30 January 2025 - 0 Comments

Charitable trust Play It Strange is thrilled to partner with New Zealand’s longest running soap, Shortland Street. Throughout their new season, titled New Blood, all featured music on Shortland Street will be Play It Strange alumni songs.

Play It Strange promotes and inspires songwriting for NZ secondary school-aged students - providing pathways for creativity through songwriting. They run regular programmes and competitions for young kiwis to write original songs, record and perform them, as seen in this exciting collaboration with Shortland Street.

Since its inception 20 years ago, Play it Strange has helped bring to life thousands of songs. 7,000+ songs have been written and entered into competitions, and 1,000+ original songs have been professionally recorded and released. Within these 20 years, Play It Strange’s alumni include a wide range of incredible Kiwi musicians, including Kimbra, Louis Baker, Frankie Venter, Ratbag, PARK RD and Annah Mac.

Throughout the Shortland Street season of New Blood viewers will be able to enjoy captivating tracks from up-and-coming young Play It Strange artists. Eight of these artists have already been chosen for the first few episodes, with 19 year-old Billie Carey featuring during last season’s finale, her self-written song Best of Me playing during the series’ ending montage. With the new season kicking off on Monday 10th February on TVNZ 2 and TVNZ+, further featured artists include Dylan Lazz, Where The Spiders Hide, Emerson Kole, Fan Club, Molly Pawson, Caught Inside and Henri Woodley.

Play It Strange’s CEO Stephanie Brown says that this partnership aligns perfectly with their aims as a charitable trust. “We are incredibly excited to partner with Shortland Street, New Zealand’s longest running drama and TVNZ’s most streamed show. This partnership will provide a platform for emerging artists to showcase their music, talents, and social media profiles nationwide. Already, eight of our artists have their songs profiled in upcoming Shortland Street episodes. We are looking forward to growing this partnership and providing more incredible opportunities for musical rangatahi across Aotearoa.”

Shortland Street Producer Oliver Driver shares “This partnership with Play It Strange is an incredible opportunity for Shortland Street to showcase and celebrate the talent of emerging Kiwi musicians. Music has always been a powerful way to tell stories, and we’re excited to bring fresh, authentic voices into our world. We can’t wait to see the creativity and energy these artists bring to our show and to share it with our audience.”

This collaboration is giving Play It Strange’s alumni a platform to take themselves and their craft to the next level, further cementing their strength and ability. Partnering with an icon like Shortland Street, one that has been so impactful and memorable for kiwis, emphasises the importance of showcasing young talent around Aotearoa – something that Play It Strange has done for many years and continues to strive to do.

Comments

Return to News Archive