Jordyn with a Why: 'My music career is basically a series of doing scary things'

Māori-Samoan artist Jordyn Morgan is nominated for Best Māori Artist for her album Hibiscus Moon, Love & Justice and for the Mana Reo award for her waiata Māori 'Reia' at the upcoming Aotearoa Music Awards.

Her latest album is a tribute to her nana, she told RNZ’s Nights.

“When I see a hibiscus, I always think about her, she always had a hibiscus bush growing outside of her house.

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“And then I just love the way that the moon orbits the earth. And my nana was very much like that for her own family. And that's what I aspire to be when I think about the concepts of love and justice.”

Morgan has been working more collaboratively lately, featuring on Chase Woods’ ‘Ka Ao te Pō’. It's a creative process she enjoys, she says.

“I am definitely someone that exists in community and family and friendships and so even performing, I just prefer to do that with people who get the songs, who get to contribute to them, so it's more of a collaborative effort.

“Even though it's the songs that I'm writing, I think it's just a better reflection of who I am as a person, even outside of music.”

That collaborative mind set has led her down new creative avenues, she says.

“I really like that track [‘Ka Ao te Pō’] because I definitely, for myself, wouldn't picture making a big dance track or anything like that, but it's just something that comes from hanging out with some cool people.”

Morgan's favourite whakataukī reflects a fearless approach to music she aspires to.

“Tūwhitia te hopo, mairangatia te angitū, that basically means, ‘feel the fear, do it anyway’, because I think, my music career is just basically a series of doing scary things that kind of leads to the next scary thing.

“But it's definitely something that I hope some of our rangatahi could get a hold of in their younger age, just to start doing scary things now, so that when they're older and in their 20s and in their 30s, that they're on to much bigger, braver, scarier things.

“You make your world bigger when you can live outside of being comfortable.”