Ardern's 2017 walk-on song: Shapeshifter's 'Stars'
Dame Jacinda Ardern chose Shapeshifter's 'Stars' as her walk-on entrance song when she ran for prime minister in 2017. She described the choice in an interview with RNZ about the music that stayed with her through politics. RNZ
Ardern said she times her stage entrance to the drop in 'Stars' — the point where the beat kicks in after the build-up. If staff cue the song too early, she said, she will hold off stage. She believes her use of Shapeshifter was the first time drum and bass was played at a Labour Party Conference.
That selection sits a long way from where she started musically. Ardern said her mother played country music records in the family lounge and enrolled her two daughters in Country and Western Club. As children, Ardern and her sister sang country and western music at the local community hall every Friday night. Her Aunty Karen sewed tasseled shirts for the sisters to wear for those performances.
Ardern said she joined the Labour Party at age 17 and was later offered a researcher position in Parliament. After moving to Wellington in the early 2000s, she discovered drum and bass. It is a favourite genre of hers, according to ABC News. ABC News
The genre also runs through her personal life. Ardern said she and her future husband Clarke Gayford bonded over drum and bass on their first date. Shapeshifter recorded one of their albums in Gayford's backyard, she said.
The walk-on song belongs to the rapid sequence of 2017. Ardern won the Mount Albert by-election in February 2017 and became deputy leader of the Labour Party in March 2017. After Labour leader Andrew Little resigned, Ardern was elected unopposed and became prime minister in October 2017 as part of a coalition.
Wellington noticed the musical association. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was immortalised as a puppet DJ at the Backbencher pub across the road from the Beehive. RNZ Since leaving office, Ardern has warned against divisive and authoritarian leadership in favour of compassionate and values-driven governance. RNZ
The broader context here will be familiar to Press Gallery staff. Walk-on music is campaign craft. It fills the wait, signals tone to the room, and gives advance staff a cue for timing the leader's entry. Ardern's account is unusually specific about that mechanics, holding for the drop rather than walking through the intro, and about claiming a small piece of Labour conference history for drum and bass.
