05 July 2024 - 0 Comments
Aotearoa’s Kiwi Pacific artist Lou'ana has released her heartfelt tribute to resilience, love, and cultural heritage with her new single Grandmother, out today.
Listen to Grandmother HERE
Grandmother is earthy, meditative, layered with rich percussion and instinctive instrumentation; its repetitive riff and steady groove trance-like, emulating the heartbeat of the earth. In the single, Lou’ana uses the Grandmother as a metaphor for the “enduring spirit of our roots and cultural identity.”
“Grandmother is a reflection and side of me that I feel like I haven't shared before,” she explains. “This song is deeply personal, because it's connected to my family and my journey with healing and growth. Through this song, I feel like I'm honouring my ancestors and the lessons they've passed down to me. It embodies my continual process of learning and evolving, which I see as a gift from those who came before me. My connection to my spirituality and intuition is what guides my creative force."
Engineered and Mixed by Tom Broome at Broome Records in Tāmaki Makaurau, the track was then mastered by Vivek Gabriel.The song features Jason Herbert on guitar, Chip Matthews on bass, Guy Harrison on keys, Tom Broome on drums, Charlie Isdale on horns and Kurt Dyer on percussion. The beginning of the track features a Samoan lullaby, performed by Lou’ana’s own Grandmother.
“It’s a lullaby that she sang to all of us granddaughters when we were babies,” says Lou’ana.
“I feel like I have stored this sacred memory of ours in art. The lullaby, sung by an elder, symbolizes the transmission of cultural wisdom and the nurturing spirit that transcends individual families.”
Today’s release follows her latest single and visualiser day dreams (voodoo version), which was featured in NZ Herald’s The Listener, Mai FM, RDU and The Most FM, showcasing Lou’ana's ongoing dedication to creating art.
Lou'ana continues to solidify her status as a rising star in the music industry, with the Jazz trained vocalist’s 2020 debut album Moonlight Madness charting as a NZ top 20 Album and winning her Best Pacific Female Artist at the 2021 Pacific Music Awards. Since then, she has gone on to perform all across the country, including at Nostalgia Festival, Newtown Festival, NZ Spirit Festival, CubaDupa, Splore Festival, Nest Fest and more; last year opening for the chart breaking artist Teddy Swims. Most recently opening for Gladys Knight in Auckland.
She sold out her album release show held at the reputable Q Theatre, and her infectious album track Move Along has just reached over 2 million streams on Spotify alone. In 2023, her dance anthem Night Creature hit #2 on the Hot 20 NZ Singles Chart, and was a rotating feature on ZM’s ‘Locals Only’ playlist.
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