Isabella Jane confronts the growing artificial world with her new single Burger King
Ōtautahi’s redhead, horse girl, theatre kid turned indie artist Isabella Jane returns with Burger King, an indie folk-rock track taking aim at the ever changing relationship between people and technology.
A genre-blurring journey through modern dance music, jazz and soul, co-piloted by legendary producer Nathan Haines.
Ōtautahi’s redhead, horse girl, theatre kid turned indie artist Isabella Jane returns with Burger King, an indie folk-rock track taking aim at the ever changing relationship between people and technology.
And it all started when she left her iPhone in a Belgium Burger King.
During Isabella Jane’s year abroad, she quotes “In the depths of a Belgian winter my iphone was swiftly carried away to Morocco where it now happily resides.” She did not react how would be expected, instead she expressed rather the great relief she felt when it was gone. The first thing she did without her phone was write this song, Burger King.
Produced by Nic Manders (Brooke Fraser, Stan Walker, Georgia Lines), Burger King is a mantra to quit doom scrolling and dissociating and reconnect with nature. Expansive, raw, atmospheric production enhances the desire for freedom and nature injected in the lyrics. Grounded drums, soaring guitars and rich vocals build towards a cathartic release. Isabella Jane describes the recording experience as a “wonderful organic jam sesh that perfectly encapsulated Burger's intended message.”
“Done dissociating, I’m a creature, I should be living with the bird and the bees and the nature”.
The world Isabella Jane has created around Burger King amplifies the underlying commentary on manufactured addiction, digital connection, consumerism and AI development. She explains, “The creation of IJ brought forth the bigger ideas I was subconsciously debating when I wrote Burger King. It’s more than a song about doomscrolling and wanting to get off your phone. It is about being sick of being addicted to consuming something that is manufactured to trap you and the depersonalization you feel when connecting more with technology than tangible living breathing things.” The IJ world has allowed Isabella Jane to explore bigger questions with this release. “What does it mean to live in an artificial world? How can we feel real if everything is fake?” Isabella Jane expresses these are some of her questions as a 20 year old in 2026.
In a David Bowie like manner, Isabella Jane has created the character IJ to drive this campaign. She explains “IJ is me if I doomscrolled into an artificial version of myself. She’s uncanny, optimized to the max, obsessed with social media, and is trapped in an artificial state.” IJ has taken over Isabella Jane's socials and led her audience on a journey, from artificial entrapment to IJ’s discovery of the true beauty of being human. Follow IJ’s journey @its.isabellajane.
Isabella Jane returns from Europe with new music, after a whirlwind year in Belgium, where she appeared on The Voice Belgique 2026. Isabella Jane was coached by Loïc Nottet through to the Battles, and somehow timed her exit with the exact day her visa expired. During her AFS exchange, she released her debut single He’s Just Not That Into You, even performing it impromptu during her blind audition at Nottet’s request, opened for Belgian artist Zipper Double, and toured with local artists Madelinski and Endy Dinca.
Before becoming Isabella Jane she was a Take The Mic and Play It Strange finalist, two time regional Rockquest finals winner with her high-school band, who opened for legendary NZ band Dragon. She completed SOLE Music Academy’s Artist Development Programme at 16, and sold out her first headline show in 2024. Growing up on a farm outside a small ski town, Isabella has been writing songs, acting and performing for as long as she can remember, bringing a distinctly dramatic and theatrical edge to the music world she is ecstatic to share.
To celebrate the release of Burger King, Isabella Jane will perform a special single release show at Space Academy in Christchurch on the 25th of September 2026. Tickets @ UnderTheRadar.
HESTER ULLYART ANNOUNCES DEBUT ALBUM'THE ALL CLEAR'
Dynamic actor and poet Hester Ullyart announces her debut album, The All Clear, out November 13th. A searching ten-song work of spoken and sung narratives featuring a distinctive ensemble of Ōtautahi musicians: Reuben Derrick, Joseph McCallum, Hannah Everingham and Nicole Reddington.
Dynamic actor and poet Hester Ullyart announces her debut album, 'The All Clear' alongside new single + video “Fast Romance”
Dynamic actor and poet Hester Ullyart announces her debut album, The All Clear, out November 13th. A searching ten-song work of spoken and sung narratives featuring a distinctive ensemble of Ōtautahi musicians: Reuben Derrick, Joseph McCallum, Hannah Everingham and Nicole Reddington.
