sea, it was the battle of the Popstars, it was everything. This was actually the first time that we sung the national anthem in te reo, which was quite instrumental for us. We decided together that we were just going to sing it a capella and how it’s supposed to be. Bardot sung the Australian anthem but they had recreated it and totally ballsed up their version. 

Erika: It was really important to us that people would be able to sing along with us – you see it all the time when people mess with the anthem too much and nobody knows how to follow along. We wanted it to be our anthem, our voices, and just a moment that would bring everyone together. It was a very spine-tingling moment. 

Megan: The next day there was an article in the Sunday paper and it said “we might have lost the rugby but we definitely won the anthem”. We spent a little bit of time with Bardot during the soundcheck, and after the performance we actually shared a box together. It was funny because they were a bit stand-offish, but all we wanted to do was mix and mingle with them and let them know how much fun we had with the experience. 

Erika: That’s right, we were coming to the end of our big year and they were just getting started. 

Megan: We were the older wise ones. 

Megan and Erika in unison: THIS. IS. TOOOOUUUR.

Erika: Oh, that PVC. 

Megan: It is not forgiving, we sweated like pigs some days. 

Erika: There was so much talcum powder backstage, it wasn’t even funny.

Megan: We had so many different outfit changes. Buttons would be popping off left right and centre. We were so brave to wear this stuff. What you can’t see is that behind the camera would have been hundreds of young people cheering and singing and crying, it was all so surreal.

Erika: Have you still got your PVC pants? I think I’ve still got mine in the garage. It’s frightening though, I was at Megan’s daughter’s 18th birthday party on the weekend and there were boys in dungarees with one strap undone and white t-shirts with the sleeves rolled up and trainers. Similar with the girls, they were all dressed super 90s and I just had no idea. 

Megan: I can tell it’s coming back around because my kids are delving into my old costume boxes now and putting all this stuff on for a night out. You have to remember though, Popstars was such a big part of my oldest girl’s life that the style probably soaked in subliminally. 

Megan: Oh, I absolutely love this. I had to get up at three o’clock in the morning to drive to my cousin’s house – because I’ve naturally got very curly hair – and she had to blow-dry my hair so the makeup artists and hair stylists would be able to deal with it. I loved it, though, because I got wear these gorgeous long hair extensions. Erika, unfortunately, looked like a hedgehog. 

Erika: I did. I’ve accepted that. 

Megan: This video was also a massive point of contention between you and I, Erika, because they zoomed in really close on me and got me in a close-up singing a line, but it was actually your line. We didn’t realise that until we watched the finished product. 

Erika: No! That wasn’t even me! That was Carly!

Megan: Anyway, I just remember someone saying, “that’s not your line bitch,” and me saying, “but look how cute I look.” 

Megan: Oh my gosh. I know this exact moment. 

Erika: I can still hear your scream. 

Megan: This was the first time I saw the rest of TrueBliss. I had parked my car around the corner, and I literally walked over and yelled “IT’S YOU! AND YOU! AND YOU!”

Erika: Were you late, Megan? 

Megan: Not this time. They had timed it so we were all 10 minutes apart, and I must have been the last to arrive. Basically, this was the moment I met the band. This is the genuine moment. We didn’t know each other super well because prior to this we had only had the experience of auditioning in these big groups. When I saw the girls, I was just so elated that they had been picked and they were going to be my bandmates. That moment is as genuine as it comes. 

Megan: This is such a reminiscent moment, a really important image. This is what we would see every Tuesday night, and even now it brings up those contrasting feelings of absolute anxiety and absolute exhilaration. Shortly after this screen, the episode would air and we would have no idea what was actually about to be displayed. 

Erika: I actually think Carly wore that blue dress in the ‘Tonight’ video. It’s funny, as soon as I see this I hear the theme music. We recorded the title song so that’s all this reminds me of, the really high-pitched “haaaaaaaahhhh” at the start.

Megan: You know what though, this actually makes me super proud. We recorded that song and it’s still so recognisable. That was Popstars. That was the show. Awesome memories. 

Popstars returns to TVNZ1 and TVNZ2 at 7.30pm on Monday April 12

In the latest episode of Remember When…, Alex Casey and Jihee Junn join Jane Yee to recall the black parade. Subscribe and listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.