Georgia Lines’ popular music web series, INTROS, is being hosted on Rolling Stone AU/NZ for the first time this year.
The new series of INTROS features Lines sitting down with her favourite female and non-binary artists for a relaxed kōrero. Each episode focuses on the artist’s chosen song, delving into the story behind the song and the process of writing, before the artist will treat viewers to a live performance.
In the fourth episode of season three, Lines interviews one of Aotearoa’s most prominent rising stars of the last couple of years, Molly Payton.
A thoughtful singer-songwriter who cites timeless talents such as Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young as major songwriting influences, Payton first gained a following through her 2020 debut EP, Mess.
That record was the raw but deeply promising work of a teenaged lyricist, and the London-based, New Zealand-born artist’s writing has only sharpened since then. Her most recent single, 2023’s “Asphalt”, was her most impressive song to date, a lightly melancholic piece that pushed Payton’s aching, airy vocals to the fore.
Despite finding herself in limbo between labels and managers recently, Payton has been completely undeterred, which is why “Asphalt” was written “without any care for structure or radio playability or anything except capturing that feeling of restlessness and hope.”
Almost a year ago to the day, Payton showcased her talent at Auckland’s BIG FAN as part of Live Nation and Vodafone’s Ones to Watch series, and she has even bigger things planned for 2024 in the form of an eagerly anticipated full-length debut album that’s expected this year.
In episode four of the new season of INTROS, which you can watch above, Lines and Payton explore life and music in a thoughtful conversation. The latter also performs a stunning acoustic song for the host and her viewers.
Lines, meanwhile, recently released her tender new ballad, “Grow Old Without You”, which you can listen to here.
Subscribe to Georgia Lines’ INTROS series here.
