Bic Runga's Drive

From entering a high-school music competition to being honoured with the New Zealand Order of Merit, Bic Runga has an established place within contemporary popular music. Focusing on her iconic album, Drive, and including informative case studies of representative tracks on the album, this book provides not only an in-depth study of one album, but skilfully navigates Runga's creative work over three decades to illuminate some of the key stages of her career. The book discusses the performer's rise to stardom, musical style, accolades and performance achievements. Blending popular music studies with media analysis, the book is the first to offer a detailed study of Runga's creativity and a close-up study of her debut and critically acclaimed album.

Henry Johnson is Professor of music at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His books include Many Voices: Music and National Identity in Aotearoa/New Zealand (2010); Global Glam (2016); Migration, Education and Translation (2020); and Nenes' Koza Dabasa (Bloomsbury, 2021). He is Associate Director of the Centre for Global Migrations.

List of Figures 1. Introduction 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Bic Runga: A Short Biography 1.3. Focus 1.4. Structure 1.5. Summary 2. Break 2.1. Introduction 2.2. Rockquest 2.3. Drive EP 2.4. Music Awards 2.5. Case Study: "Drive" 2.6. Summary 3. Drive and Beyond 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Musical Output 3.3. Style and Production 3.4. Case Study: "Bursting Through" 3.5. Summary 4. Identity 4.1. Introduction 4.2. Ethnicity 4.3. Gender 4.4. Case Study: "Sway" 4.5. Summary 5. Performance 5.1. Introduction 5.2. National Scene 5.3. International Scene 5.4. Case Studies: "Suddenly Strange" and "Roll Into One" 5.5. Summary 6. Conclusion References Acknowledgments Appendix 1: Drive: Track Listing and Personnel Appendix 2: Bic Runga: Discography (New Zealand Album Releases) Index