Heidi Simpson shares the pop anthems and soft ballads that make her weekend perfect.

Pop CultureNovember 16, 2024

‘Theatrical, chaotic and romantic’: Heidi Simpson’s perfect weekend playlist

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Heidi Simpson shares the pop anthems and soft ballads that make her weekend perfect.

Indie-pop darling Heidi Simpson shares her perfect weekend playlist.

Heidi Simpson is a singer, tune maker, pop music believer and certified cool girl. The Tāmaki Makaurau native typically muses on Saturday nights and the emptiness between waiting for something to happen, but her recently released single ‘Best Kept Secret’ is her first reflection on joyful romantic love. “The track itself feels very whimsical and dreamy and cathartic,” she says. “When I sent it to one of my friends she said it made her feel like she was 16 and in love – I hope that other people feel that too.”

The single is Simpson’s third release this year from her upcoming EP, due to be unveiled in early 2025. As an independent artists, she fits in music-making between her regular 9-5, and says it’s important for artists to have trust in themselves in their creativity and work ethic when working without a label. “I’m super lucky to be surrounded by amazing musicians and producers who help out significantly and offer amazing insight and advice,” Simpson says. “I think deciding when a song is done and when to release it is such a different process each time, and I tend to just operate on what feels right at the time … it has to be real, and I think a little imperfection can be good.”

In Simpson’s eyes, there’s no better way to enjoy her music than letting it soundtrack a journey somewhere through headphones. “I want my songs to be songs that people can dream to, so anywhere you can be in your own little perfect world,” she says. And now that ‘Best Kept Secret’ is out in the world, Simpson can focus on creating her personal perfect weekend: Saturday’s Britomart markets, dressing up and going out, reading in the park, an Uber ride alone with your headphones in, and a much-needed debrief on events with flatties and friends.

Here are the tracks, channeling pop nostalgia and soft aches, that make Simpson’s weekend perfect.

Momma – ‘Speeding 72’

I think this is an awesome driving around on the weekend song. Momma is one of my fave bands, and I think the feeling this song gives me would be perfect for a Saturday afternoon.

Dora Jar – ‘Timelapse’

This is one of my favourite songs released this year. To me it feels like how I’ve felt this year, kind of watching everything around me change and speed by and being powerless to it and wondering who you are, but in a beautiful and transformative way.

Gwen Stefani ‘Cool’

This is literally one of my favourite songs of all time, it was my favourite when I was a kid and I still love it so much now. It’s soooo bittersweet, and I love the production so much. Perf weekend song forever, also I love the music video. I love this era of music a lot but obviously a lot of it is for nostalgia reasons.

Office Dog – ‘Intact’

Office Dog are one of my favourite NZ bands. Their album they released last year I listened to so much, so when they released an EP this year that was great news. I love their songwriting so much and this is probably my favourite song from the EP. Not really for any particular reason there’s just something about it that I find really addictive to listen to and the more I listen the better it gets.

Adrienne Lenker – ‘Anything’

I think this is a song I will never get sick of, the songwriting is perfect and so beautiful. There’s honestly not a whole lot else I can say other than you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t listened to this song but just beware because you might cry.

MARINA – ‘Primadonna’

This is one of my favourite pop songs ever and whenever it plays at a party it’s so fun. If you need hyping up it’s perfect and I feel like she was so right when she wrote “I can’t help that I need it all, the primadonna life, the rise and fall” cause sometimes it really does feel like that …

Quiet Light – ‘Twirl’

Quiet Light has so many beautiful songs but this one feels so special to me. The verses make me feel so many emotions. So magical and sad.

Lana Del Rey – ‘Off To The Races’

I couldn’t not put a song from this album on this playlist. I feel like this is the album that was THE album for me growing up, she does such a good job of creating a world in her albums. Listening to it in year 7 this song was my favourite and still holds up for me. It’s theatrical, chaotic and romantic which I love in a song.