"I know this too shall pass / but it hasn’t happened yet / so I wait / where does all the lost love go?"
Recorded live and documented on camera in a living room across three evenings in the winter of 2025, the album is a testament to joy, resilience and the slow work of letting go - "what it takes to get the all clear, if we ever really can."
The album announcement coincides with the release of lead single “Fast Romance”, a rite of passage anthem that pulses with momentum and heat, captured live in a video by Caleb MacDonald.
"So what / it was kinda fun / don’t think nobody saw us /
where else are we supposed to go?"
Recorded by Ryan Fisherman and mixed by Will McGillivray, The All Clear’s eclectic arrangements lilt and bend around Ullyart’s eloquent lyricism. Personal reflections move from supermarket aisles to celestial objects with a poet’s sensibility, asking the listener to forgive shortcomings with wit and humanity.
Varying between pop-sentimentality, ambience, choral harmony and dramatic monologue, ‘The All Clear’ is a complete work from a UK born multidisciplinary artist who has made a home here in Aotearoa.
Fast Romance is out now on all streaming platforms and Bandcamp.
The album will be celebrated with a one night only live show at Lyttelton Arts Factory on November 13th. With support from Instant Fantasy. Tickets are available now from Humanitix.co.nz.
LONDON-BASED ARTIST TAYLOR GRIFFIN ANNOUNCES NEW EP ‘THE DREAM DANCER’ 9th SEP ‘26
Following his standout 2024 debut In Green, the now London-based drummer and artist Taylor Griffin returns with The Dream Dancer, a deeply personal 5-track EP documenting a period of major transition, creative growth, and relocation.
A genre-blurring journey through modern dance music, jazz and soul, co-piloted by legendary producer Nathan Haines.
Following his standout 2024 debut In Green, the now London-based drummer and artist Taylor Griffin returns with The Dream Dancer, a deeply personal 5-track EP documenting a period of major transition, creative growth, and relocation. With two singles released, the stage is now set for EP to drop on 9 SEP, with the second single ‘Pranzo feat Arjuna Oakes’ being selected for playlists including New Music Friday UK from Spotify, as well as already having numerous radio features making waves around the world from Soho Radio in London to the EVR jazz show in New York.
Written and tracked between the bustling creative hubs of London and the landscapes of Aotearoa (New Zealand), The Dream Dancer showcases an artist quietly expanding his sonic palette. While the record finds Griffin settling into the groove of a new city, it remains tightly locked into his musical roots, seamlessly blending live instrumentation with modern electronic energy.
At the core of the project is a rock-solid collaboration with legendary producer, mixdown engineer, and saxophonist Nathan Haines, who served as the EP's central creative guide. Together, they fostered a fluid studio chemistry that bridges generations and hemispheres, recorded across London’s iconic Lightship95 and Ten87 studios, and Haines’ own Zoot Music in Aotearoa.
"Ultimately, The Dream Dancer is a smooth, honest look at creative growth from an artist simply focused on the craft."
THE EP HOSTS AN INCREDIBLE LINEUP OF CUTTING-EDGE TALENT AND LEGENDARY VOICES:
Marlena Shaw: The late, legendary vocalist grounds the EP's opening track with a timeless, archival spoken-word piece (RNZ 2006). Arjuna Oakes & Sam Allen: Delivering soaring, soulful vocal features that explore themes of presence, desire, and letting the music take control. Joe Kaptein & Ben Stewart: Providing lush, intricate keys.Rudi Creswick: Locking down the low end on bass. Neil Baldock & Jason 'A Sides' Cambridge: Bringing world-class polish on drum mixing and mastering, respectively.
A JOURNEY THROUGH DREAMS
Intrinsically (feat. Nathan Haines): A poignant opener grounded by the classic voice of Marlena Shaw, reminding us that life is defined by "what you've done intrinsically".
Seventh Life (feat. Nathan Haines and Ben Stewart): A dynamic, lyric-less exploration of pure instrumentation and groove.
Pranzo (feat. Arjuna Oakes): A sweeping and gritty jazz-soul piece tracking the transition from uncertainty to confidence ("I get younger with age, call out to desire / And take a bow").
