Teeks’ music career is hot, so why is he taking a break?

Teeks explains why it's important for him to slow down and stay connected to te ao Māori. Photo / Dean Purcell

Kiwi singer-songwriter Teeks is about to hit the stage, headlining a show at Auckland’s Spark Arena on November 12. Here, he talks about staying true to himself in a world obsessed with social media, why he’ll be taking some time out, and the importance of staying connected to te ao Māori.

Before anyone knew the name Teeks, Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāpuhi) was playing small pop-up gigs under gazebos to distracted crowds.

Now, in just a few weeks, he'll play a solo headline show to thousands of fans at one of the nation's biggest venues, Spark Arena.

In between these two very different milestones has been his hit debut EP The Grapefruit Skies, his widely acclaimed first album Something to Feel, sell-out nationwide tours and an ever-growing collection of music awards including awards from MTV and Rolling Stone.

Last year alone, he picked up three Tūī Awards including one for Best Solo Artist.

With this kind of momentum, the natural next step would be a second album and furthering his reach into the global arena.

But instead, the 28-year-old is taking a break.

"My top priority right now is my own well-being mentally, physically and spiritually; that should always come first. If you look after yourself first then you can look after other people," says Teeks.

"I have to make sure that I keep myself grounded and do the internal work because it's hard...sometimes you get swept away by life, especially because of the type of lifestyle that you have as an artist."

Since my first interview with Teeks, five years and all the aforementioned milestones have passed. He's become a lot more grounded, confident, and self-assured - and a lot busier. But past that, not much has changed. He's still humble, still introspective, and still reckons "less is more when it comes to words".

He's also, he says, "still enjoying it, still loving what I do and still feeling very grateful. But to be honest, I feel like my life hasn't changed dramatically in terms of the everyday. The biggest thing is that I've reached a point in my career where it's become financially self-sustainable. I don't have to work part-time anymore, I can do music full-time and really just focus on that," he says.

That's come with its own challenges though.

When he started out in his music career, Teeks was working part-time as a reo Māori teacher and before that, in retail. But now he's focusing only on music, one of his biggest challenges in taking care of his well-being is managing his own time and with that, his own expectations.

"I found I had to try really hard to maintain some type of structure, some type of routine in my life. If I can stick to a routine and I can tick things off throughout the day, then I can maintain some sense of accomplishment," he says.

However the problem with that, he says, is "I think, like most people, I attach a lot of my self-worth to my productivity. That's something that I still struggle with.

Teeks says his own wellbeing is his top priority at the moment. Photo / Dean Purcell

"I don't feel like I'm doing enough and I find it hard to intentionally rest or to turn off. And if I do feel like I want to just sit around and watch Netflix or do something relaxing, then I feel guilty. I'm trying to rewire my brain, but it's hard. It's definitely a process."

His desire to change that way of thinking is not only part of the reason he's ready to take a break, but it has impacted everything from the style of music he makes, to the way he's designing his Spark Arena show, and even to the way he interacts with fans, including creating an air of mystery around his persona.

"The goal has always been to be as authentic as I can be as an artist. I have been intentional in the way I've let people see me and know what I'm about and what I stand for, but I'm naturally an introvert, I'm naturally quite a shy person, so we just incorporated that into my branding," he laughs.

This is why you're not likely to see him posting a new video every six hours or endorsing a new brand every other day. Something he's keen to do, especially in the realm of social media, is to challenge the status quo.

"People are so overstimulated and the world is so oversaturated with content these days, so it's kind of refreshing, you know? You don't want to just be part of the noise, you kind of want to do the opposite. I understand the power those tools have, especially for artists…and I have benefited from social media too, I know that. But as much as my team tells me, you know, "do more TikToks", I also don't consider myself a content creator. If it feels natural - like singing a song - I don't mind, but I'm not going to make a TikTok just for the sake of making a TikTok."

Another reason to slow down, and another major aspect of his well-being, is to maintain his connection to te ao Māori.

Having grown up in te ao Māori with te reo Māori as his first language, Teeks has never struggled to grasp that connection… until now.

Now he's living in Tāmaki Makaurau with less time to return home - Tauranga on his mum's side, the Far North on his dad's - and less time to focus on the reo. Plus, without his mahi teaching the language to others, his opportunities to speak Māori on a daily basis have dwindled.

So this year, he's had to specifically step back and carve out time for it. He's been studying te reo at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa once a week and, despite some struggles to fit it into his schedule, he says "it's been invaluable".

"It's so easy to become detached when you're working in this industry and even just living in the city, I'm far away from home and I don't get to go back home as often as I'd like - to go to the marae and to see my nan. Those things are so important as Māori for our sense of identity, so I wanted to make sure I was doing something to keep me connected, to anchor myself, and the language was an obvious gateway to that," he says.

"It's challenging. I used to make excuses and say I didn't have time, but this year was like, 'if this is a priority for me, I need to make time for it'. I'm not going to lie, it's been hard and I've been behind on all my assignments but I'm doing it. I'm trying. And I think it's been one of the best decisions I've made."

His upcoming headline show is also no exception to this way of thinking.

For one thing; despite the size and scale of it, his goal is still to make people slow down, take a breath and pay attention to their feelings.

"I want it to be intimate and immersive. I want people to cry, to laugh, to go on this journey with me. The album is called Something To Feel and that is what I'm trying to do with my music, with my show - to remind people of our humanity, reconnect and be more in touch with our emotions," he says.

"That's the journey; unpacking and understanding that side of ourselves and understanding the healing and well-being that comes from that. It's reconnecting to our traditional pre-colonial value systems; indigenous people have always known the importance of that, and the importance of our emotional intelligence."

More importantly though, the show itself is a way for Teeks to wrap up this chapter of his life and career before he takes his break.

That is the purpose the Spark show serves: A farewell, of sorts.

"Last year, I released my first album and now I'm kind of at the tail-end of that so this show is almost like a marker and an acknowledgement of that journey with that album, a way to say goodbye and to signal the next phase…what's to come. So I'm excited about that. I'm excited about the unknown."

He says "the unknown" because so far, he's only made one plan: to travel.

Teeks' November 12 show will be a farewell of sorts. Photo/Dean Purcell.

Two or three years stuck at home courtesy of Covid has left Teeks itching to get out and explore, perhaps try living abroad for the first time. His sights are set on New York or London, big cities with big music scenes where he already has both professional and personal support networks.

More importantly, he says; "I just want to experience life. I'm not in a hurry to release another album, I think I've still got some time up my sleeve and I think it's really important because I need some substance."

It's a scary step for any artist; intentionally stepping away from their work, especially when their career has gathered so much momentum and is steadily on the rise.

But again, it speaks to the kind of slowing down Teeks aims to achieve.

"I'm just trying to keep the fire alive inside myself, maintain the love I have for the process of creating and not getting caught up in an end result because that's easy to do; when you're so focused on a goal you kind of forget, or you miss the small things," he muses.

"I feel like I'm in a really good place. I've set myself up really well and I just want to keep growing, to keep climbing that maunga."

Photographer: Dean Purcell Hair and make-up: Elise Anderson Clothing from Workshop