These days we know Jacinda Ardern as New Zealand’s Prime Minister, a model of what a world leader should be and an all-around angel to everyone.
Now PMs and world leaders have a life before taking office and a colleague recently brought to my attention what Jacinda was up to before becoming the leader of New Zealand. It turns out that prior to becoming PM, Jacinda was a *checks notes* DJ.
Talk about a wild origin story.
Years before assuming the position of New Zealand’s leader, Jacinda Ardern was a budding disco jockey with a penchant for playing tunes ranging from Spice Girls to Judas Priest. While most do this as a hobby, she got good enough to do some pretty notable gigs, such as a set for Record Store Day at Real Groovy Records Auckland in 2013.
According to one fan who had the good fortune of witnessing this set, she played The Beatles into Toy Love and was apparently pretty great.
2014 saw a few more noteworthy DJ gigs for Jacinda, as she did another Record Store Day set and a few uni shows. But perhaps the most headline-grabbing performance for that year was when she performed at that year’s Laneway Festival in Auckland.
Having always attended the festival as a fan, the event’s former co-promoter suggested that she should “come and DJ” given her skills and history with Laneway. Unsurprisingly, Jacinda jumped at the chance.
Sadly for music fans, Jacinda’s DJ career didn’t progress beyond that as there were political matters to attend to and she became New Zealand’s PM only a few years after her 2014 Laneway Festival set. As much as we need DJ Jacinda Ardern in our lives, we need her more as a kickarse world leader.
That being said, Jacinda still clearly holds her musical past dear to her heart. Appearing at the 2018 Laneway Festival – as a guest and not a DJ sadly – she spoke about her DJ past, how important it is to support creatives and artists, and how it feels like she’s come full circle by attending the event as PM.
From DJ to New Zealand’s prime minister. The origin story of Jacinda Ardern just keeps getting better and will probably make a great movie one day. Maybe she could dust off her old DJ chops and contribute to the soundtrack of that hypothetical biopic.
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