Tracks by Katy Perry and other artists inspired Loyal to dream of leaving Gloriavale and becoming a singer.
Tracks by Katy Perry and other artists inspired Loyal to dream of leaving Gloriavale and becoming a singer.
Secretly listening to Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Eminem inspired a young member of the Gloriavale religious sect to flee and pursue a career in pop music.
Enoch Loyal, 20, was born and raised in Gloriavale, but revealed that he fled the Christian sect when he was 16 after hediscovered "worldly songs" and wanted to become a singer.
He told Stuff that he would sneak away from the secluded West Coast community as a young teen, and reattach aerials to a transistor radio that had been removed by Gloriavale leaders.
During these secret outings, Loyal would listen to FM radio stations and for the first time heard popular music.
An image from TVNZ documentary Gloriavale: A Woman's Place. Photo / Supplied
Tracks by Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Eminem inspired Loyal to dream of leaving Gloriavale and becoming a singer himself.
"All the worldly songs on the radio influenced me, I used to memorise them and sing them to myself, I trained my voice to sing like them," he told Stuff.
Loyal currently lives near Geraldine in South Canterbury with another Gloriavale escapee.
He explained how he left the infamous community, where his mother, three brothers and sister still live.
