Get to know NZ Music Awards hosts Stan Walker and Kanoa Lloyd through music

Kanoa Lloyd and Stan Walker will host this year's NZ Music Awards. Photo / Supplied

As the NZ Music Awards are on tonight, we wanted to help you get to know your hosts ahead of the big event.

However, as Kanoa Lloyd is a primetime TV presenter and Stan Walker is one of the country's biggest pop stars, we figure you already know a fair bit about them.

So instead of the usual interviews, we got them to share the three songs they'd take on a desert island and why each is special to them. Their choices may surprise you.

KANOA:

Che Fu, Misty Frequencies

I could hear this song over and over and never get sick of it. Che has one of those voices that tricks you into thinking you can sing too … he lulls you into these verses about a boy who is easy as the breeze in springtime and then soars off and leaves you in the dust when he's all "I would saaaa-aaa-aaay". Man he can sing. It's just a perfect timeless pop song and I will never not be cranking it when it comes on the radio.

Mint Chicks, Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!

I first heard the Mint Chicks on C4, probably on Camilla Martin's show, which I never missed. I'm pretty sure it was Post No Bills and I couldn't believe that something so thrilling and cool was happening in New Zealand. They never released a bad song, EP or album as far as I was concerned. But if I were to play one song of theirs on a desert island it would probably be Crazy? Yes! Dumb? No!, it still makes my heart feel all squeezy when I hear it.

Moana and The Moa Hunters, Tahi

When we were little, my sister Ruby and I had this great dress-up box full of amazing sparkly, feathery dresses that my stepmum used to wear for ballroom dancing. Our favourite thing to do was put on a sequined dress and crank songs on the tapedeck in our bedroom. Moana and The Moa Hunters was on high rotate. I got to be Moana and Ruby was Teremoana Rapley. Tahi is an absolute banger … and the music video! Poi! Haka! Waka! Maori women being absolutely amazing babes. I want to put on a sparkly dress and dance to it now.

STAN:

Dave Dobbyn, Welcome Home

Honestly, just everything he's talking about, it just makes my insides warm up and melt, he's just got a way of really warming you with his words and this song's always made me feel like I'm at home, even when I'm far away. It makes me think of home and everything that I grew up with, everyone who I grew up with, it's just beautiful and always brings a tear to my eye. As soon as I saw the video clip on TV I was just like, "gosh, what is this?" The words, the melody is so powerful, it's just incredible.

Circle of Life, Lion King OST

This has always been one of my favourite songs. I actually auditioned with this song on Idol but it didn't make the TV cut. The Lion King is my favourite movie. I was 3 or 4 when it came out, I still remember going to see it with my koro. It was the first movie I ever saw and I used to know all the words from start to finish. Elton John is an incredible songwriter. It's old-school nostalgia, it's a big ballad with that African choir, and it's just this epic opening to my most favourite movie in the world.

2 Pac, Changes

Warning: Explicit language

The lyrics, the melody, it's always one of those songs that when it's on, you're singing to at the top of your lungs - everybody knows it. It's a song that's still relevant now. In some ways, 2 Pac was a little bit like Bob Marley; he was a prophet to the people. Whatever he sang about was the truth and he rapped about reality - whatever he was going through -and I felt that when I listened to his music, it was like a diary of his life. Changes is one of those songs that ... I don't know, I feel strong when I listen to it. 2 Pac is just the man, nobody can rap like him.