Addison Rae – ‘Diet Pepsi’

I love Addison Rae and her rebrand has been so fascinating. I genuinely love the music she’s making and this song is everything I love about pop music. It’s just so fun and I can’t wait to listen to it and have the best summer ever :P

James Ivy – ‘Last Star’

I listened to this song sooo much when it came out in the big 2021 lockdown and I love all of James Ivy’s music. Literally one of my top played songs of all time .

Keep going!

Laura Letts-Beckett and Peter Beckett (Photo: Prime Video)

Pop CultureNovember 15, 2024

In Cold Water is a must-see for true crime fans

Tara Ward

Staff writer

Laura Letts-Beckett and Peter Beckett (Photo: Prime Video)

A new documentary series tells the story of a former Napier councillor accused of murder in Canada.

This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here.

In 2010, New Zealander Peter Beckett was on holiday in Canada’s Rocky Mountains, enjoying a relaxing afternoon fishing on Upper Arrow Lake. His Canadian schoolteacher wife Laura Letts-Beckett was with him, reading a book at one end of their small Zodiac inflatable while Beckett threw his fishing line in from the other. It was a hot day, and Letts-Beckett asked her husband to move the boat into the shade. As he drove toward the stony beach, focusing on the water behind him, Beckett heard a splash. When he turned around, his wife was gone.

This is the mysterious moment at the heart of In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, a new three-part true crime series screening on Prime Video and Sky Open. Beckett – a former Napier city councillor – is the only witness to Letts-Beckett’s death, which initially is viewed as an accidental drowning. But Letts-Beckett couldn’t swim and wasn’t wearing a life jacket, and Beckett’s behaviour after his wife’s death arouses suspicion. One year after that fateful day on the lake, Beckett was charged with first degree murder.

There’s no doubt that the events that follow make for a gripping true crime docuseries. A New Zealander accused of murder on the other side of the world, and a troubled marriage between victim and suspect. A jailhouse informer who was paid by police, and who alleged that Beckett planned to kill five courtroom witnesses. A murder case based on circumstantial evidence and a journey through the courts that lasted a decade, involving trials and mistrials and appeals. And at its centre, an unusual, antagonistic suspect who is described as “his own worst enemy” but who protests his innocence at every turn.

“It’s not homicide or murder,” the murder-accused insists, “but was it accident or suicide?”

If you’re looking for the answer to that question, you won’t get it in In Cold Water. Rather, the series lays out the investigation, taking viewers through the events leading up to Letts-Beckett’s death and the bizarre twists and turns that occurred afterwards. We hear from Letts-Beckett’s friends and family, as well as detectives, forensic experts, lawyers and journalists (the case gained considerable media interest in both Canada and Aotearoa, and clips from RNZ and 1News feature heavily). Each interview offers a different account of Beckett, and reveals a variety of strange and shocking allegations.

Beckett’s account is the most compelling of them all. He met Letts-Beckett when she took one of his Unimog tours in Hawkes Bay in the mid 1990s, and their connection was instant and enduring. The documentary paints a picture of Beckett as a threatening figure, but there were no signs of physical violence on Letts-Beckett’s body when she died, no signs of struggle on the boat, and no tangible evidence that Beckett was involved in the death of his wife. This is why Beckett calls this case “the biggest miscarriage of justice, I think, in the world.”

While Letts-Beckett’s voice is heard in the documentary through her journals and letters, the loudest voice in In Cold Water is Beckett. The story of this vibrant, beloved woman who died either from a terrible accident or a terrible crime comes second to Beckett’s own narrative of a man tormented by the system. Rather than pay tribute to the life of Letts-Beckett, the final word goes to her husband, in what is possibly one of the most chilling moments of the entire series.

Rather than trying to convince us one way or another, In Cold Water asks: who do you believe? How would you behave in a moment of crisis? This is a case where the truth may well be stranger than fiction, and viewers are left to weigh up the evidence about Beckett’s innocence or guilt, much like the jurors did in his murder trials. Chilling, indeed.

In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery is available on Prime Video and screens free-to-air on Sky Open from 18-20 November at 8.30pm.