Napier teen releases new birthday single

Napier's singer-songwriter Danica Bryant appears to be well on her way to stardom.

In February she was a standout supporting act for Elton John at the Mission Concert.

On June 5 the talented teenager releases her new pop-rock single Birthday Girl .

The song is the lead single from her debut EP, to be announced in the coming weeks.

Birthday Girl is the follow-up to Sugarbones, which won The Hits NZ Music Month competition and playlisted throughout May. It also received airplay on Wellington Access Radio, Radio Kidnappers, and Brisbane's 4ZZZ.

Birthday Girl combines Bryant's emotive lyricism with an intense, rock-infused sound, delivered with the ferocity that defines her recent musical endeavours.

She expresses the anxieties of adulthood and ageing on the track, which she began writing on her 18th birthday.

"Eighteen felt so heavy to me," Bryant said.

"It represented these terrifying things coming up in my life ... moving out, leaving high school, taking real control. I felt so angry at the pressure it put on me, and such a sadness in leaving childhood behind."

Following a songwriting workshop led by Bic Runga at the Christchurch Arts Centre later that year, the track was dramatically reshaped, from folk song to furious pop-rock ballad.

Bryant, who is living in Wellington, played her first gig at 12. Her career took a turn for the better when she was awarded the coveted National APRA Lyric Award by Smokefree Rockquest in 2018, for her track Dizzy.

The following year, she became a finalist in Play It Strange's Lion Foundation songwriting competition, and next, the national winner of their Who Loves Who contest.

After opening for New Zealand legends like Jon Toogood and Jason Kerrison, Bryant was cherry-picked as a support act for Elton John's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour.

The opportunity would lead to the harvest of her debut EP, recorded with Wellington's Tiny Triumph Recordings, and mastered by the iconic Munki Studios.