Solo artist Roonie, aka Michaela Pointon has just released new single Alibi for New Zealand Music Month. Photo / Supplied
Solo artist Roonie, aka Michaela Pointon has just released new single Alibi for New Zealand Music Month. Photo / Supplied
A graduation and an evolution from acoustic to pop: a lot is going on in the life of Taupō singer Roonie and it's all positive.
Four years into forging a singing career in Auckland, Michaela Pointon, AKA Roonie, is well on her way to seeing her dreams come true.
Today, she is also graduating with a Bachelor of Communication from the University of Auckland.
It's New Zealand Music Month, and last Friday, Roonie released new single Alibi on YouTube. The first in a set, in advance of releasing a four-track extended play (EP) album in October. She released her debut single My Heart in 2020, and it charted on the NZ Hot Singles at number 15 and featured on television show Mean Mums.
She says Covid-19 has severely reduced her studio time, but releasing an EP is an important goal as it gives her a substantial body of work and will help grow brand Roonie.
Alibi is a catchy pop song, with lyrics that will have you humming along, and it's perfectly paired with a stylised purpley-pink-palleted hazy nightclub video.
Roonie says the video is about being alone in a crowded place, and slowly becoming empowered in that space.
"It's a bright, sassy and honest track, with slight undertones of satire and humour, particularly in the verses.
"It's set in a club because I feel that clubs can have that feeling of a good time, but with undertones of confusion and regret. Much like the end of a romance."
The video shoot happened over a 19-hour day, starting with hair, makeup and jewellery at 5am, all day with a photographer and videographer, including heaps of texture and foils, and then filming in the evening at Cassette Nine, a live music club in Auckland.
"The whole day was really fun, and for the next week I was finding hair gems in my hair!"
She loves to write songs and has new singles due out in June and August.
Roonie in the music video for Alibi, shot in Auckland club Cassette Nine. Photo / Supplied
The musical style of Alibi is vastly different from the acoustic sound familiar to Taupō audiences of Michaela singing along with her guitar. She says her music reflects how she is in her own personal space.
"There has been a real progression in my sound in the past two years.
"I wanted to solidify my brand, I made goals of what I want to achieve as an artist. I want to make commercial music that's catchy."
She says it's far more challenging to write pop music than it is to write songs for an acoustic sound.
"With the lyrics, there is a shorter amount of time to say exactly what you want to say. Then you have to come up with the melodic phrasing, the catchy musical hook that has you humming."
Roonie says one song on the EP is in the Michaela Pointon acoustic style, "because my favourite thing is songwriting, but to fit my goal my music has to be more commercial".
"I recognised the goal I had in mind did not align with the singer-songwriter style of me on my guitar."
While studying for her degree, Roonie would perform during the weekends at weddings, restaurants and corporate functions. In the past two years, she has grown her online audience at Spotify and Apple Music. She is heading towards live performances where she is dancing on stage at a club or festival, and singing with the backing of a full band.
"I want to make music for other people who are my age."
This year she is training to be a sound audio engineer. She says the technical knowledge will improve her songwriting artistry, and gives her the ability to freelance as a producer for others and be the engineer in the studio.
"Five out of 20 of the students in the class are women. There are hardly any women who are sound engineers."
Study will be all finished by the end of this year and Taupō audiences can expect to see Roonie when she tours New Zealand.