Here and Now (feat. Sam Allen): The ultimate feel-good anthem of the tracklist. A reminder to breathe deeper, push past fear, and "Letting the music take control."
Wait Here (feat. Arjuna Oakes): A hauntingly beautiful, minimalist closer that captures the tension of waiting “for a glimpse of the future”.
‘The Dream Dancer’ will be available on all major streaming platforms, and on solid red 12’’ vinyl.
Frivolous with Devin Velez
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland producer Edward Liu (EDYONTHEBEAT) releases "Frivolous" with Devin Velez, the seventh single from his second album im just a producer, out 27 November 2026 via New Zealand distributor DRM.
The seventh single from EDYONTHEBEAT's sophomore album
'im just a producer'
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland producer Edward Liu (EDYONTHEBEAT) releases "Frivolous" with Devin Velez, the seventh single from his second album im just a producer, out 27 November 2026 via New Zealand distributor DRM.
It is one of the album's most international pairings: a groove-heavy R&B strut built for a vocalist who has shared stages and studios with Christina Aguilera and Teddy Swims.
About the track
"Frivolous" is a groove-heavy R&B record carried by rich harmony and rhythmic bounce, sitting in a lane close to Tone Stith and Mack Keane. Told in the third person, it paints a protagonist who is fierce, carefree, boujee and, of course, frivolous: a woman moving through the world entirely on her own terms.
The Artist
Devin Velez is a Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and vocal coach of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent.
He first reached national audiences as a finalist on Season 12 of American Idol, remembered for a bilingual English and Spanish delivery so affecting that Mariah Carey was moved to tears on air the night he was eliminated. In the years since, he has sung backing vocals for Christina Aguilera and performed as a touring vocalist with Teddy Swims, while building his own soulful, technically precise catalogue: his 2025 single "For Your Peace of Mind" has passed 1.3 million Spotify streams, one of several of his tracks over a million.
He carries a combined following of more than half a million across TikTok and Instagram.
JASON PARKER ENTERS A NEW ERA WITH “ONE WEEK SOBER” AND ANNOUNCES ALBUM “WHAT MAKES A MAN”.
Jason Parker is back with “One Week Sober,” the lead single and opening track from his forthcoming album, “What Makes a Man”, through Bigpop Records, Out Now!
Jason Parker is back with “One Week Sober,” the lead single and opening track from his forthcoming album, “What Makes a Man”, through Bigpop Records, Out Now!
Written when Parker had some introspective downtime while recovering from an injury, “One Week Sober” is themed around a period without drinking. Parker treats that experience as the starting point for a broader question: what happens when a habit, a relationship or a familiar version of yourself has become so tied to your identity that letting it go leaves you asking, "Who am I without this?"
In the song, Parker describes the bottle as an unreliable friend: magnetic, familiar and always present, but incapable of loving him back. The excitement and intimacy of a night out sit uncomfortably alongside the loneliness hiding beneath, as the chorus moves between the question “Am I enough?” and its increasingly certain and defiant answer: “I am, I am, I am.”
That resolution is deliberately imperfect. Even at his most self-assured, Parker admits that he is still terrified of getting things wrong. Growth is not presented as a full transformation or a declaration of complete healing. Instead, “One Week Sober” captures the quieter, more difficult process of recognising an old pattern, questioning what it has given you and choosing to move forward differently.
“One Week Sober began with a true story, but it was never really about drinking," says Parker. "It's about the habits that quietly become part of who we are, even after they stop giving us anything back, leaving you with the question: am I enough without this? I don't have it figured out. I'm still scared of getting it wrong. But I'm learning to believe I'm worthy of happiness anyway.”
Wrapped in hook-laden instrumentation, "One Week Sober" was co-written alongside Will Henderson, Chris Bates and Maude Minnie Morris, and produced and mixed by Morris, who also worked on Parker's EP, Fairy Bread; it introduces the deeper, more grounded sound of What Makes a Man. Across its ten tracks, the album explores the identities people inherit, perform and eventually outgrow. Parker examines his relationships, tracing the ways those connections can shape, challenge and reflect on who we are.
