On a soggy, grey afternoon in Tāmaki Makaurau, I had the privilege of meeting Samoan Aotearoa musician Lou’ana at Ūkaipō, “an intimate creative haven” that is lovingly stewarded by Cat Ruka and Lucia Davison (Ngāpuhi, Waitaha, Ngāi te Rangi). 

Lou’ana, beaming and clad in a luxurious, cloud-like coat, floated through the doorway. She radiated like the mirrored surface of an otherworldly ocean. From the moment she twirled into the space, Lou’ana cast an entrancing spell upon an otherwise dreary day.

With a supernatural, sisterly kind of swagger, Lou’ana kicked back in a plush, azure chair that serendipitously complemented her elegant ensemble. She embodied a soulful sort of cool with approachable authenticity that seemed to ground everything around us. Enamoured by her magical realness, I was delighted to chat with Lou’ana about her liberating malaga (journey) as a musical storyteller. 

Hero Image Credit: David James

Here are some of the best bits of our talanoa:

Dani: Who are you?

Lou’ana: I am a creative person.

Dani: Where are you from?

Lou’ana: I am from Aotearoa. My bloodline is Samoan, Fijian, Irish, and Scottish.

Dani: What do you do?

Lou’ana: I love to make music. I love to express myself. I love to dive into what it means to be me - whatever that brings up. It just unfolds the way it does, and I try to be really trusting with the process. All I know is that I want to feel liberated. I want to feel like the best version of myself, which is grounded, gaining insight and wisdom, and feeling like I can be the best person I can be for everyone around me. I just follow the “cosmic breadcrumbs”.

Dani: I love that! Cosmic breadcrumbs?!...

Lou’ana: … Which is not my quote! That’s from Pam Grossman who wrote Waking the Witch.

Dani: One of the benefits of a creative career is the way it can evolve with you. Where did your musical journey start?

Lou’ana: I was brought up in music. I was born into a family who loves to sing and make music. My papa was a musician over in Samoa. He would play at Samoan socials and events and travel around with a band. I think he started when he was 12. Then he moved to New Zealand and continued to play at Samoan socials. That’s when my nana went to one, and she moved here as well. She saw him on stage and fell in love! Rockstar!

Dani: What an epic love story!

Lou’ana: Then, they had their children - that’s my mum. They went to church and my papa would be the loudest singer in the church. I would just try sing along with him at the top of my lungs. My mum has always written music. She’s always been a songwriter, and she would play in bands over the years. Now, she is teaching music in Abu Dhabi. But she just always loved to sing, and she would always get us to sing with her and jam. Her brother is a Blues guitarist and Spanish guitarist. That’s what he just was absolutely obsessed with. In my first four years of life, I actually lived at my grandparents’; I was raised by a village of people. Most mornings my uncle and mum would sing and play guitars on the porch with me. They drank coffee while the blessed sun rose over our Berne Place valley. Uncle would play Jimi Hendrix and flamenco guitar, and they would sing Tracey Chapman and Fleetwood Mac. And if there weren't jams, Papa had the radio on with all the old school 50s, 60s, 70s music or Samoan radio. So, I just always wanted to live in the music. If you asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I was older, I would say, “a singer.” I found every way possible to perform. Dad, Mum, my sister and I moved to Hamilton when I was 10. And I would sign myself up to all the opportunities for performing: choirs; barbershop; singing competitions; musicals; stage challenge, etc. I was always the only one from my friend group too, so I was used to going to these things by myself.

Dani: How do you think growing up in a family where music, creativity, and joy were valued, viable, and visible pathways affected you?

Lou’ana: My uncle, he’s always busked. So, I knew that I could do music even if I had to busk forever. When I got to the end of high school, I was like “I’m gonna do music”. My parents weren’t against that. They were always encouraging. They just let me do what I wanted to do, and that was really helpful. I think if they had an opinion about it, it would’ve made me think twice about it. But they never expected me to have a Plan B. They were just like “OK, sure. Do music.” My mum would do gigs here and there as well. Because it was always kind of around, I thought it could be something but I didn’t really know the path. It was still very unclear. I went to jazz school and, even then, I was like “I don’t know how I am going to turn this into a career, but I’m just going to trust.” Then, I met my partner and he encouraged me to do a gig. And I just kind of went from there. We went from duo to adding a drummer. Then I started gigging at places like this jazz bar downtown, where I was invited to sing pretty much every weekend when I was 19. I started gigging more and filling in for my partner’s funk band. And then after jazz school I continued to play. I became a full-time musician at 20, so I’ve been doing it for a long time - full-time music. I had a part-time job when I was at uni’. After that, this has been my job. Music has been my job.

Dani: How has putting all your energy into your passion without following a prescribed route enabled you to intuitively craft your creative career?

Lou’ana: There has been so much doubt around it. A lot of the performing I did early days, I thought I was just awful. I was like, “Am I gonna do this?” I was just always back and forth. “Am I going to do this or am I not?” I just kind of kept following it, and then I got more gigs. It was still difficult. And then also not being able to get money every single week. Just, the irregularity. I was really lucky. The trio that I’m in, we wanted to set up a situation for us where we make it a regular thing. So, we had like an amount of money that we could pool, and then it meant that we could pay ourselves regularly. We made an account and a business together, and it meant that we just took a bit less from our gigs so we could build up an amount. After a while, what it meant was that even though the gig hadn’t paid through yet, we could pay ourselves regularly - even if it was like a small amount. It meant that we could have something a bit more regular. That kind of helped me to get into a mindset where I thought about music as a sustainable career. Up until then, it was so stressful. Your nervous system is constantly up because of late nights, and feeling like you’ve got to hustle constantly. And also, just having irregular paychecks to pay your needs and things like that. There is definitely a real grind you’ve got to do. But I was lucky to be around the right people who were also taking the risk. We were all in it together, making it up as we went.

Dani: Framing your creative career as an empowering opportunity to live in alignment with your values is freeing. But the discipline required to turn your creativity into a job often isn’t glamorous. Yes, it is possible. But you’re probably going to work extremely hard for a while…

Lou’ana: … For a long time! I’m finding balance now. It’s just one of those things. When you are obsessed with it, you think about it so much. It's a very blurry line of like when you should clock off. Finding certain things like cooking that create like a set time, and it’s something that you take your mind off everything, and it’s still creative and really fun. I’ve found that is a cool way to rest my mind so I’m not thinking about the business constantly, and it gives me a chance to have a break.

Dani: Who and what do you have in mind when you make music? Who is it for? What drives you to make it?

Lou’ana: I have to come back to myself in the best way possible. I have to treat it as a channel. I’ve gotta just do what feels good to me, and then it’s gonna go to whoever it needs to go to. I hope that it is empowering for women. I love to dance, and I love to see people dance. When people are dancing, it just brings me so much joy. I think of the dance floor, and allowing people to feel safe enough to just have a boogie and let loose if that’s what they wanna do.

Dani: Where can people find your music?

Lou’ana: All the digital platforms and social media - I am online seasonally. But that’s the best place at the moment for the updates. And excited to announce a vinyl with my new album, Disco Witch, coming out on Halloween.