Cash appeal for Anika Moa baby album

Anika Moa with her children Soren (1) and twin boys Taane and Barry (4). Photo / Nick Reed

Anika Moa has saved the sanity of countless stressed-out parents of sleepless babies with her album Songs for Bubbas but now she's the one who needs help.

Moa is trying to raise $40,000 to make Songs for Bubbas 2, and with eight days left on her Pledge Me page she still needs more than $13,000.

After Songs for Bubbas came out, the overwhelming response from parents was "you've saved me", Moa said.

"Parents go insane when their kids don't sleep, when they're grumpy, when they tantrum, when they are in the car and they're all fighting.

"The first thing they do is put on the baby album and it calms them down."

Moa said she wasn't sure what it was exactly about her songs that young children responded so well to, but whatever it was, it worked.

"It's weird; I've got some kind of baby-whispering quality to my voice."

One mother had even approached the singer to let her know Songs for Bubbas had helped her autistic child learn to speak.

"People feel like I'm part of their family because I'm with them all day, every day with my voice and my songs," Moa said.

"It's a really good way of getting into Kiwis' hearts because if you can calm a child down parents are so grateful."

Songs for Bubbas was born from Moa's own experience as a new parent, although she said the side to her seen on the album is a lot more gentle than her "rough and tumble" parenting style.

"When my twins were born, I just sang to them and the little ditty poems turned into songs and then I started recording songs for them just to brighten up their day and brighten up my day."

The album was released in December 2013 on a tiny budget and "it just went off, it was crazy".

The singer said she was making Songs for Bubbas 2 because of the response she's had to the first album. "I've had hundreds of mothers begging me to [make another album for babies]."

Moa explained she was not making the album with the help of any record labels, which was why crowd-funded donations were so essential to get it made.

"I do it by myself, I literally do everything myself. I need that money to record the album, to hire someone to do the artwork ... the whole kit and caboodle."

Moa feels confident she will make her fundraising target, especially with the Pledge Me rewards offered.

A $30 donation will be rewarded with a free signed copy of the album and the higher the donation the bigger the reward.

"I will send a kiss into the air for you and then write your name in the stars while singing a love song to you and then I will have your baby," Moa promises anyone who donates more than $1200 to the album.

A donation of that size would also guarantee free double passes for life to any show Moa is headlining (excluding festivals).

So far Moa has half of the songs for the second album written and said she was ready to go with the rest as soon as she made her fundraising goal.

• Donations for Songs for Bubbas 2 can be made here.