We asked high-profile young New Zealanders about their reflections of 2013, and their hopes and resolutions for the New Year.
Janine and The Mixtape, 24, is a singer, producer, video-maker, and does an impressive line in liquid eyeliner.
I put out my Dark Minds EP, and living in Brooklyn, so I’ve just kind of been riding that a bit of wave, and enduring that wave as well. It’s been amazing. Obviously it’s my first project, so I hoped it would do well, so to have people really supporting it, especially all over the world, that’s the craziest thing.
Just recently, the EP had been doing really well, but I got a sync on a programme called Black Ink Crew, which is on VH1’s network in the States, and that was quite crazy because it just gave it another whole boost. That song had had about 20,000 plays on that song, in that day, just on Soundcloud, and that went up, so in about a week I had about 100,00 plays. I would refresh the page, and each time I refreshed it, it would have gone up by 100 plays, 200, 500 plays. I’d just never experienced that. It’s a good feeling that once you get that audience, that they’ll actually appreciate it.
Personally, I had been in a relationship for five years, so coming out of that and having to be alone, and having to figure myself out was a big part of 2013. In New York, that year was the toughest year in my life. It had the biggest highs and the biggest lows. It was a rollercoaster. I had the best times, but I also had the worst times. That city will either make or break you.
I definitely write down resolutions. I think a lot of the time the things we look at, and the things we focus on, are the things that actually happen.
It’s been awesome for me seeing some Kiwis do well over in the States. I mean, obviously Lorde. I know her drummer, so I got to catch him LA. Seeing Aradhna, she’s the loveliest person, so getting to watch her thrive, and David Dallas, I’ve loved his stuff too. It was quite nice, he shared the video [for the acoustic version of Hold Me] I made, and tweeted and said he liked it a lot. It’s quite nice to see some of the artists I’ve always looked up to sharing that back.
For 2014, some official music videos should come out early in the year. Some new music as well. I’m staying in New Zealand, and then heading back to the States in March, where there’s some festivals going on I’ve been tentatively been asked to play.
And yeah, lots more music. I’m quite enjoying playing around with stuff. My style is always going to be the same, but I want to take it to a slightly different place. I love being in New Zealand. Things move a little bit slower, so it’s good for creating.
I’d like to comfortably survive off music. I’d like to tour. There’s definitely lots of stuff I’d like to learn and experience. I really want to develop my team, because I do everything myself. So, getting that team, and getting things really moving is a realistic goal for 2014.
I definitely write down resolutions. I think a lot of the time the things we look at, and the things we focus on, are the things that actually happen. I had this massive poster of Biggie with ‘Brooklyn’ written across it for years, and then I ended up in Brooklyn, and now I have special ties there, and also to the great music from that area.
