Bic Runga is the first to admit she is not the same singer Kiwis first fell in love with 15 years ago.
When her poignant single, Drive, hit our airwaves back in 1996, she was a 20-year-old struggling to deal with the realities of life beyond high school.
Her music was often sorrowful, and you rarely saw a smile cross her beautiful lips.
But a much happier, upbeat Bic is about to re-emerge and seduce us all over again.
She will headline the Classic Hits 2011 Acoustic Church Tour, having just released her fourth album, Belle, and will perform at Tauranga's Holy Trinity Church next Friday, November 18.
"Part of this record was rejecting that whole singer-songwriter thing," Bic explained when announcing her involvement on the Acoustic Church Tour's official website. "I'm not that girl with the acoustic guitar anymore. I've lightened up."
Her transformation is largely due to now being a mother.
Her son, Joe, was born in 2007 and Bic says she did wonder at times whether she would ever make another album.
"The only time I could think about writing was when I was trying to get my son to sleep. I'd lie down with him, and that was the one time I got any real peace," she says.
"Motherhood is very nice. But there comes a point where it would be really easy to lose your identity, and if you didn't return to your art you'd just become a pain to everyone around you."
Briolette Kah Bic Runga is now 35 and has won every conceivable musical award on offer in New Zealand. She is even entitled to write the letters MNZM (Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit) after her name.
The first nationwide Acoustic Church Tour in 2004 was arranged specifically for her, following a gig she had performed in the Union Chapel in London the year before.
Her sister, Boh Runga, joined Greg Johnson, Nathan King and Lydia Cole for a follow up tour in 2009, while Dave Dobbyn headlined last year's event.
The Acoustic Church Tour's fourth season has now expanded to include 17 shows in 12 stunning churches around New Zealand.
"This will be my first major tour on my own for several years and I'm really happy to be performing again," Bic says. "I'm excited by the ambience of churches and looking forward to returning to a number that I played at in 2004."
Bic has played at Holy Trinity Tauranga twice before, and is expected to easily sell out the 870-seat venue.
The kauri acoustic panels which hang from the ceiling ensure big performances still sound as intimate as possible.
Holy Trinity parish administrator Marie Devery says the church was rebuilt in 2003 following an arson attack and the parish specifically designed the new complex so community events and concerts could be held there.
"With this in mind we have indeed been able to successfully host many major events, including various Acoustic Church tours hosting Bic Runga 2004, Greg Johnson and Boh Runga in 2009 and, of course, Dave Dobbyn in 2010. Bic Runga also performed a double show in 2006 along with special guests Flight of the Conchords," she recalls.
The expansive stage, which usually features the Old Holy Trinity altar (which was retrieved from the ruins and fully restored) can be cleared away entirely, making it ideal for touring musicians.
Doors open at 7pm on the night, and the acoustic show will feature Bic performing songs from her new album, as well as hits from her previous three records. Some songs she will sing alone, while others will feature Kody Nielsen, from rock band The Mint Chicks, and Michael Logie on bass. Belle will be released next Monday and promises to be a big departure from Bic's earlier work.
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The time constraints that all mothers grapple with persuaded Bic to try a new approach to songwriting teaming up with some of New Zealand's top songwriters and performers to collaborate on Belle.
"I let go of the idea that you had to write every song on your own record. It was like, why? It seemed a bit self-important."
Her first "songwriting blind date" was with Apra silver scroll-winning songwriter James Milne, better known as Lawrence Arabia, who helped her co-write This Girl's Prepared For War.
"The line was originally something like 'this girl's prepared to wait ...' and he went: 'No, this girl's prepared for war!'. It's so much better. Otherwise, I was just going to write that same sad little song again and again."
Bic also worked with Evermore's drummer, Dann Hume, and drew inspiration from him to write the album's up-tempo first single, Hello Hello, and Good Love.
"Evermore have this whole stadium aesthetic and mine couldn't be more different. But Dann pulled something out of me."
Bic's key collaborator turned out to be Kody Neilson. Together the pair has co-written several tracks and Kody has even produced the album.
"What I like about working with Kody is he's punk-spirited, and deep down I think I am, too. Being a woman, you have to do it with subterfuge and manipulation rather than might. But I'm not ready to do what I'm told."
Bic has a Chinese-Malaysian mother and a Maori father and adds to her diverse appeal by singing one song on the new album in French. The title track, Belle, was originally the theme to a popular French children's television series in the 1960s called Belle et Sebastien.
While songs like Drive, Sway, Good Morning, Baby and Get Some Sleep have firmly cemented Bic's place as one of New Zealand's most successful female musicians, her new album and Acoustic Church Tour is bound to create some lasting memories for those who are lucky enough to experience them.