"It is a joke, but it's also not really. I respect and admire and love Lorde, and she's done so many beautiful and wonderful things for New Zealand. Someone asked me, 'Aren't you scared everyone's just going to think you're riding that bandwagon?' And I was like 'I am riding that bandwagon, I'm driving it, and everyone on board is having a great time.'"
And Moa is happy with the idea that she'll surprise people with Queen At The Table, even though underneath it all she's still the same artist.
"There will be some people going 'What the f*** is she on?' and some people going 'Yeeyah, I dig that shit'. But I think that the whole thing about my album is that it's still me. It's not like I've gone and changed my whole songwriting approach, or my voice."
She actually didn't set out to make an album like Lorde's, or even to make an electronic-based album, but deciding to work with co-writer and producer Jol Mulholland was the trigger for some experimentation.
She'd met Mulholland when he worked on the Anika, Boh and Hollie album in 2012, was a fan of his music, and knew he could play lots of instruments, so thought it would be cool to have him on board.
"When we first got together I was like, 'Right so I'll play guitar, you play guitar, you play bass and drums, and I'll sing', but by the second day we'd dropped the guitars, and he was making beats and I was writing songs to the beats."
The result is very groovy.
"Yeah. I like the word groovy."
The bass line and rhythms wind around the melody in unexpected ways, making deep soundscapes full of character, but leaving Moa's voice front and centre. You can tell the two have different strengths, but found they meshed with ease.
"It's not something he's ever done and it's not something I've ever done, but it's awesome. Jol is really easy to work with, really easy to write songs with, our senses of humour are on the same level, and we're both a little bit lazy but work hard when we need to.
"It's 50 per cent his album because he co-wrote all the songs with me and produced it, so it's as much his album as it is mine, but I guess it's my name on the front because I'm still singing about me," she laughs.
An array of musical inspirations quite aside from Lorde wound their way into the album. Mariah Carey's vocals were a key point of reference: "She layers her vocals so much, I mean just one vocal is like 50 Mariahs, and that's what I've tried to do here, make a lush sea of beautiful vocals."
And Moa and Mulholland's mutual love of 70s and 80s sounds gave them plenty to work with as well.
"He loves Dire Straits and I love Fleetwood Mac, so we're the perfect couple," she laughs.
"No, but really we take what we want from different people's music. I've taken what I like from Lorde's. I've taken what I like from Mariah, from Fleetwood Mac with the harmonies and stuff - I love Stevie Nicks. It's not about joining a bandwagon, it's just about making music that you feel you want to make, if that's your inspiration, so be it, as long as it's good."
And in terms of the content, well, in true Anika Moa fashion, it's all about the different sides of love and loss, and joy and loneliness.
And the eventful ride she's had in the five years since her last solo release (she's had twins, gotten divorced, moved cities a couple of times, met a new partner and had a new baby) gave her plenty to draw from.
"Songwriting is good for helping to work out all your shitty problems, and working out what you need in life. It's cathartic. I don't wake up every day going 'I have to write!' I just write sometimes, when I need to. Because you have to live, and then you write about what you've been through."
She very much likes the idea of writing songs for other people though, rather than necessarily having to perform them all herself.
"I kind of want to be like [Australian singer] Sia, you know how she's famous, but not for her face or for her own songs, but for writing songs for other people? I'd love to be like her - but I don't want to move to America to do it," she shrugs.
Moa is good at diversifying though, and making the most of her skill set. Apart from her frequent collaborations and wide-ranging touring schedule, she's also done things like judging Maorioke, and working as a mentor on Songs From The Inside the local series that had Moa, Laughton Kora, Don McGlashan and Annie Crummer working with inmates in various prisons and helping them to write music.
And now she's taking those TV skills further - Moa has just launched a new project hosting a satirical video series for nzherald.co.nz, and hopes it might lead to a show of her own.
"I want to do a half Ellen DeGeneres and half Graham Norton type show," she grins. "This video stuff for the Herald is the start of me trying to get into the TV world, because even though I hate doing video clips, I love being in front of the camera. I'm a show pony, I love myself.
"Also, I think it's time for a change. But every time I do a round of interviews about a new album, I always say, this is my last album and I'm moving into TV - that's been happening for 10 years, and the albums keep coming."
Who: Anika Moa
What: New album Queen At The Table
Where and when: Tour dates to be announced soon.
- TimeOut
