Paige Tapara wanted to be a pop star from the first time she saw The Lizzie McGuire Movie in 2003. Now 25, she says her passion for music grew from her upbringing in Clark’s Beach, south Auckland.
“My parents are music lovers. There was always music in the house,” she says.
“I think living in a very secluded small rural beach town encouraged me to spend more time on creativity and music rather than hanging out with friends.”
The singer-songwriter says that when she was growing up she felt she should be good at playing the guitar because she was Māori.
“So many beautiful waiata involved acoustic guitar. You could say that influenced me to start playing it,” she says.
Tapara (Ngati Maniapoto) started getting her music out there early, uploading her first song cover on YouTube when she was 12. In 2020, she became ‘Billie Eilish Approved’ after the American singer-songwriter shared a screen recording from Tapara’s Instagram page.
Since then, she’s ticked off a long list of achievements, signing to Sony Music, performing in stadiums across the motu with Drax Project and Six60, and winning ‘Best Māori Female Solo Artist’ at the Waiata Māori Music Awards. She’s also released two successful EP’s; Always Growing, and the self-recorded On My Own.
“The biggest highlight would really just be the fact that when I play my own shows, people actually show up for me and sing my songs back to me, which feels so beautiful,” she says.
Even so, the ebb and flow of a musical career has been hard to get used to.
“You go from getting to perform and connect with people, to doing nothing and having a quiet environment,” she says.
“I found that quite hard after releasing my first EP. It was a learning curve for me and taught me how to be thinking ahead with projects.”
Social media success is one thing, feeling comfortable owning her space in the music business is something completely different, she says.
“It’s tough for me to think about the fact that I even exist in the Māori music industry because I struggle a lot with imposter syndrome.
“I grew up in a very Pākehā neighborhood, so it’s been a bit of a struggle to remind myself that I am a part of the Māori music industry.”
Visibility is important to her; Tapara purposefully makes it known that she’s a queer Māori artist. She says she wished she had that example when she was growing up.
“It feels like I have an important role to play for people who are walking down the same path, which is a bit scary, but also motivating and makes me want to set a good example.”
She's grateful for support from her industry peers.
“Everybody has been very supportive in my reo journey and connecting with my Māoritanga which has been really beautiful and encouraging,” she says.
She's also looking forward to deepening her knowledge about Matariki.
"Honestly I never learnt much about Matariki until I lost my aunty on Matariki in 2021. It taught me to reflect on those I’ve lost and reflect on the year that’s just passed, but to be honest now Matariki really just reminds me of my Aunty. I’m hoping now that Matariki has become a public holiday I can learn more about it."
