Runga’s back to her old self
Bic Runga’s new album packs a punch. Sarah Catherall interviews the Kiwi treasure about family, creativity and waiting in parked cars.
Bic Runga is parked in an Auckland carpark, chatting via Facetime. Her one-year-old daughter, Frida, is asleep in her carseat, while her three-year-old, Sophia, is in a shopping mall with Runga’s mother.
The singer and songwriter often finds herself sitting in parked cars throughout the day while her infant sleeps. She may be one of the country’s top musicians, recently awarded the most prestigious Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards’ legacy award, but she is also a mother.
Laughing, it’s her second carpark stop today.
But 40-year-old Runga makes a bold statement. Her full lips, devoid of her trademark ruby red lipstick, purse into a smile. She reflects: ‘‘I feel like I’ve got everything I want.’’
‘‘Everything’’ is her partner, Kody Nielsen, a musician, who she met while recording her last album, Belle, in 2010. It’s the home they share in Mission Bay with a garden holding their recording studio, The Box, which is literally so tiny you can play a guitar and little else. It’s her three children – nine-year-old Joe, and her two preschool-aged daughters.
It’s the legacy award, following on from 20 Tuis and multiplatinum discs – the most-awarded solo artist in New Zealand.
And finally, it’s her upcoming album, Close Your Eyes, featuring 10 cover songs – many on her iPhone playlist – and just two original songs.
‘‘It’s really nice to have my family and also my career back,’’ she says. Her voice is soft, almost hesitant. ’’I feel like I’ve got my old self back again.’’
The term legacy can make an artist feel as though they’ve produced their best work and are approaching a use-by date. Runga nods that she might have felt like that if she didn’t have Close Your
Eyes ready for release. With this, she wanted to cover other artists’ songs. ‘‘I think I was getting bored with my own music. I feel like this album is a bit more punchy.’’
And it also reflects a new chapter in her musical career. After Belle was released and she toured it here and around the world, she paused and focused on her family. ’’I’m really excited. I feel really lucky. When you’ve got a family and you’ve been in this baby vortex, you do wonder if that will ever end.
‘‘Parenting is a real culture shock. When you’ve had such an independent life, and through my work I’ve had a lot of freedom, and then suddenly those days are gone.’’
But Runga loves the contrast of her life – being a mother allows her to appreciate her work more, while being creative gives her an outlet away from her domestic world. ’’I do love to come home and there it’s lovely, harmonious and safe.’’
The album is her first in five years. And Runga – whose name is pronounced ‘‘Bec’’ not ’’Bic’’ like the pen – learned a lot while making it. Considering herself a songwriter first, a musician second, and finally a singer, Runga doesn’t rate her own singing ability.
‘‘Writing your own songs can be a bit too introspective sometimes. The ones I’ve chosen do feel autobiographical as a body of work, and I’m proud of it as an album.
‘‘There are so many songs I’ve always wanted to cover. I wanted to see if I could not just be a singersongwriter, but someone who could also interpret songs... The songs that made it on the record specifically say something about where I’m at in my life, better than if I’d written it myself.’’ Her previous hits like Suddenly
Strange and Sway have been pensive, and introspective, always with her strumming her acoustic guitar. Close My Eyes feels more punchy, upbeat and confident. To get there, she and Nielsen recorded 18 songs, choosing 10 for the record.
‘‘Anything that made it on the record feels really true to myself.’’ The couple met while recording
Belle, and so they have got closer and understood each other over the six years of their work and life partnership.
A producer of Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and a musician with Oppossom and Silicon, he pushes her in new ways. Describing herself as competitive with him, she says: ‘‘I don’t like being wrong and I have to prove myself.
‘‘But he takes me to a place where I become better than I thought I could be, and it’s the same for him. We make each other better.’’
They burned the midnight oil on Close Your Eyes, retreating to their tiny studio in the evenings. While Belle took two years from start to finish, this album was made in a tight six weeks. Buying takeaway food, they ignored many of their domestic duties and ploughed on.
Co-producing the album, she and Nielsen played all the instruments, she on the drums and bass guitar, while he strummed the guitar and they shared the keyboard duties. ’’It was a real team effort. It’s a better record than Belle. We had limited time, we have a better shorthand together.
‘‘It was really hard work making this record... There was no time for naval gazing and getting too far into myself.’’
Two songs are originals, reflecting her passion for songwriting.
Close My Eyes, released last week, is a reference to Nielsen, while Dream a Dream, first released a year ago, is about her kids. Songs she covered, like
Tinseltown in the Rain by Blue
Nile, and The First Time I Ever
Saw Your Face, by Roberta Flack, made her feel inadequate as a singer.
Equally though, she describes the process as ‘‘like getting a masterclass in songwriting about other people’s work’’.
‘‘I got something really valuable out of making covers. It was a bit confronting, realising my limitations.
‘‘I never really think of myself as a singer. I’m a songwriter first, then a musician. In a singing sense, I’m not that technical,’’ she laughs, adding: ‘‘I can’t sing like Whitney Houston.’’
To use the analogy, Runga says reflectively: ‘‘It’s like knowing what clothes suit you and what don’t.’’
Born in Christchurch in 1976, as Briolette Kah Bic Runga, she grew up immersed in a musical family. Her mother, Sophia Tang, was a Chinese Malaysian lounge singer, who met her husband, Joseph Runga, in Malaysia. Growing up in Hornby, Runga started recording songs with her sisters, Boh and Pearl, when she was just four years old. She learned the drums at 11 and guitar and keyboard when she was about 14. Boh became a singer in Stellar, before turning to jewellery making, which she now does fulltime. Their middle sister, Pearl, is a school teacher and covers’ singer in Auckland.
Runga’s big moment came in 1993, when she and her friend, Kelly Horgan, competed in the 1993 Smokefree Rock Quest in Christchurch, under the name ‘‘Love Soup’’. Coming third, they got a music contract with Pagan Records. Runga won an arts grant and recorded her first song, Drive, in Wellington. Her debut album,
Drive, came next, and that drove her music into the charts, being certified platinum seven times.
She has been named female vocalist of the year four times, and released four critically acclaimed albums, including her second,
Beautiful Collision, which was 11 times platinum – the lead single,
Get Some Sleep, spent 24 weeks as the No.1 Kiwi single. Classic songs like Sway and Suddenly Strange are some of New Zealand’s most iconic tracks. Honoured with a New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006 for her services to music, her most recent albums, Birds, and
Belle, were also critically acclaimed.
Recorded Music CEO Damian Vaughan says: ‘‘Bic is one of our most loved and treasured recording artists, her songs are instantly recognisable and have been part of the fabric of New Zealand for more than 20 years. We’re honoured to present Bic with the 2016 Legacy Award and induct her into the NZ Music Hall of Fame.’’
Heading into her 40s, does she have anything on her bucket list? There will be more songwriting. ‘‘I just want to get better at making records. I’m working with Kody a lot. Where I’m at in terms of my age and what I’ve done, there’s no excuse not to feel really capable and to be in control of my work.’’
As she is inducted into the Hall of Fame, how does she feel at this point in her life and career? The car has moved to a different carpark. Frida is still asleep and her mother is in another mall with Sophia. ‘‘I’m much more grateful about things than I ever used to be,’’ she reflects. ‘‘It’s been a pretty good run.’’