“One Week Sober” is the first song to be released. The single's visual world places Parker in a pink-and-white rugby setting, reworking one of Aotearoa's most familiar symbols of masculinity through the same camp visual language that Parker built for himself after leaving the farm he grew up on in Waipukurau for Auckland. It's an early look at the album's wider question: who gets to decide what a man should look like?
That question runs through Parker's work off the record too. He founded and still curates Little Gay In, a queer artist showcase that's highlighted queer talent from all over New Zealand since 2023, and "One Week Sober" also marks a reconnection with that same audience and community. "I've taken some time out, and I hope people are happy to hear from me again," he says. "I just can't wait to see everyone.
"One Week Sober" is OUT NOW through Tāmaki Makaurau label Bigpop Records. What Makes a Man will follow.
InDuna releases ‘FAVOURITE COLOURS’ - a powerful new anthem of identity, healing and resilience
Wellington-based, Aotearoa-South African artist InDuna returns with new atmospheric anthem ‘Favourite Colours’. Built around warm acoustic guitars, emotive vocals and cinematic production, ‘Favourite Colours’ creates both an intimate and soaring feeling, as it seamlessly blends vulnerable songwriting with modern Afro-pop and folk influences.
Wellington-based, Aotearoa-South African artist InDuna returns with new atmospheric anthem ‘Favourite Colours’.
Built around warm acoustic guitars, emotive vocals and cinematic production, ‘Favourite Colours’ creates both an intimate and soaring feeling, as it seamlessly blends vulnerable songwriting with modern Afro-pop and folk influences.
Using colour as its central metaphor, ‘Favourite Colours’ reflects on how life's vibrancy can slowly fade through periods of anxiety, grief, depression or personal disconnection - which then leads to a period of rediscovering yourself.
"The idea came from reflecting on how differently we experience the world over time," says InDuna (in-Doo-nah) aka Tyson Nemukula. "As children, everything feels vivid and full of possibility. As life becomes more complex, that sense of colour can become harder to access. This song lives in that space and explores how we slowly find our way back."
Made with the support of New Zealand On Air, ‘Favourite Colours’ was recorded by Lee Prebble (Surgery Studios) and Toby Lloyd (Tiny Triumph Recordings) - who also performs guitar on the track, and mastered by Justin Cederholm (JPEC Mastering). Additional performances include backing vocals from Tārin Kurapa and Bethany Edridge.
Known for heartfelt songwriting that transforms personal experiences into shared moments of connection, Induna’s previous releases have showcased his ability to blend uplifting musical landscapes with deeply reflective themes, earning praise for his thoughtful lyricism and distinctive Afro-pop sound.
A date for the diary - Induna is premiering a ‘Favourite Colours’ music video on 16 October, ahead of his headline show at Moon, Newtown, Wellington on 30 October 2026 - where audiences will be given the chance to experience the project in an intimate live setting.
‘Favourite Colours’ continues InDuna's wider artistic focus on identity, resilience and emotional wellbeing, reinforcing his belief that music has the power to help people feel understood, connected and a little less alone.
The Artist
Devin Velez is a Chicago-born, Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter and vocal coach of Puerto Rican and Colombian descent.
He first reached national audiences as a finalist on Season 12 of American Idol, remembered for a bilingual English and Spanish delivery so affecting that Mariah Carey was moved to tears on air the night he was eliminated. In the years since, he has sung backing vocals for Christina Aguilera and performed as a touring vocalist with Teddy Swims, while building his own soulful, technically precise catalogue: his 2025 single "For Your Peace of Mind" has passed 1.3 million Spotify streams, one of several of his tracks over a million.
He carries a combined following of more than half a million across TikTok and Instagram.
MIDWAVE BREAKS Take their Album Release Party on the Road!
Midwave Breaks celebrate the release of their first full-length album, with four special shows across New Zealand. Presented by The Rock FM, the Tauranga based Alt-Rock duo will be joined by a host of Special Guests across the tour, including: The Response, The Rainfall, Courtnay and The Unholy Reverie, No Pilot, Not Exact, and Van Brookes.
Midwave Breaks celebrate the release of their first full-length album, with four special shows across New Zealand.
Presented by The Rock FM, the Tauranga based Alt-Rock duo will be joined by a host of Special Guests across the tour, including: The Response, The Rainfall, Courtnay and The Unholy Reverie, No Pilot, Not Exact, and Van Brookes.
