Award-winning Samoan New Zealand entertainer Annie Grace, who performs tonight in Auckland, says she has turned her struggles into songs.
Annie Grace. Photo: anniegrace.co.nz
The Samoan singer and songwriter is one of several female artists performing at the launch of the Pacific Divas National Identity Tour in Auckland.
The concert aims to raise the profile of Pacific women's voices and includes performances from Aaradhna, Annie Crummer, Betty-Anne, Bella Kalolo, RAZÉ, Pacific Soul and Cindy of Samoa.
Grace's album The Journey tells of her struggles and she said it was okay to ask for help.
"I never realised that it was okay to not be okay and to be able to just tell your story and tell people that you're not okay.
"There's this shame and this facade that people put up, especially when you're in the industry like the music industry. You want to be everything and look everything to everyone. But that was something that I had to finally come to grips with - to say 'actually I'm not okay'."
Grace said her album The Journey tells of her struggles and how her aiga, or family, was everything to her.
The South Auckland-based singer lost three babies, was diagnosed with bone marrow disease, and endured over a year of chemotherapy.
But 2015 was the turning point in her life. Prior to then, her life was spiralling out of control, she said.
"In 2015, I had come to a place where I needed to tell my story of healing and restoration in terms of the things that I had gone through with the miscarriages and also healing from the brokenness that I had encountered as a young girl. And that's all in the songs."
The Pacific Divas Identity Tour starts at the Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau tonight.