Stan Walker says the last five years have been "the most difficult, life-changing, pivotal and incredible times of my life". Photo / Live Nation
Stan Walker says the last five years have been "the most difficult, life-changing, pivotal and incredible times of my life". Photo / Live Nation
He's performed multiple sold-out headline tours, won countless music awards, appeared on TV and released a best-selling book.
But Stan Walker (Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Pūkenga, Tūhoe, Ngāti Porou, Tuhourangi, Ngāti Wāhiao, Ngāti Pikiao) says his "biggest flex" is his little family, fiancee Lou Tyson and son Te Puuwairua.
"Before being a singer, I dreamed of being a dad and a husband," he tells the Herald.
"I didn't think I was worthy enough to be that growing up, and then far out, I got everything I ever wanted. It's pretty mean."
Nearly everything has changed for the artist over the past few years. He's become more vocal about his mental health struggles, his cancer journey and his experiences with childhood abuse - which his book Impossible: My Story, published last year, reveals in heartbreaking detail.
"The last five years have been the most difficult, life-changing, pivotal and incredible times of my life. That shows in the songs too, where I've been and how I've been.
"I feel like an old man in the industry. I've been doing this for 12 years now, I'm 31 soon so I've got different stories to tell. This is like the adult version of Stan, I'm not a boy no more. The subject matter in these songs, there's love, heartbreak, climate change, mental health, racism - I talk about these things in adult ways."
His newest single, Don't Worry Baby, is out today. The music has been four years in the making, and releasing it now is "bittersweet" - it's the longest he's ever taken to produce a record.
"It's been such a huge process and it's such a relief that I've come to a point where I'm starting to release that music. I'm so fussy just to get the songs to where they are," he says.
"This song is just all about how I love. If I wrote about love before, it's different versus now. I've got no qualms or anything to hide in terms of how I love. I'm intense, I'm overbearing and when I'm broken I'm the most broken in NZ. When I feel something, I feel it real big."
The single is a collaboration with 19-year-old UK-based Australian artist Celina Sharma, whom he describes as a "beast".
"I couldn't think of a better person to duet with on that song. I wish I could have been how she is now when I was 19."
The artist's new single is a collaboration with Australian singer Celina Sharma. Photo / Supplied
So, when do we get to hear the rest of the new album? "One day," he says with a laugh.
"When it gets finished. That is to be confirmed to all of us, to even myself! I'm just excited and it's cool that this is the first song of many to come.
"In terms of the style I've gone back to what I love. It's all soul and R&B, I've got a lot of live instruments, a lot of backing vocals. I've brought in some incredibly talented people on the songs, it's just so full."
Last year's lockdowns forced Walker to slow down, something he says he's very thankful for.
"Since lockdown, I've said more no's than I have in my whole career. I've always gone, gone, gone but I've said no, I can't do it, or no, I'm exhausted, or I'm feeling overwhelmed, I don't want to do that gig. It's actually been serving me so much for my mental health. You don't crack mental health, that's a daily thing that you have to work at."
And his mindset has shifted since having a family, he says. "It's different when you've got a little family to be accountable to. I've got a little boy that looks at me every day and I've got to look after him and change his bum and then I've got my partner, I've got to serve them.
"Nothing else really matters if it's not serving us and if it's not serving me so that I can be the best for them."
The singer, who proposed to his girlfriend Lou Tyson last December, is a stepdad to little Te Puuwairua, and he couldn't be prouder of his little whānau.
"It's the most rewarding thing and the best thing I've ever achieved in my life, to inherit this beautiful boy. That's my son, that's my boy, he will always be the first of everything that I have. When we have more kids, he's the first. That's how we are as Māori. There's no step, half - that's my boy.
And he says Tyson is "just the most incredible mum".
"She's the most beautiful woman in the world inside and out. Every time I look at them, I'm so blessed."
But the star admits wedding planning during a pandemic is a "headache".
"I think we found a place, I reckon we're 90 per cent there. We got the band sussed, the catering sussed, and oh the list, oh my gosh. Hopefully some of them just don't come because there's so many," he jokes.
In the meantime, he's excited to head out on his biggest nationwide headline tour yet.
The "All In" tour kicks off in Mt Maunganui next month.
"I'm pumped. I wasn't really excited, being drained and tired from the album process, it gets tiring," Walker admits.
"But you're doing it all for that one moment on stage. I just did a gig the other day and I had that moment where I was like, that's why."
• Sep 23, Trust Power Bay Park, Mt Maunganui. • Sep 24, War Memorial Hall, Whanganui. • Sep 25, Pettigrew Green Arena, Napier. • Sep 26, Porirua Te Rauparaha Arena, Porirua, Wellington. • Sep 27, Trafalgar Centre, Nelson. • Sep 30, Christchurch Town Hall. • Oct 1, Dunedin Town Hall. • Oct 2, ILT Stadium Southland, Invercargill . • Oct 8, Auckland Town Hall.
