Considering her young age Jaya Rees is very much a high-flyer already, and that’s not just thanks to being part of a musical whānau which includes a number of much-loved and -admired performers. Among other notable highlights she’s already sung the national anthem for an All Blacks match, and performed on the Spark Arena stage alongside some of those family members. Her self-written single Me He Korokoro Tui made it onto NZ On Air Music‘s NewTracks compilation this July.
Jaya Rees, aka Jaya. I am from Ngati Raukawa, Ngati Huia, Te Rarawa, Ngati Wairepu ki Ngati Kuri. I live in Auckland. I don’t play instruments.
All of my singing development has been nurtured outside of school through my aunty Lavina Williams as the creative director and vocal coach, and Hannah Rees, my singing teacher. However, this year, for the first time I joined the college junior band called Crown at Alfriston College, and we made history as the first junior band to win the Manukau Regional Rockquest in May 2024.
Recently I was invited by NZ Rugby to stand alongside the All Blacks for their first 2024 game and represent Aotearoa by singing the national anthem live with millions viewing across the world. I felt very honoured and privileged to do this. I have also performed live in front of crowds of 70,000 people at Christmas In The Park 2023 as well as performing the half-time show at the Phoenix Double Header at Eden Park. Another recent highlight was performing on stage with my Williams family at Spark Arena for the NZ Hi-tech Awards. They all flew in from overseas, where we sang a song together (Stan Walker‘s I Am). We each had parts of the song, and I was so thankful to do the Māori solo.
I am a solo artist. My Aunty Lavina has made a huge contribution to the NZ music industry, and she has done a lot, too. She was part of a girl group called Ma-V-Elle, sang with Tina Turner, and has a love for music. She also taught my aunties Raze, Emily Williams and uncle J. Williams how to sing, and they are all overseas singing too. She has been a great support, along with Mark Casey as co-writer, who has written songs with Aunty Lavina for over 20 years. We’re like a big family.
When I started singing live we went with a name that I could easily introduce myself when I was meeting people. So it just made sense to use my own name as my artist name.
Me He Korokoro Tui is the first song I’ve written that has been recorded and released. It’s a song is about drawing strength from your tupuna (ancestors).
Songwriting is something that comes natural for me, especially playing around with melodies. I just think the song speaks to everyone, no matter who you are because everyone has ancestors and that’s a really big stand out for me. It doesn’t matter where you’re from, we are all the same in some way.
My favourite part is where the song says, ‘A brave heart can make happen, i te maia manawa’
I wrote the song with my “co-songwriting team” of aunty Lavina Williams and Mark Casey. The translation of the original English lyrics into Te Reo Māori was done by my other aunty, Lisiane Ropata-Box. It was produced by Noema Te Hau III and Lavina Williams at Joel Little‘s Big Fan studios in Morningside.
Just to be yourself and know who you are.
We have a great team and Aunty Lavina and Mark steer the way, and I’m just so thankful to be part of it. Digital distribution was by DRM NZ and a limited edition run of CD singles was sold through St Pierres stores nationwide, with all proceeds going to KidsCan.
We’re planning a new single by Christmas, and I’m really excited about this too.
I just generally listen to different styles of music
