The musician tells FIRST about her first musical idol, why she wasn’t cut out for netball and more.

First sport

“Netball. I tried to be good at it, but I was always trying to make friends with my opponent and then be like, ‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry that I pushed you.’ So it just wasn’t the game for me.”

First collection

“Stamps, which is weird. Like postage stamps. So strange. People would give them to me as well, because I was apparently collecting them. That’s what happens in our family. As soon as you’re into something, all of a sudden that’s all you get for years.”

First musical idol

“That would be Selena. The movie came out when I was little and my mum showed it to me and I was obsessed with it. And so I just watched it over and over and over again. I just wanted to be Selena and I learnt all her Spanish songs. I used to sit in my room and obsess and dance and make her outfits. I really wanted a fringe like Selena but for some reason they cut it [below my eyes]. I went to school like, ‘Yeah, I’ve cut my fringe.’ But it just looked gross and I couldn’t even see because it was in my eyes.”

First paranormal experience

“So Nana and I went to her sister’s funeral when I was three or four and then we came home and we were in the kitchen and the light was off. It was dark in the kitchen. And then my nana starts talking to this spirit and I remember them just talking to each other and then hugging. I always just knew that was my nana saying goodbye to her sister, because she never got to say a proper goodbye. I said to Nana a couple years ago, ‘Do you remember that happening?’ She was like, ‘Yeah.’ And I was like, ‘OK, cool.’”

This episode of FIRST was made with support from NZ On Air