Jenni Smith: Kiwi country pop musician on her debut album 'Girl Next Door', career growth

Jenni Smith is entering a brand-new era with the release of her long-awaited debut album. 

The Kiwi pop country musician has been a part of the New Zealand country music scene since she was 12 – her first single, ‘T-Shirt’ hitting #3 on the official NZ Singles Chart.  

Since then, she’s taken home the Songwriter of the Year Award at the 2018 NZ Country Music Awards and had a couple more charting singles, including her most recent, ‘Mirror’, which currently sits at #1. 

“They tagged me on Instagram, and it just blew my mind,” Smith told Mike Hosking.  

‘Mirror’ is the first single of her debut album ‘Girl Next Door, a collection of diary-style songs three years in the making.  

“I’ve been working on it for three years, so exciting is like, a lesser word for it,” 

While there are artists out there who create rapidly, making and recording artists in very short periods of time, Smith told Hosking her timeframe didn’t come from overthinking, but rather from necessity. 

“I’m an independent artist,” she said. 

“So I have to find the time to record, but also fund it myself.” 

Smith has been honing her craft over the years, graduating a few years ago with a degree in songwriting from the University of Auckland.  

“I definitely learned a lot in my time studying songwriting,” 

“I think it made me think a little more in depth about what I’m writing – it arguably made my songwriting process slower, because I go back and tweak things multiple times, but I think it paid off.”  

‘Girl Next Door’ is releasing tomorrow, and as part of the launch, Smith will be performing some intimate shows in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington.  

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