In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today, Paula Bennett recalls a momentous night at the New Zealand Music Awards with Lorde and so-called prime minister Jacinda Ardern. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
The Spinoff vs Spotify. Narrative vs Data. Heart vs Head. Who can predict more winners of tonight’s New Zealand Music Awards – The Spinoff’s Henry Oliver or Spotify’s team of (probably) Stanford-educated computer-geniuses? A year ago, I proclaimed myself New Zealand music’s Nate Silver and made (not) data-driven predictions about the outcomes of the 2016 … Read more
Need new TV in your life? Hollywood mediums? Stargate voyagers? Floppy-haired Ryan Gosling? Then allow us to present the new offerings to Lightbox in November. Blindspot (S1-2 available now, new eps of S3 arrive every Sunday) It started with a tattoo enthusiast in a duffel bag in Times Sqaure, but the mystery thriller has become … Read more
Chef Gordon Ramsay meets a ‘Kiwi megacelebrity’ in what deserves to be remembered as one of the all-time great Holmes interviews. When we think back on the television broadcasting career of Sir Paul Holmes, there are two notorious interviews that most often come to mind. The first was during the very first episode of Holmes in 1989, … Read more
Hussein Moses talks to Salmonella Dub’s Andrew Penman about their brand new collaboration with Beat Rhythm Fashion’s Nino Birch, and finds out exactly what went down between the band and the organisers of the NZ Music Awards. If all had gone to plan, Salmonella Dub would’ve been inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of … Read more
Dominic Hoey (aka Tourettes) reports from his 17-town tour of New Zealand with singer-songwriter Skyscraper Stan and side-kick Josh Jugum. Day six of the tour and we’ve made it to Christchurch. It feels like months have passed since we left Auckland filled with hope and vegan pies. Back then I didn’t know every one of … Read more
The contrivances of the first generation of reality shows are being overtaken by higher stakes games, writes Duncan Greive. The first season of Married at First Sight NZ is over, and I for one am an absolute wreck. For the past three years I’ve been part of ‘The Real Pod’, a podcast which has chronicled … Read more
Tamsyn Matchett and her Lorde-obsessed eight-year-old daughter Ruby review Lorde’s show at the Bruce Mason Theatre in Takapuna, on 12 November. (Plus: Ruby’s letter to Lorde.) Ruby is eight years young and affectionately known as “Spawn”. She loves music, specifically Lorde, Michael Jackson and R.E.M, and often asks me if I can invite Lorde to … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘The Doldrums’, the ninth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. Anchor me in the middle of your deep blue sea, Outlander, because the dramatic winds of ‘The Doldrums’ filled my emotional spinnaker like never before. I don’t know if it was the fresh ocean air … Read more
Jaryd and Ben take on the notorious foodie friends in a grim battle for cooking show survival. After a TVNZ 2 crossover visit to Ferndale, MKRNZ returns to Auckland for the second sudden death cook-off at posh-looking wedding venue Kelliher Estate. All the remaining contestants have arrived at the same time, leaving top-of-the-table Teal and … Read more
The Spinoff presents the video premiere of Rob Ruha & The Witch Dr’s ‘KALEGA’, featuring Michael Jackson street dancer Shaun Lindsay and members of Te Kapa Haka o Te Whānau a Apanui. Rob Ruha says: ‘KALEGA’ is the perfect summer anthem and a hot festival jam. It’s a song about the great Aotearoa summer pilgrimage back to the … Read more
Jane Yee, Duncan Greive and Alex Casey drink the last of the Waiheke wines and toast the final episodes of Married at First Sight NZ for 2017. We gather at the MAFSNZ altar for the very last time to reflect upon our journey over the past six weeks. As the participants suffer through their final … Read more
Alex Casey power ranks the final week of Married at First Sight NZ, including eyebrow lady advice and the much-anticipated vow renewal ceremonies. Allow me to tentatively approach the rotunda of romance one more time, for I need to solemnly deliver my final vows to Married at First Sight NZ in this, its last week … Read more
Alex Casey reviews Khalid’s show at Auckland’s Spark Arena on Sunday night. Just like a very primitive prototype for an iPod shuffle, I have the capacity for a little over two albums a year. In 2017, my brain is completely full with Lorde’s Melodrama, and Khalid’s American Teen. By some kind of cosmic collision of … Read more
Fergie’s album Double Dutchess dropped last month. It is, for whatever reason, a visual album. Sam Brooks dove deep. Fergie occupies a strange place in our pop culture. After a girl group stint few people remember, she became famous as the most recognisable voice of one of the biggest bands of the 21st century thus … Read more
