Ladi6 on tour life & her latest album
Powerhouse Samoan‑New Zealand artist and icon Ladi6 is best known for effortlessly blending soul, hip‑hop, R&B and electronic grooves into her own signature sound, making her one of Aotearoa’s most compelling voices in music. She’s shared the stage with huge names like Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Gil Scott Heron and The Roots. Her new album Le Vā pushes her sound into bold, deeply personal territory while showcasing her fearless creativity.
HM: Kia ora Ladi6! Thanks for taking the time to chat to us! You're currently on your summer tour which has taken you across the country - has there been a particular moment, or moments, in the live set that have felt especially meaningful to you on this tour run?
Ladi6: There are songs that either get an incredible crowd reaction, or are really meaningful to me. During this run our song ‘Diamonds’ seems to have had such an epic response for our audience and our song ‘Royal Blue’ means everything to me, but recently in our own own headline shows I love opening with my new song for my record Le Vā with ‘Zoom’ - it just feels like the perfect way to set the Ladi6 mood!
HM: Yes, absolutely! Do you have any pre-show rituals or routines that help you centre yourself and get into the right headspace before stepping on stage that you could share?
Ladi6: We karakia before the show to ensure we are stepping out onto the stage with grounded gratitude in hearts and in our wairua. It is a privilege to be there and I never want to take it for granted.
HM: Now to chat about your latest incredible album 'Le Vā' - it feels like this record deeply reflective, with the lyrics seeming personal yet universal. Can you tell us about the concept of this album and what it means to you?
Ladi6: Absolutely, the record is very personal. We originally had begun writing it and it felt like it wanted to be about this feeling of change I was going through, that was around my family shift from living with and caring for my Mum whose health was on the decline for the past three years before.
We had recently just moved Mum in with another sister and had moved into another house pre-covid and were navigating feelings of loss and change. I had this never-ending sense of expectation to make and put out this record, which was only half-written. We were also transitioning as a family.
Our son was experiencing his teenage years, as were his same-age cousins, so, relationally and dynamically, our whole family group was going through a shift. A lot of familial experiences were happening simultaneously during a period of pressure to perform then..... COVID hit, Mum died, and my Dad remarried all within a week of each other. I literally could write a novel on what my family was experiencing at the time of writing Le Vā, so - that is some of the context and to answer your question, the concept ended up being a combination of my efforts to make sense of all of those experiences and others, and then to also honour the love and relationship that I had personally with my mother. She was a best friend, my biggest supporter, my confidante, my clothes and jewellery thief, easy to laugh and in the end always easy to cry. Our Mama bear. Her loss rocked the lives of my entire sibling group of six, a momentous occasion that still ripples throughout my family group still to this day.
HM: I’m so sorry about your mum. That must have been an incredible challenging time, and I imagine it still is. Thank you for being so open sharing that with us and speaking about it so honestly. Listening to the record, the music feels like the place where those experiences and that love are being held with so much care.
You’ve always blended soul, hip hop, and electronic textures so seamlessly. Were there any new sonic risks that you wanted to take on this album?
Ladi6: Sonically my producers are scientists, particularly Parks, but Brandon has his own view and take on the musical landscape that differs and complements Parks' so well. Parks had a very minimalistic view on the production from my perspective that informed the sonics of the record. The question always coming back to, "Is that particular instrument or sound needed? What is it there for?". If that is the question musically, you end up with a very well considered record sonically and his background and personal interest in modular synthesis and sample-based music production, combined with his consistent effort to sound one of one, gives every record I make the unique sonics of our own. He very much considers the world of Ladi6 sonically and makes an effort to stay in the frame and not stray to far but also every time just the frame out a little bit more. It's quite the joy and pain to experience and witness as the process takes so much out of him every time, but when it's complete, we have this incredible work of a master maker that stands alone in its field. It is a true privilege and honour to have him and Brandon Haru work on my records. Together, they are the beat pack production duo, Honzoh, so I've just started calling them that.
HM: Incredible! And what were some of your highlights working across this album as a whole?
Ladi6: Oh man there’s a few. Making ‘BBZ’ was really special for me, we were in our post-covid cheap lil townhouse rental and Parks had made this studio downstairs behind this mass of clutter of all things from our previous 4 bedroom house rental (which we lost during covid due to loss of income), but we were marae-styles at my sisters anyway as that was where we were during her palliative care period and then she passed day one of lockdown and all who were there stayed to grieve and to isolate together. So my poor sister and her 5 person family alone plus two of her sisters their kids, my husband, we were something like 11 in her 3 bedroom house haha, anyway my point. We finally lost our house, found an inexpensive rental, it couldn't fit all of our stuff, but Parks carved out a lil studio behind a mountain of our collective belongings in the basement garage and together huddled amongst the piles we recorded ‘BBZ’ together, just him and I crouched down amongst the mess with a microphone between us. My fave memory of recording this record with him telling me how great I was sounding.
HM: Wow, that is an incredible amount to have gone through at that moment in time! There’s so much love, resilience, and tenderness wrapped up in that memory. It’s amazing how you were able to pull out such a meaningful moment in all of that and create a phenomenal, powerful song. Appreciate you sharing that with us.
As we’re a New Zealand music platform, who are some of your favourite NZ artists right now and are there any songs in particular that you especially love at the moment?
Ladi6; I love Nganeko, MOKOMOKAI, Christoph el Truento, Mā, DJ Pom, Lijah, Rubi Du and always Aaradhna. Nganeko has this live performance of her song ‘Down Bad Patrol’ on Tiktok that’s so sick! The effortlessness of this girl is honestly just mind-blowing. Go watch it and you tell me what you think.
HM: Just stunning! You've had massive success over your career, including opening for the likes of Erykah Badu, Jhené Aiko, Digable Planets and Gil Scott-Heron (notably at London’s Royal Albert Hall). What's one of the biggest lessons you've learned in your career so far, or one of the best pieces of advice someone has given you along the way?
Ladi6: I think one of the biggest lessons has been to trust my own instincts and do what I know what is right regardless of pressure to do other things, but that is definitely a lesson that makes more sense now as an established artist, I think the most helpful lesson as an emerging artist was having someone around me like Parks that had a focus on protecting the quality of the sound and the integrity of the music and live show sound.. I wouldn't have the musical legacy today had I not had him protecting me in that way and ensuring the professionalism and upskilling of our musical knowledge base and building our musical landscape.
HM: Lastly, we always end with this question - if you could say one thing to every person in the world, what would it be?
Ladi6: You are so wanted, you are so loved, please believe it.
Thanks so much Ladi6! Make sure to catch her on tour or keep up with her on Instagram, Facebook, Spotify or Apple Music.
