NZ pop-synth superstar Ladyhawke announces new album and tour

Ladyhawke is releasing a new single, Mixed Emotions, today, with a new album Time Flies, landing in October, which she will then tour. Photo / supplied

The year 2021 is looking up. New music is warming our ears, huge festivals are being announced optimistically all over the world and we can plan ahead, squirrelling concert tickets away for a brighter day. And that day has arrived.

Beloved New Zealand songstress, Ladyhawke (real name Pip Brown) is lavishing us with musical attention, announcing the release of her new album Time Flies and dates for an upcoming tour.

Ladyhawke has already released the first single from the album. The debut track, Guilty Love, is a collaboration with NZ pop duo Broods. The track has been getting some major traction, with 1 million online streams and counting. Ladyhawke is about to follow it up with a second single, Mixed Emotions, dropping today, while the full album will be released on October 8.

Of the new single, hitting our ears today, Pip says: "Mixed Emotions was written with old mates Jono Sloan and Nick Littlemore while I was on a writing trip in LA. Sloan had come up with a really cool bass groove which Nick and I riffed over to get the lyrics and melody. The song is about all the things you can feel with one person, sometimes all in a single day. Ups and downs, confusion, highs, and lows. And everything in between!"

It feels like a harbinger of hope to have Ladyhawke bringing some of her new pop-synth sounds to fans, we missed her. It seems that, like for many of us, life got in the way with Pip dealing with challenging health issues (including post-natal depression and being diagnosed and treated for skin cancer) and then, you know, Covid.

"I was feeling pretty grateful to be alive and making music, so I felt like I didn't 'care' anymore - not in a bad way, I just stopped overthinking it.

"I've had depression and anxiety for a long time and always been really open about it. I started therapy in November 2019 regularly. I had reached the bottom, I realised I needed help, and I was recommended someone through a friend, who was used to talking to artists and creative people.

"It felt like last year I changed my whole life. I decided to try medication for the first time, and it turned everything around and made me feel like a haven't in a long time. My mum said she hasn't seen me like this since I was 17."

With the above-mentioned collaborations with Littlemore and Sloan, Pip has also formed strong bonds with a number of other collaborators such as LA songwriter and producer Tommy English (K.Flay, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kacey Musgraves, Adam Lambert, Broods), Auckland based Josh Fountain (Leisure, Benee) and Jeremy Toy (Leonard Charles, She's So Rad), plus Sydney's Chris Stracey (Bag Raiders, Paloma Faith, Diplo.) The pandemic may have made it more challenging to collaborate, but Pip embraced the new ways of working and the result is for all to hear on the upcoming new release.

If a new single and album isn't enough good news for fans, a three-date NZ tour has also been announced, which will see Ladyhawke gracing stages in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland this October.

Pip expressed, "This is honestly something I could not see happening for ages, so here it is!! I am doing some shows!! I hope to see you all soon!!"

•Tickets for Ladyhawke's Time Flies tour go on sale at on Friday June 4 from ladyhawkemusic.com.