Rita Mae

Rita Mae is an exciting talent emerging on the Auckland music scene, her music charged with real emotion and intricate hooks. Her Devan Narsai directed video for Candy’s House releases September 2nd.

Twenty three year-old Rita grew up in Muriwai on Auckland’s wild West Coast. Her parents, especially her late father, Jim Laing (a member of Flying Nun stalwarts JPS Experience) encouraged Rita and her two sisters to write and perform songs from a young age and music surrounded the Laing girls in the tight knit community.

Rita developed her own writing style, allying a unique feel for melody to her emotional lyricism. She littered songs across Soundcloud and played too many open mic nights to remember through her late teens.

After a stint in Dunedin collecting a degree in neuroscience, she returned to Auckland to immerse herself in learning music production, searching for her sound in the all- encompassing genre of contemporary indie pop.

Candy’s House showcases explosive power pop moments in an ethereal package and lyrics exploring timeless themes of loneliness and running from reality.

“I wrote it in a very self-destructive period of my life. My days revolved around escapism, I was getting through every moment to get to the next,” she says.

“To me the song is about looking for a cheat code for feeling okay, living on a kind of borrowed happiness I suppose.

“That’s what Candy’s House was to me — instead of putting effort into real life, real relationships, real happiness, I wanted to hide there.”

Rita Mae has more music already lined up for release, more live shows and more excitement on the horizon.

She promises a blend of genres and feeling, emotional lyrics combined with alternative pop production, that will have you feeling everything all at once. For real.

For bookings contact
julian@villagesounds.com