This week we talked to Heidi and Grace from NZ pop duo LAIIKA and found out how they started singing together and what they have planned for NZ Music Month.

Full Names: Heidi Simpson & Grace Moller

Introduce each other in one sentence:

Grace is my hard working, one of a kind, stylish best friend!

Ladies and gentlemen, Heidi. No one has spilt more drinks, broken more hearts, or sprained their own ankle more than her.

Tell us about Laiika ( listen here 🎶) 

We met at a family dinner party when we were 13, and wrote a song together the same night! We’ve done music together ever since. We just finished a lil tour and that was exciting! At the moment we are currently working on a bunch of material, writing heaps, and looking forward to releasing more songs! Our first EP will be coming out some time this year so we’re finishing that at the moment.

What’s the best damn thing about doing what you do?

There are so many great things about what we do! Being able to play our songs up on stage is an amazing feeling, having a crowd relate to your lyrics and sing them back is incredible. Also being able to turn a difficult or complicated emotion into something tangible and beautiful is such a wonderful thing.

Heidi, you’re wearing the Heart Sleeves Knit in Seafoam. What made you pick this?

The colour of it is just so cute! Very practical for winter coming up and is just so cozy and soft. Can be styled in so many ways and a mohair jumper is just such a good essential item.

Grace, you’re wearing the Moon Trooper Knit in Periwinkle, don’t you just love it? Tell us why you love it.

I love the colour, I feel like daphne from Scooby doo with my orange hair! Also it’s like wearing a cosy blanket and will be so great for winter.

Heidi, The worst thing you’ve ever worn? And don’t even try to justify it.

I would have to say when I was in intermediate I made some pretty interesting fashion choices, one of them being an oversized hoodie, with galaxy tights, a galaxy jansport backpack and pink and orange nike free runs… very interesting.

Grace, If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be?

This is a tough question! Probably jazz music because sometimes I feel uncomfortable walking into a room with lots of people and jazz music relaxes me.

Tell us how what your plans are for NZ Music Month!

To keep working on finishing our ep! It’s not far off and we can’t wait to share more songs with everyone. There are a tonne of cool gigs this month as well so we will be going to some of those!

Thank you to Heidi and Grace for being part of our hej hej community - we love getting to know humans that love our new knits as much as we do. 

New Zealand month runs for the month of May - take a listen to this fun pop duo here & follow Laiika on their music journey here.