GIRL, IN A SAVAGE WORLD (Self-released) 2025
99% ANGEL EP (Self-released) 2020
NOT YOUR PRINCESS EP (Warner) 2019
THEIA EP (Warner) 2017
I ROTO I TE POO, I ROTO I TE AO (Self-released) 2024
TE KAAHU O RANGI (Self-released) 2022
TAITE MUSIC PRIZE - BEST INDEPENDENT DEBUT (2022)
Theia (Ngaati Tiipaa, Ngaati Aamaru, Te Ahiwaru) is at the forefront of a new generation of young Māori creatives determined to smash through the glass ceiling.
The fiercely independent singer, songwriter and storyteller effortlessly straddles the two worlds of her avant-garde namesake Theia and her award-winning reo rangatira project, TE KAAHU. Both music projects reflect Theia’s artistry and demonstrate a powerful and poetic beauty, set to different sonic landscapes.
Theia emerged on the scene in 2016 with her breakthrough electro-pop hit ‘Roam’ – one of the most played locally-made songs on NZ commercial radio that year. Her debut EP (2017) and NOT YOUR PRINCESS EP (2018) on Warner Music followed, which earned Theia three nominations at the 2017 Vodafone NZ Music Awards, including ‘Pop Artist Of The Year’, ‘Single Of The Year’ and ‘Peoples’ Choice Award’.
Parting ways with her label, Theia released her first independent body of work - the 99% ANGEL mixtape - in 2020. It saw her experimenting with edgier alt-pop and hard-hitting lyricism and received critical acclaimed from the likes of Billboard Magazine, which declared: “Theia is one of the most exciting voices to emerge from NZ in the last five years.”
A staunch proponent for the revitalisation of Māori language and culture, Theia began writing songs in her native tongue while in lockdown. It led to her launching the award-winning alt-folk project TE KAAHU, which occupies its own space on streaming platforms. The project’s debut album TE KAAHU O RANGI (2022) drew global attention and was awarded the prestigious Taite Prize: Best Independent Debut.
Other notable accolades include a Grammy consideration for Alternative Album of the Year and nominations in the Rolling Stone NZ Awards (2022 and 2023), the Aotearoa Music Awards (2023), the APRA Maioha Award (2023), the Waiata Māori Music Awards (2023) and the Student Radio Network Awards (2023).
A mesmerising performer, Theia and TE KAAHU has played at many of Aotearoa’s largest festivals and has toured extensively across Australasia, Canada and the USA. Recent live highlights include WOMAD (NZ), Splore (NZ), Folk Alliance (Montreal), Women’s Freedom Festival (LA), Block Heater (Calgary), SheFest (San Diego), Missoula Pride, Sum of Us (California), Pioneer Fest (Seattle), Belltown Bloom (Seattle) and Westside Culture Fest (Utah), Calgary Folk Music Festiva. As Theia, she has opened for Peaches, Sia, Charli XCX, Mika, Los Bitchos and Portugal. The Man.
After several years in the making, Theia will release her highly-anticipated debut solo album, Girl, In A Savage World, on November 7. The 10-track record, which she co-produced with Abraham Kunin, is a glorious fusion of alternative music with ethereal folk, Indigenous soul, alt-pop and art rock influences. It includes her politically charged anthems, ‘Patupaiarehe’, ‘Hoki Whenua Mai (Return The Land)’ and ‘BALDH3AD!’ - a finalist for ‘Single of the Year’ at the Aotearoa Music Awards (2025).
Theia has a Bachelor of Arts Degree double majoring in Te Reo Rangatira and Māori & Indigenous Studies from the University of Canterbury and is preparing to undertake her MA in Indigenous Studies at the University of Auckland. In 2024, was Mātairangi Mahi Toi – Artist In Residence at Massey University in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) and she is the newly announced Ambassador for Oceania in the Indigenous Youth Storyteller’s Circle - established in 2019 as an official project of the UN year of Indigenous languages.
The celebrated songwriter has twice been a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. Her Theia catalogue includes several collabs - the powerful bilingual waiata CREEP with Vayne and the haunting ballad ‘My Sister’s Hands In Mine’ featuring US folk legend Jolie Holland. Meanwhile, TE KAAHU has collaborated with Australian-based ARIA-nominated Māori artist Jen Cloher on ‘He Toka-Tu-Moana’ and also with NZ troubadour Delaney Davidson on ‘I Ngooku Moemoeaa’.
An artist of integrity and exceptional talent, Theia’s ability to use music as a vehicle for social change and advocate for ‘tino rangatiratanga’ makes her a force to be reckoned with.