Alayna Powley

The ebbs and flows of creativity challenge for singer-songwriter with big figure Spotify following

Words Jill Nicholas

Pictures/Video Stephen Parker

Don’t expect Alayna Powley to sit down and knock out a chart-topping new number off the top of her head.

That’s not the way the Hamurana raised, globally recognised music-maker operates.

She’s way too much of a perfectionist for that. The thought she puts into her work may be time consuming but it’s already garnered this 29-year-old a big figure following. 

When 2021 wrapped up, her music had 7.6 million streams on Spotify with 200,000 a month listening to her music all over the world. That number continues to multiply.

She’s equally popular on YouTube and other internet sites.

This child of the electronic age keeps tabs on her following via an App.

“I can turn it on and see how many are listening to my music at any given time and place in the world. It’s a pretty crazy number when there is so much music out there now.”

Despite such a large fan base she disputes any suggestion she’s teetering on the verge of becoming famous, she’s adamant she doesn’t aim to be.

 “When I was younger I thought being famous would be great but now that’s not what I want. I just want to be seen and understood and be someone people can connect to.    

“I get messages every now and again from someone who says they’ve been really touched by a song of mine. That’s quite cool but I’m definitely not famous.”

Creativity ebbs and flows

Nor does she restrict herself to a single genre. In earlier years R&B/Soul were her thing but as her musicality’s matured she’s branched into several directions, refusing to be restricted by boundaries.   

Alayna has worked long and hard for the recognition now flowing her way.

Her first five-track EP, titled Sweet Soul and released in 2018, was an accumulation of five years work. It’s successor, Tender, is a track longer. She worked on that for two years.

The “Covid years” have been devoted to compiling a full length debut album, she’s aiming for 12 original songs.

It remains a work in progress and a deal’s been signed with the Canada-based Nettwerk (CORRECT) Music Group, a worldwide internet label.

In a brutally honest self–assessment Alayna acknowledges it is an undertaking that hasn’t been easy going.

“I want to be cohesive and tell a story, but my relationship with my creativity ebbs and flows. I struggle at times to get it done; my self-belief ebbs and flows too. I had a deadline last year but had a bit of creative burn out. ”

However there’s no way she’s quitting. Alayna’s far too committed to her craft to take the easy option and pass on the project she’s aimed for since she was a Rotorua school kid.   

“I know there are songs within me I have yet to write. I keep trucking on and I am sure I will get there in the end; it’s just that the end seems to keep getting further away.”

Pandemic slows output

The global pandemic hasn’t helped her work rate.

With her manager in the US and her label in Canada, there haven’t been any catch up trips or face-to-face meetings. There have also been challenges connecting with musos and producers she works with here and overseas. But, aided by 21st century technology, where there’s a will there’s a way. 

“We work together in a studio [electronically] across the miles communicating by cell phone, video calls, Zoom and email.  

“I’ve been really lucky to work with friends and producers who turn up for the day. I will write a song and go back the next day and do it all again with different people.  It’s like speed dating, you find who you want to work with.”  

Earlier years

It was her music teacher dad, Rob Powley, who discovered her vocal ability when Alayna was six. He recorded her in his home studio; the result was a CD for her grandparents. These days she puts her beginner’s singing voice on a par with a chipmunk.

She sang throughout her school years while learning guitar and piano. Until she reached solo status her father was her accompanist.

Twice during her Western Heights High years she won a spot in the Play it Strange competition which finds the country’s top twenty teenage song writers. That opened the door to her first professional recording studio.   

She’s been a regular at Lakeside concerts and since school days has performed at  fundraisers, various events and talent shows. There’s a modest admission she won “a few”. 

From Heights she entered Auckland’s Mainz Music and Audio School ((MAINZ) working towards a two-year diploma in contemporary music. In her second year Mainz introduced a Bachelor of Musical Arts. Alana was a foundation student, relishing every moment of her four years of study.

As someone who has always sets herself challenges she didn’t pussy foot about. Once graduated she was New York bound.

In 2016 she secured a graduate visa that guaranteed her a year of work and study Stateside.

Life in the Big Apple

Alayna compares her New York arrival with a smack in the face.

“I didn’t know anyone . . . had no one to lean on.”

That was rectified when she found a Brooklyn apartment, sharing it with three American girls.

 “They turned into older sisters. I learnt so much from them, especially how to unapologetically be a woman. They taught me to trust myself, my gut.”

 Her first Big Apple mission was to find work. Her student days experience in Auckland’s hospitality sector helped. The first place she applied to for a waitressing job took her on the spot. The pay was appalling. If it hadn’t been for the tips she received she wouldn’t have been able to cover her rent.

“As a Kiwi tipping was foreign to me but out of sheer necessity I quickly got over that.”

Once secure on the work and home fronts, she began to pursue the musical future she’d gone to New York to find.   

SoundCloud, which is devoted to global streaming, became her first US platform.

On it Bliss, a track from her first CD became a hit, leading to her first music video.  “Filmed in a Greenwich Village apartment it was quintessentially New York.” 

She hadn’t been in the States long when the Vancouver-based Indy label 20XX signed her.   

It’s owner encouraged her to make trips to Los Angels to hone her skill set and see how other song writers operated.

“It blew my mind seeing young people writing a song a day, I realised I had to work harder.”

She was in New York when her music on Spotify hit the magic million followers mark.

Visa expires

Despite the speed her career was taking off a major stop sign was being waved at her. Her study visa was on the verge of expiring.

She returned home hopeful of quickly securing one specifically for performers.

More than four years on it has yet to eventuate, hampered by its high cost and travel becoming Covid’s arch enemy.

Since then she’s commuted between Rotorua and Auckland.

“I’ve gathered up a colourful CV doing a wide variety of jobs from waitressing and nannying to temporary employment with Auckland Transport and the government.

She was with Bio Security, spraying fruit flies, when she met her partner, Kether Day. 

Last year Alayna followed her parents into teaching. Her mother, Rose Powley, has spent the past twenty years at Kaharoa School. Her father is Rotorua Intermediate’s music man.

Chameleon moulding

Alayna’s classroom was at Lakes Performing Arts Centre, teaching singing to students from six to fifteen “With a couple of thirty-year-olds as well”.

“That was really cool. I hadn’t done any singing lessons before so I kind of learnt on my feet. It was really good to be working with young kids who were so excited about their music and singing. There is a purity in that.

“I’m a bit of a Chameleon, I can be whatever I need to be: a writer, a teacher, I just kind of mould to fit the situation I am in.”

Last year she also chalked up her first live gig for some time. It was performing at Tauranga’s First We Eat Festival.

“It was awesome. I was the first in the line up, Dave Dobbyn the last. It was a really cool privilege to play on the same stage as him.”   

At present she’s devoting her time to working on her album with another deadline looming.

“I’m focusing fully on it. In the morning I do some writing, may be play the piano or guitar for a while to see if I can come up with some chords. I have a lot of demo songs, ideas that are unfinished. I am hoping the magic keeps coming. It has definitely been a hard few years, I’m just going with the flow. Writing music is such a personal thing for me.”