Nineteen-year-old singer-songwriter Liberty from Hawkes Bay is redefining the pop landscape with her infectious energy and compelling lyrics. Her debut single ‘I Wanna’ set to drop on November 8th, 2024, through UK company, B-Unique Records.
Liberty is ready to inspire audiences everywhere. From her honest songwriting to her captivating stage presence, Liberty demonstrates a rare authenticity that resonates with her growing fanbase. Her relatable lyrics, such as “I wanna get drunk and I wanna kiss a guy,” embody the raw emotions and struggles of youth, creating a genuine connection with listeners. Liberty states, “I was capturing exactly how I felt. I always thought I would change that line, but nothing else resonated with my feelings.”
With an impressive social media following of over 300K followers and 7M likes across Instagram and TikTok. Her success on these platforms showcases her ability to engage and inspire, drawing in fans with each performance and lyric shared. Liberty has already made waves in the Hawkes Bay music scene, performing at local wineries and major events like Outfield Festival 2023 and 2024.
After graduating from Napier Girls’ High School in 2023, Liberty dedicated 2024 to living at home, saving money, and wholeheartedly pursuing her music career. Singing from a young age and writing since 13, she thrived in high school competitions like Rockquest and Play It Strange, nurturing her passion for performance and songwriting.
Despite considering ‘I Wanna’ her debut single, Liberty does have two songs out through Play It Strange– Meet Me In Rome and Echo. Both tracks seeing a significant rise in streams from Liberty talking about them during her Tiktok lives. Liberty states “They feel to me to be in a different direction to where I am wanting to go, very high school me, I mentioned them on my live hoping to get one of them up to 5000 streams as a component of the NZ On Air funding, Meet Me In Rome now has 68,000 streams which to me is pretty crazy considering my lack of promotion, it makes me so excited to see how people receive ‘I Wanna’ - a track that I am truly proud of”
Liberty’s social media presence is a powerful asset. In just 18 months, she grew her TikTok following from 2K to 249K, alongside gaining 97K Instagram followers this year alone.
Liberty’s success with social media Her success on social media and her creative lyrics captured the attention of B-Unique Records, who invited her to their Los Angeles studios to work with their US based writers. Liberty referred to this experience as “inspiring and eye-opening”. Within a few months of coming home from that trip, Liberty wrote ‘I Wanna’ in her home studio. She made a demo to send to her team which ultimately is the production on the final track. Liberty said she was only ever “putting her ideas down” when initially producing the track, even playing the slide guitar part with the glass of water she was drinking out of, however, she decided that the imperfect “bedroom pop vibes” really gave the song its sound and a point of difference.
‘I Wanna’ expresses feelings of stress, anxiety, and isolation, capturing the universal desire to escape for one unforgettable night. Liberty explains, “The song came really naturally to me and it was one of those things that just came to life in my head as I was writing, I immediately had a vision for the production of the song, wanting it to sonically represent everything that ‘I Wanna’ do, hence the 4 on the floor dance like kick and the signature pop side-chained choppy backing vocals”