Geneva AM takes home a Taite and announces engagement

Geneva AM won the Auckland Live Independent Debut award at the Taite Music Awards last night - and used the opportunity to announce her engagement.

Geneva AM, also known as Geneva Alexander-Marsters (Ngāti Ruapani), released Pikipiki in August 2025. The album is a deeply personal project which reflects on her relationship to time, the stars and the afterlife.

“I made a statement about myself [with Pikipiki], and I put in a few radical ideas in there about Māori futurism and my ideas on what heaven is, and it’s just a huge dance floor,” said AM.

The annual Taite Music Awards are hosted by Independent Music New Zealand and celebrate the resilience and artistry of independent Kiwi musicians.

Approximately 500 attendees sat in for the awards at the New Zealand International Convention Centre, which opened in February.

This was the first year the awards were open to the public, hence the move from the show’s usual spot at the Q Theatre.

AM had been nominated for both the Independent Debut award and the coveted Taite Music Prize, with the latter going to Marlon Williams for his album Te Whare Tiwekaweka.

While Pikipiki didn’t claim both prizes, according to critics at Rolling Stone Australia, an award for the album was highly anticipated.

Pikipiki spent two weeks in the Official Top 20 Aotearoa Albums chart and has been nominated for Album of the Year at the 2026 Aotearoa Music Awards.

AM, who has wide experience in the creative sector, had always made music on the side, and after the album’s success, her work was quickly recognised when she picked it up full-time.

“Most of the time, when you’re doing something for free, and you’re making time for it, that’s usually the thing that you’re supposed to do,” said AM.

Her biggest inspirations behind the album were kotahitanga, the future, acknowledging the past and moving forward. These themes were also laced through her acceptance speech.

As she spoke, AM emphasised the importance of unity, creativity and social change. She was one of many speakers who commented on the current political and global climate.

“I know that one day we’re all going to live in peace without the tyranny of this imperial, fascist system, which has led to such a desolate present as we are experiencing in this late-stage capitalism.

"Remember, money is made up, and the stars have always held all the answers,” said AM.

Her acceptance speech also included a poem called I’m from the future, an acknowledgement of her mother, a poet who told AM to prep a speech in advance.

As she thanked a long list of friends, family, whānau and other supporters, AM surprised the audience with her engagement to long-term partner Mike Hall. She later revealed the pair had been engaged since her birthday last year.

“Just to finish off this incredible moment, I want to announce that Mike and I are engaged to be married. None of our families know, I thought I’d just do it as an announcement right now, “ said AM.

Although it was kept under the radar, the engagement wasn’t a secret but rather a quiet promise between the two until the right moment.

“[The proposal] was humble and sweet . . . but we just didn’t know when to tell everyone, because it just seemed like a hard November to December to January

"And then I was like, ‘If I get one of these awards, I’m just gonna announce it,’ because that’s when they’ll all be looking at the same time, and then no one can be like I knew first,” said AM.

Friends Tamzin Naicker and Daylen Schmied-Pape, who were at the awards, caught up with AM before the show.

Naicker’s music moniker is TAMii, and Schmied-Pape’s is day13n; together, they perform as Otherwoman.

TAMii and day13n met AM at an Artists for Palestine fundraiser, which raised money to support the Sumud Flotilla.

During the performance that day, AM's energy “completely overtook the entire room", said day13n. "She was so powerful. Everyone was completely captivated.”

TAMii described AM’s work as a bridge between nostalgia and the new age.

“The first time I really interacted with her was when we were performing [Artists for Palestine] . . . and she was standing right up at the front, and she was just feeding energy and giving advice,” said TAMii.

Audiences can experience this energy themselves at AM’s next show, Uptown Local Voices, on May 13. Musicians HINA and Jack Moser are also set to perform.

------

Our journalists sometimes use AI tools which are checked by humans for accuracy.

AI was used to help with research and to transcribe audio from the interview.