Since launching in 2021, Midwave Breaks have captivated fans, across airwaves and stages around the country, with 8 independent radio singles hitting the NZ Top 10 Rock Airplay Charts, a nod for Best Rock Act at the 2024 Aotearoa Music Awards, and highlight-reel live performances in support of Incubus, Live, and Devilskin.
As a two-piece, Midwave Breaks are known to deliver a huge sound, infectious live energy, and dynamic performance. Drummer Paul Russell sums up the band’s excitement for the tour, “This album is a real line in the sand for us, as we’ve been able to explore a full dynamic range of ideas across a body of work, and we can’t wait to bring that journey to the stage and experience it live with our friends and fans”.
Echo. Tide. Awake. features 13 new tracks for 2026 – all written, recorded, mixed, and mastered by the band themselves, in the spare room of a farmhouse, overlooking the Bay of Plenty coastline. The album explores cyclical themes of time and perspective, reframing the past to better illuminate the present, and is available to Pre-order now from local record stores and JBHifi nationwide, or direct at shop.midwavebreaks.com
Midwave Breaks reimagine the sounds of their youth through a modern lens, epitomized by 80’s-90’s alternative rock/pop - evoking hints of Springsteen and Petty, Cornell and Vedder, and a melting pot of musical influences from past to present.
DIAMOND LANGI LETS GO WITH LOVE ON CINEMATIC NEW SINGLE - 'WISH YOU WELL'
Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is let someone go—not with anger or bitterness, but with peace in our hearts and the courage to genuinely wish them well. That is the message at the heart of Diamond Langi’s powerful new single ‘Wish You Well’. Of Tongan, Cape Verdean and Portuguese heritage, Diamond is an Aotearoa-based artist, actor, director and writer whose creative work brings together music, film, fashion and visual storytelling.
Aotearoa-based multidisciplinary artist Diamond Langi brings Island R&B, Pacific identity, film and heartfelt storytelling together in a deeply personal new release.
Sometimes the most loving thing we can do is let someone go—not with anger or bitterness, but with peace in our hearts and the courage to genuinely wish them well.
That is the message at the heart of Diamond Langi’s powerful new single ‘Wish You Well’. Of Tongan, Cape Verdean and Portuguese heritage, Diamond is an Aotearoa-based artist, actor, director and writer whose creative work brings together music, film, fashion and visual storytelling.
“Sometimes loving someone means being able to let them go and genuinely wish them well. This song is about closure, growth and choosing peace.” — Diamond Langi
Written by Diamond, produced by NT GOT BEATS and co-produced by Diamond Langi and Christian Mausia, ‘Wish You Well’ blends Island R&B and Island Skank with an honest story about love, healing and moving forward. The song captures the moment when you realise that holding onto pain is no longer helping you grow. Letting go does not mean forgetting what happened; it means choosing peace and giving yourself permission to move forward.
Diamond brings that story to life through an accompanying cinematic short film, which she also directed. Set around a wedding and church, the visual begins as a short film before moving into the music video, exploring love, acceptance, new beginnings and the strength it takes to release the past.
The project reflects Diamond’s multidisciplinary creative identity and her desire to see Pacific artists represented not only as performers, but also as writers, directors and creative leaders telling their own stories.
A former Miss Universe New Zealand and Miss Face of Beauty International, Diamond has worked internationally across fashion and entertainment in New York, London, Paris, Milan, Sydney and Aotearoa New Zealand. She is also the founder of The Diamond Langi Institute, where she mentors women, men and young people in confidence, public speaking, modelling, personal development, wellbeing and self-expression.
‘Wish You Well’ follows Diamond’s previous releases ‘YODELAY’, with JKING, and ‘Side of the Bed’. ‘YODELAY’ reached No. 9 on the Aotearoa music charts during its release week, while ‘Side of the Bed’ received NZ On Air support and was included in the New Tracks monthly playlist.
‘Wish You Well’ was supported through the NZ On Air New Pasifika Music funding round and is distributed by Precise Digital.
Personal, cinematic and grounded in love, ‘Wish You Well’ marks another important chapter in Diamond’s journey—bringing her music, cultural identity and visual creativity together in one powerful story.