Vera Ellen has followed up her album announcement with a new single.
“When It’s Over” features a striking guest turn from Ellen’s fellow Pōneke Wellington musician Hemi Hemingway.
According to a press release, Ellen “knew the song needed a counterweight the moment the demo was finished — and that voice had to be Mr. Hemi Hemingway.”
Watch the accompanying music video, directed by Daniel Fletcher, below.
“When It’s Over” is the second taste of Ellen’s forthcoming album Heaven Knows What Time, announced last month and set for release on May 1st via Flying Nun Records.
Ellen’s forthcoming record followed a period of “unconventionality,” during which she learned to “embrace the chaos that comes with being a self-sustained artist in today’s constantly driving culture.”
“Heaven Knows What Time is less about thinking and more about just being — embracing the masks we wear, but also allowing ourselves to take them off and bare it all; the exhausted, the messy, the fear, the adventure, and all of the joy too,” a press release stated.
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Ellen wrote the album during a two-week songwriting residency in Greytown, awarded through the NZ Pacific Studio Artist Residency Programme. Longtime collaborator Ben Lemi handled mixing and production.
Heaven Knows What Time features “When It’s Over” alongside lead single “Gayfever”, which is described as “an anthem of that joy — dedicated to a person so infatuating they were deserving of their own sing-a-long.”
We chose the music video for “Gayfever”, directed by Ellen’s ex-bandmate Jerry Ramirez and starring Zipporah Norton, as our Video of the Week upon release.
It’s been three years since Ellen released her excellent album Ideal Home Noise, which we named one of the Top 80 Best New Zealand Albums of the 2020s So Far last year.
Ideal Home Noise won the coveted Taite Music Prize in 2024, and she followed that with a nomination for Best Alternative Artist at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards.
Ellen and Hemingway are amongst 10 Aotearoa acts heading to The Great Escape this year.
The New Zealand Music Commission and Live Nation New Zealand just announced a landmark partnership naming New Zealand as the Lead Country Partner for the 20th anniversary of the beloved English festival, with support from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and The British Council.
The 2026 NZ delegation features Ringlets, Office Dog, Ratbag, Jude Kelly, Luca George, Muroki, WHO SHOT SCOTT, and LEAO alongside Ellen and Hemingway.
Hemingway, meanwhile, featured in our Up-And-Coming Aotearoa Artists series to celebrate his excellent second album, Wings of Desire.
Vera Ellen’s “When It’s Over” (ft. Hemi Hemingway) is out now. Heaven Knows What Time is out May 1st via Flying Nun Records (pre-save/pre-order here).
