Te Ika a-Māui “CREEP” tour
May 21 2021, Moon Bar, Newtown.
Elisapeta Dawson (she/her), Ngare Hauata of Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hamoa
“Mmhmm.. Is this thing on?
Introducing: a line up of Mama’s boys’ worst nightmares.” Power pair Theia and Vayne, with openers fiveofive and DJ Monoga.my, arrived to Te-Whanganui-a-tara’s goth and femme in bass home, Moon Bar in Newtown on May 21. With my best friend from the mighty Aukilani, and my own personal mummas boy in tow, we were about to learn and ma’am, was I taking notes.
Theia and Vayne met at a workshop for artists and collaboration in Waimarama in 2020, finding the unfortunate commonality in shared experiences with sexual predators and the people who protect them. An illness that plagues our communities and homes for the convenience of the perpetrator, acknowledged by some but a living truth for all. This formed the basis for their headliner collab track “CREEP”. The track’s and follow- up tours’ essence is summarised by their sick reo verse,
“Kua wetea taku mokonaha, e kore au e noho puku, anō,” which translates as “My muzzle has been loosened, I will never sit in silence again.” Both women are tired, stating their inability to be complicit anymore. They offer their own personal experiences to the public eye, to identify and eradicate these truths of harassment and abuse, changing public thought. Mō tātou katoa—for us all.
Theia leads us into the mainstage first. She’s a Māori woman with large green eyes and adorning long blonde plaits (making me reminisce over my own impatience with maintaining my butt touching lengths). Her energy and braids were fluttering around in the perfect rehearsed circle (see: Beyoncé neck whip). Theia’seery floating tones are a stark contradiction to her strong lyrics—all that is feminine, grace, and strength. “If you come for her, after all, she’ll eat you alive.” This immediately lent towards my first impression of her, Aotearoa’s own Charli XCX. Further notes were “There were many times throughout this set where I wanted to shake my ass.” Theia has also recently announced her digression into strictly reo tunes, accelerating the traction of te reo as a language, rather than something to be used and put down. A massive step for Aotearoa music, which produces and supports artists who use reo and Māori artists, rather than a cover album.
Vayne followed up Theia next. Vayne is a 5’10” woman who wouldn’t take your shit. She’s traded her horns from the “CREEP” video for neon-green Supreme pieces for her performance at Moon. Decked-out and stunting, she embodies her past comments—as she said to RNZ, “No woman has to be one way anymore.”
On Vayne’s neck stands a “XXX” tattoo. She’s stated she’s a recovering tentacio** fan. I myself am still cleansing my memories of the songs that in the past provided comfort, which now make my skin crawl. Something everyone in the process of betterment with their demons can attest to. The same goes for Vayne, who’s tattoos were once a testament to the passing of an artist, and now stand for personal development in and amongst being an artist herself, a woman, and her experiences as a sex worker. Boundaries had been drawn, bodies healing for the benefit of the same skin’s wearer. It can never be detailed how electric a vibe can be in a space where we would rather burn their bodies, than to let one iotta more slide. Plus she makes most of her own beats, with hits such as “waitwait” (prod. SAYA) and “YUCK” as she hustled to take the Aotearoa rap scene by storm, and brought the crowd to her feet.
My personal highlight for the evening definitely had to be when the youngest opener returned to the mainstage—Vayne’s cousin fiveofive, who has been making your e-boy crush cry since she was 15. Her vocals and lyrics are a testament to her experience as an artist from Kirikiriroa, whose capabilities and influence is far beyond the limitations of her age. Kinda like Chlöe Swarbrick for the New Zealand SoundCloud community. Lets just say there’s a reason Vayne has been telling everyone to stream “Love’s Dead”. I’ll bandwagon and add “dontneedtobehigh” to that to-do list.
Together they performed the unreleased track “Midnight Lady”. RnB like vocals from fiveofive were so lovingly complimented by Vayne’s raw presence and lyrics, proving maybe you can work together with your family after all (not acknowledging Broods because I won’t). I’ve been trawling their digital platforms for a copy—so sing out if you guys might know anything.
Hand in hand at the end of their titled tour, Theia and Vayne, although elevated by only a metre from their dedicated lady friends at the front (yes me again, I love Almost Famous, make me a groupie), stood tall in their values and ethics. Uncompromising women of colour, tūrangawaewae planted in urban Newtown, for te reo, safety, and because they deserve the applause.
It’s not often you can leave a gig with your friends all intact, ecstatic, and with glowing reviews, even less so can you take away and empower yourself with the essence of the morality of the humans performing it. In the words of Theia and Vayne, “address abusers, call them out, break the cycles.” You wouldn’t dare miss it again.