Kiwi songstress living the dream in Big Apple
Kimbra shares her favourite things about New Zealand, including her love for black sand beaches.
YOU get introduced as a Grammy-winning singer now. Do you pinch yourself when you hear that?
It’s pretty funny when you hear it said out loud because it’s not the sort of thing you ever say.
It’s crazy that it happened and I think I’ve been thinking about it more now that Prince passed away, because that was the biggest thing that I took away that night; that I got something awarded to me by my idol.
The cool thing about that whole experience was it proved to me that you really don’t know how far something can take you.
Your last album, The Golden Echo, came out in 2014. So when can we expect some new material?
It is one of those things where the creative process is still brewing so you don’t want to put a date on it, but I do plan to put out new music soon because I have a lot of songs done that may not be on this album. I want to start sharing with fans again.
You’ve moved from Hamilton to Melbourne to Los Angeles and now to New York. How does the latest change of scenery impact your songwriting process?
There’s a rawness to New York and everyone is there from all kinds of cultures, classes and status. You step out into the street and you feel immersed in this human culture. It’s all happening right in front of you and I find that very inspiring as an artist.
Is New York the destination where you always dreamed of ending up?
From the moment I first visited New York I thought ‘one day I have to live here’. It’s such an American question; are you living the dream? But yeah, New York
‘ The whole culture of Raglan is really special.’
has kind of been the dream for quite a while now.
When you come back to New Zealand where is the place you just have to visit?
I live in Hamilton so I go back there for Christmas but a big one is going back to Raglan. It’s so special, a black sand beach, which is so mystical to me when I’m not there. Plus the whole culture of Raglan is really special so we always make a special trip there.
Raglan seems like a world away from New York, what’s your must-do activity when you’re there over summer?
The classic thing is to go Whale Bay, which is a great place to have fish and chips. That’s what I do, I sit out in the pohutukawas and on the black sand beach.
Do you find that a holiday back home in New Zealand helps to cleanse the soul?
It’s like a nourishment. It’s almost a spiritual thing when you’re home and it’s a sense of belonging. Then you come back to America and you have a new energy for it.
There’s something about the stillness you can’t find where I live. You can go upstate to New York but New Zealand is truly special. I can’t believe it’s my home. I’ve been spending time in Ethiopia and Kenya, in Africa’s largest slum in Kibera, and I think to myself that things could have been so different. ● Phillip Rollo travelled to San Francisco courtesy of Fiji Airways.