A hot new teaser clip from one of Auckland’s finest up and coming musicians. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which means it’s about time Anne Batley-Burton from The Real Housewives of Auckland teased a new* Christmas song. Pairing up with long-time collaborator Vicky ‘Rock Chick’ Loach and Alan Jansson – the musical genius … Read more
It’s 31 years since the release of The Queen is Dead, the Smiths’ third studio record and NME’s official Greatest Album of All Time. The album has just been reissued in a series of special edition packages and we’re giving away the most impressive of the lot, the 5-LP collector’s box set. More Smiths on … Read more
Grace Stratton talks to singer-songwriter Emma Cooper-Williams, a finalist at last night’s Attitude Awards which celebrate the achievements of people who live with disabilities. Emma Cooper-Williams is no stranger to obstacles, but, through music, she is turning them into opportunities. Diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, the 19-year-old University of Auckland student … Read more
Where Three have cornered the Friday night comedy lineup, Calum Henderson finds that TVNZ2 is running with a very different, stripped-back viewing experience. It starts with a series of blind dates and ends with a line-up of six dangling, disembodied penises. ‘Love Fridays’, TVNZ 2’s belated ‘romance’-themed answer to Three’s successful Friday night comedy line-ups, … Read more
Confirmed overnight by the creator of the show, Jordan Mauger is set to represent New Zealand on the international Bachelor stage. Jordan Mauger, conductor of the tremendous trainwreck that was The Bachelor NZ S2, is headed to represent New Zealand in The Bachelor Winter Games, a new spinoff of the dating competition set to air … Read more
Seven years ago today, Outrageous Fortune ended forever. To mark the occasion, Madeleine Holden rewatched the entire series to see if the years have been kind. As a bona fide West Aucklander myself, I have fond memories of watching Outrageous Fortune the first time around. The show followed the lives of a West Auckland family with … Read more
A vast YouTube archive reveals the weird, wonderful and sometimes genius parallel universe of TopPop – the Netherlands’ anything-goes answer to Top of the Pops. Think of a band, any band, so long as they had an international chart hit in the 1970s or 80s. There is a pretty good chance that band lip-synced that … Read more
After five years in which our local TV successes went largely uncelebrated, New Zealand once again has a national television awards. The full list of nominees has just been announced, along with the winners of the technical craft awards which are doled out early. Duncan Greive analyses the list and picks some winners. Incredibly strange … Read more
The world famous Girls Rock! Camp is coming to New Zealand. Two of the event’s organisers, Jana Whitta and Nicole Gaffney, had a chat to US-based musician and mentor Fiona Campbell about the initiative and the impact the camps have had around the world. The first ever Girls Rock! Camp Aotearoa is taking place at MAINZ … Read more
With Kiwi hero Anna Paquin gracing Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams this week, some of The Spinoff’s greatest minds* attempt to dissect her reality-bending episode. If you haven’t heard of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams by now, it’s basically a buzzy anthology series from the dude who dreamed up Blade Runner that burrows deep into your … Read more
If you have Paramore confined to a folder in your memory marked ‘mid-2000s – DO NOT OPEN’, Elle Hunt is here to deliver some startling news – they’re still going, they’re still writing perfect soundtracks to personal crises, and they’re coming to New Zealand. There was a period early this year that I listened to … Read more
Before she became prime minister, Jacinda Ardern went on a valiant journey to trace her ancestry on TVNZ’s DNA Detectives. How’s this for a sign of Jacinda Ardern’s rapid rise: in the year or so between filming her episode of DNA Detectives and it screening on TV last night, she has become deputy leader of the Labour … Read more
Blackbird Ensemble musical director Claire Cowan talks to James Manning about adapting Björk’s eclectic back catalogue for the orchestra ahead of this week’s run of concerts in Auckland. New Zealand chamber orchestra Blackbird Ensemble are celebrating experimental Icelandic artist Björk this Wednesday 8th to Saturday 11th November at Auckland’s Q Theatre. Titled Björk: All is … Read more
Tara Ward counts down the top ten moments from ‘First Wife’, the eighth episode of Outlander season three. Contains major spoilers, obviously. You know you’re in for a treat when Outlander begins with a close-up of a pie. Feast your eyes, my pretties, because that pie was a beautiful piece of symbolism about the endless pleasures bursting … Read more