Christchurch songstress LOVETA is lighting up dancefloors with her new single ‘More Than Fun’ which brings an energy reminiscent of the 70’s with a soulful, nu-disco-inspired melody. Interview Hannah Brown
Congratulations on your new song ‘More Than Fun’. What was the inspiration behind it?
Thank you so much! The inspiration was to combine a bunch of my favourite sounds and genres together to create a funky tune that is nostalgic but still very current and inspires listeners to get up and dance and just have a good time!
The song is a soulful, nu-disco-inspired, dance-pop anthem – what do you love about these genres?
These genres have followed me throughout my life and musical journey and have shaped who I am as a vocalist and artist.
Soul music is very close to my heart and is where I feel my roots lie musically. I've had a disco obsession for the last couple of years, and love how it's had such a huge revival lately - Kylie Minogue's recent DISCO album really kicked that off for me, as well as revisiting artists like ABBA and the great's of the 70s and 80s disco era.
Dance-pop is a genre I am always listening to, and I enjoy the different flavours that are around at the moment, so it made sense to tie it all together with a fresh feel-good energy!
Tell us about the process of making the music video for your song. Are you excited for people to see it?
Making the music video was an absolute blast! I'm super excited for people to see it, in all its glory! It was such a dream come true to bring the vision I had to life, and really go all out with a variety of elements.
I would consider the song to be pretty larger than life, so I wanted to create visuals that complemented that. I worked with the amazing Matt at Whisko Creative here in Christchurch, and we filmed it one evening at Milton Street Substation.
We basically created a whole lot of different sections — the lava lamp area, disco dance floor, foliage room, sparkly curtain corner, and I just lived my best life and had a great time! There's even some green screen parts in there which were a lot of fun to film.
You worked with fellow Christchurch-based musician/producer Wulfie as well as other local talent – what was it like working together to make this project?
It was such a great time and a wonderful learning experience for me. We had collaborated on a track together last year called 'Love Won't Run Away', and so we already had a nice creative flow going. We both wanted to write something funky and understood the vibe we were going for, and just ran with that idea.
We wrote the song pretty quickly but spent quite a while getting the right combination of sounds together, as it started off quite differently to how it ended up turning out. But he's a super-talented artist and producer and I couldn't have picked a better creative partner for this track!
What do you like about being a part of the Christchurch music scene?
I really enjoy how diverse and dynamic the Christchurch music scene is. There's a lot of variety in terms of genres, and the musical community is super tight-knit and welcoming.
I only returned to Christchurch last year after being overseas and it was amazing to see how much it has grown - it's really thriving, and I love being a part of it.
You have an EP due to come out later this year, what can we expect to hear?
Yes I do! It's been such a cool process crafting my own body of work. The EP is a bit of a mood board for me, so you'll hear groovy retro vibes similar to 'More Than Fun', but also some R&B, a bit of vintage rock, and also more house/electronic elements too. A taste of all the sides of LOVETA!