Music Industry News

Award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Janine has today released PAIN AND PARADISE – a career-defining album, shining a light on one of Aotearoa’s most accomplished and successful musical exports.

The 16-track PAIN AND PARADISE masterfully walks a fine line between darkness and light. “I decided to call the album PAIN AND PARADISE because I believe that they co-exist, we carry both at all times. Sometimes the focus can be 99% to 1% in either direction; sometimes it’s even. But both pain and paradise are always there,” she says.

Janine began working on the album more than five years ago before the pandemic hit. A series of life changing events saw her revisiting the songs “to fit what life looks like now,” she explains.

“When I started writing the album my world was very different. I was writing about self-discovery and coming out of an unhealthy relationship. Then, after Dad unexpectedly passed, nothing really made sense. I had to re-work my life and the music. Outside of the pain, another part of my life that is different now is that I’m in a beautiful, healthy relationship. So the new songs reflect that journey too. The album is a blend of beauty and pain, joy and sadness, some tears but also some laughs as well. I wanted there to be music for every mood. For when you feel like being a saddie, a baddie and even a sad baddie.”

PAIN AND PARADISE beautifully captures Janine’s personal experience, including the sudden loss of her father.

“Everything was flipped upside down, my heart ripped out of my chest, and I didn’t know how I could keep living. Yet I knew I was so lucky, lucky to be in such a beautiful place and most importantly, lucky to have loved so deeply that the weight of loss could be so heavy,” Janine says of the moment the title for the album came to her while standing outsider her family home in New Zealand. “I stood there and thought, wow this is the most unbearable ‘Pain in Paradise’.”

The album also takes the listener on their own journey, with songs such as the already-released ‘Fit’, ’Make You Proud’, and ‘Meet Me’ evoking a gamut of feeling.

There are also a handful of never-before-heard songs on the album, including ‘UP’, ‘Happy’, ‘Good Vibes’, ‘Rockstar’ and the new single, the soulful R&B-infused ‘Thank You For Breaking My Heart’, which Janine co-wrote with Edward Liu and Sam Nakamura.

“It’s a love song and a sassy (politely pulling the finger) goodbye song all in one. It stems from reflecting on a past relationship where I was mistreated, to years later finding the love of my life who takes care of my heart and makes me feel valued. It’s saying thank you to that person for breaking me down so I could find the person I was meant for,” explains Janine.

“Of all the projects I’ve ever made, this one reaches deeper into my heart than ever before. It’s been the most challenging and the most beautiful. The most tears and at times, the most fun I’ve ever had. That is PAIN AND PARADISE and I hope more than anything it makes people feel and heal.”

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