New Music 27/02
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Jayme Morpeth — Just To Feel It
21-year-old Pōneke artist Jayme Morpeth continues to carve out her place in Wellington’s indie-pop scene with her new single, Just To Feel It. A recent graduate of Massey University, Jayme has been immersed in music since childhood — singing from the age of nine and uploading original songs by 12. Blending indie pop with folk and alternative influences, and drawing inspiration from artists such as Lana Del Rey, Mazzy Star, Clairo and Beabadoobee, Jayme channels raw emotion and sharp self-reflection into songs that feel both intimate and cinematic.
Just To Feel It stands as one of the most personal tracks from her forthcoming EP Good Grief, a five-song project shaped by overthinking, evolving relationships and emotional growth. The single explores the messy edges of growing up — partying, fighting with friends, and using chaos as an outlet — capturing the vulnerability of trying to feel something in the midst of confusion. Written across a transformative year, Good Grief documents a rollercoaster of highs and lows, ultimately embracing the idea that it’s okay to feel deeply, to unravel, and to tell your side of the story.
Emma Rutherford — Gracie
Pop/Soul artist Emma Rutherford, originally from North Canterbury and now based in Wellington, is fast becoming a compelling voice in Aotearoa’s music scene. Inspired by Adele, Billy Joel and Sara Bareilles, Emma blends soulful melodies with heartfelt storytelling. After completing a Bachelor of Music at Ara in 2022, she gained attention with her single and video Ghost Town, later headlining Oxford Town Hall and performing at the North Canterbury Wine and Food Festival. Now working with producer Toby Lloyd of Tiny Triumph Recordings, she has earned placement on Apple Music’s New in Pop and continues to build momentum with 2025 releases including Better Days and Midnight.
Her new track, Gracie, produced by Toby Lloyd, was inspired by her three-year-old niece and serves as a broader metaphor for young people everywhere, capturing themes of growth, innocence and possibility as she enters an exciting new chapter.
Jenni Smith — MIRROR
Jenni Smith is a 25-year-old country-pop singer-songwriter from Auckland whose romantic, diaristic songwriting proudly captures the ‘girl-next-door’ spirit. Blending heartfelt storytelling with playful wit, her sound bridges country tradition and contemporary pop, drawing inspiration from artists like Taylor Swift and Maddie & Tae. Jenni has been carving out her place in Aotearoa’s country music scene since the age of 12, with career highlights including winning Songwriter of the Year at the 2018 NZCMA Entertainer of the Year Awards and achieving Official NZ Singles Chart success with “T-Shirt” (#3, 2024) and “Stuck On You” (#7, 2025).
Her latest single, MIRROR, is a witty, tongue-in-cheek track inspired by her mum comparing her to famous brunettes like Anne Hathaway, Emma Watson and Keira Knightley, playfully exploring the strange familiarity of an ex moving on with someone who looks just like you. With nationwide radio support, television appearances, and her debut album Girl Next Door arriving this March alongside a national tour, Jenni continues to connect with audiences through honest lyrics, warm live performances, and songs that feel both deeply personal and universally relatable.
Foley — Like an Actress (EP)
Sydney-based New Zealand pop duo Foley shimmer and shine on their new EP Like an Actress, a polished five-track collection that captures the pair at their most confident and sonically expansive. Featuring singles Cinematic, Honey, Suckerpunch and the breezy new focus track Going Easy, the EP blends powerful synths, driving basslines, live drums and glossy pop hooks. Co-written by Ash Wallace and Gabe Everett with Josh Naley (AKA *Wells), who also produced ‘Going Easy’, the project is elevated by mixing from Pedro Calloni (Chappell Roan, Alex Warren, GAYLE) and mastering by Grammy-nominated Nathan Dantzler (Sabrina Carpenter, Niall Horan, Jonas Brothers).
Conceptually, Like an Actress expands on the romantic optimism of Cinematic, exploring love, loyalty, friendship and the art of manifesting good things in life. The duo leaned into vivid visual references throughout the writing process, drawing inspiration from 90s and 2000s romcoms and the nostalgic soundtrack era of Dawson's Creek to shape its warm, feel-good palette. The result is an impeccable, high-gloss pop record rooted in positive energy, heartfelt intention and Foley’s signature shimmer.
vaint halo — bohemic
Bohemic sees vaint halo lean fully into the chaos and colour of a night that feels untouchable — until it isn’t. The Wellington 20-year-old channels bright lights, reckless decisions and the thin line between thrill and disaster into a track that’s as volatile as its subject matter, fusing underground hip-hop with flashes of heavy metal grit, R&B moodiness and old-school rap attitude. Unpredictable and unapologetic, bohemic captures emotion in real time rather than polishing it for comfort, embodying vaint halo’s boundary-pushing ethos and reinforcing his place as one of Aotearoa’s most fearless emerging voices.
Lace Mine — Haunt
Lace Mine returns with feral, fearless new single Haunt, a song born in the aftermath of walking 450km alone across Europe. Emerging as the first track she wrote after completing the hike, “Haunt” captures a raw edge newly awakened, transforming rupture into forward motion. Written while housesitting in the UK with access to a room of instruments and space to reflect, the song became a reclamation of autonomy; a pushback against the quiet shrinking that can come from trying to remain palatable. Where her debut “Wolf” introduced a hushed interior world, Haunt steps outward, sitting with lingering memory rather than offering neat closure.
Anchored by dark, resonant piano chords that swell into a looping, cathartic chorus, Haunt balances intimacy with scale. A subtle folk lineage — influenced by the Enya and Clannad records of her childhood — threads through the track, while her vocal remains unflinching and unsentimental, unafraid to occupy space. The single deepens Lace Mine’s sonic world ahead of her forthcoming EP, recorded in London with producer JMAC, signalling an artist embracing volatility, intensity and the power of going completely feral in the name of self-possession.
Zoe Scott — Shame
Based in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Zoe Scott crafts indie folk that balances cinematic scale with intimate confession, weaving ethereal harmonies and organic textures into songs that explore vulnerability, feminine power and reclamation. Drawing from her travels and creative studies at Massey University, her work moves fluidly between grounded honesty and expansive atmosphere, resonating with listeners who are drawn to emotional depth and immersive soundscapes.
Her new single Shame is a stark reckoning with sexual abuse and its isolating aftermath, confronting the secondary trauma of having to become your own witness and source of comfort. Unpolished and unflinching, the track refuses to romanticise pain, instead tracing the grief of losing parts of yourself and the slow, resilient process of reclaiming them. Anchored by raw vocals and cinematic instrumentation, Shame stands as both testimony and solidarity — a powerful reminder that survival, though lonely, is an act of strength.