New Zealand music’s best kept secret is back.
Erny Belle today shared “Boudoir”, a gorgeous standalone single that reunites her with Marlin’s Dreaming musician Semisi Ma’ia’i.
The singular Pacific-pop artist co-wrote “Boudoir” alongside Ma’ia’i’s, with the latter’s intriguing instrumental already in place. “I found the guitar line super sexy in a bizarre way, which naturally eventuated into a song about adoration and desire,” Belle explains.
After a slow-build intro, Belle furnishes her furtive and frisky ballad with pleasant sonic additions, including vintage drum machine sounds and teasing backing vocals from Ma’ia’i. As always, though, Belle’s magnetic, Trish Keenan-esque voice leads the way.
You can watch the accompanying music video below. Produced and directed by Anna Brajkovich and made with the support of NZ on Air, the clip shows that age is just a number – obsession and desire can last a long time.
New Zealand fans can catch Belle and her band for one evening only on Saturday, March 8th, at the Leigh Sawmill. Tickets are available here.
Ma’ia’i is returning the favour on “Boudoir” after Belle previously guested on “Earnestly”, a standout track from Marlin’s Dreaming’s 2024 album HIRL.
Ma’ia’i knew he wanted to work with Belle – aka Aimee Renata – after hearing her impressive debut album, Venus Is Home. “[…] to have Aimee sing on this song just made me so happy. I couldn’t possibly imagine this song without Erny Belle singing on it,” he said about “Earnestly”.
As “Boudoir” is purportedly a standalone single, it’s currently unclear if Belle is working on a full-length follow-up to her second album, Not Your Cupid, but a third record would be highly anticipated in Aotearoa.
Not Your Cupid topped Rolling Stone AU/NZ‘s Best New Zealand Albums of 2023 list, overcoming strong competition from Clementine Valentine (The Coin That Broke the Fountain Floor), Vera Ellen (Ideal Home Noise), Unknown Mortal Orchestra (V), and many more.
Not Your Cupid, we wrote at the time, “is equal parts elusive and invasive, melodies evading capture before planting at the forefront of one’s mind for minutes, hours, even days. The arrangements are grander and more pristine here than on her debut album, which is what all good sophomore collections should achieve.
“There’s also something elementally Kiwi about Erny Belle… the swaying alt-country cuts (with Pacific-pop, 60s doo wop, and tender folk flourishes enhancing the sound when needed) evoke images of rolling North Island hills and quiet regional towns happily lost to the modern world.
“New Zealand music’s best kept secret deserves to find wider renown; or as she sings in the haunting closing title track, ‘I want to see the world someday / That’s where I’m going.’”
Not Your Cupid earned Belle a nomination for the 2024 Taite Music Prize, where she lost out to Vera Ellen.
Erny Belle’s “Boudoir” is out now via Flying Nun Records.
