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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast

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Speaker 1: from News Talks at b.

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Speaker 2: If you waker.

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Speaker 3: Kiss one thing.

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Speaker 4: That you came to Just move, Just.

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Speaker 3: Move, that is just move and I get it.

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Speaker 2: The beat, the rhythm, the style, the call and answer

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Speaker 2: might throw you off, but you probably know. Jeremy read

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Speaker 2: more from the rock band Midnight Youth. Jeremy had a

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Speaker 2: great time with Midnight Youth, had a great time as

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Speaker 2: a solo artist, but now is going through a bit

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Speaker 2: of a creative evolution, turning his attention to children's music.

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Speaker 2: But this is not sugar rush pop with cartoon voices. No, no,

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Speaker 2: we are all going to be spared the crazy Frog.

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Speaker 2: It's music that has narrative and it is surprisingly emotional.

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Speaker 2: Jeremy read Moore's with us this morning.

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Speaker 5: Kild A, good morning, mordaner Jack, how are you ah?

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Speaker 5: So good?

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Speaker 3: Thanks?

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Speaker 2: Not as good as you though we have pulled you

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Speaker 2: out of a dive bar, and Budapest this morning, of

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Speaker 2: all places, paid us a picture.

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Speaker 4: It's the dives of all divius bars. It's probably about

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Speaker 4: about seven dive bars rolled into one in the middle

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Speaker 4: of Budapest, and I was thoroughly distracted by I mean

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Speaker 4: every inch of every wall is covered in graffiti of

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Speaker 4: all kinds of offensive things, so it's it was very distracting.

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Speaker 2: No, that's good. Is it one of those places where

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Speaker 2: that you can't touch any surface because it's so sticky

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Speaker 2: and like unclean and unhygienic that if you like put

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Speaker 2: your hand down, you'll never be able to peel it

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Speaker 2: off the bar itself.

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Speaker 5: Well, let's be fair to them.

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Speaker 4: I mean I think psychologically, yes, physically, it's less sicky

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Speaker 4: than I would have expected.

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Speaker 2: Okay, okay, that sounds great. Well, I'm deeply envious this morning.

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Speaker 2: And it is quite a transition from your latest body

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Speaker 2: of work, which is itself quite a transition from what

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Speaker 2: you've been doing. I mean, this is really something quite different.

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Speaker 2: So tell us what got you into writing kids music?

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Speaker 4: I mean, long story, short, COVID in a way, because

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Speaker 4: I was already writing a picture book about the superpowers

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Speaker 4: that can be found in singing. Basically, you know how

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Speaker 4: kids can find a sense of identity through singing and

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Speaker 4: the energy that goes into sort of projecting yourself as

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Speaker 4: a singer.

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Speaker 5: Which is the story of my adult life.

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Speaker 4: So I wrote this picture book release that there was

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Speaker 4: a song about singing, a book about singing, so I

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Speaker 4: had to have a song. I did the song, and

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Speaker 4: I really enjoyed releasing kids' music. But then as part

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Speaker 4: of the promotion, I kind of started looking into the

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Speaker 4: science behind singing and going, hang on, is it just

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Speaker 4: me that thinks this is a superpower or is there

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Speaker 4: more to this?

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Speaker 5: And I started looking into all of this.

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Speaker 4: Very thorough research from all around the world, and it

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Speaker 4: turns out there's all of this amazing stuff that happens

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Speaker 4: when kids sing and adults sing as well, but especially

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Speaker 4: when people sing in groups.

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Speaker 5: And so I had the opportunity to record an.

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Speaker 4: Album of songs, and I thought, hey, look, let's make

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Speaker 4: this really intentional and create songs with music videos that

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Speaker 4: really allow kids to easily sing with these songs, and

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Speaker 4: preferably sing in groups, because that's actually where so much

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Speaker 4: of the magic happens. And you know, if you look

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Speaker 4: back into in culture for thousands of years, group singing

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Speaker 4: is this magic thing?

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Speaker 2: It is? So yeah, I think, like I even think

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Speaker 2: back to like you know, I was. This is not

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Speaker 2: going to come as a huge shock to many people,

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Speaker 2: but I was a bit of a theater kid at school.

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Speaker 2: I was a bit of a music kid. I may

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Speaker 2: have even competed in various barbershop competitions over the years.

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Speaker 2: But there is there's something, you know where it is

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Speaker 2: that there's something kind of primal about it, strangely about

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Speaker 2: you know, us being social beings, right, there is something

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Speaker 2: about using our voices together, especially in harmony or something

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Speaker 2: like that, that triggers something deep inside us.

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Speaker 5: That's right.

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Speaker 4: Human ritual religion goes back thousands of years people chanting

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Speaker 4: and singing together. And what happens is the science is

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Speaker 4: showing that brain activity synchronizes, and when that happens, we

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Speaker 4: almost feel like we're a super organism. We're one super organism,

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Speaker 4: and so that creates the sense of connection. And that

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Speaker 4: is what those groups were tapping into and what we

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Speaker 4: can if we intentionally create the situation. We can tap

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Speaker 4: into that situation for kids. And when I think about

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Speaker 4: a classroom of young kids and all the little cliques

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Speaker 4: and the you know, the cool kids, the nerdy kids,

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Speaker 4: the outcasts, if they can have three to six minutes

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Speaker 4: of feeling connected in a day, I mean, that's that's magic, right.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So Just Move is your first single

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Speaker 2: from sing Along the size. Tell us, Yes, tell us

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Speaker 2: about the difference given you've I mean you've you've written

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Speaker 2: as part of Midnight Youth, You've written stuff for your

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Speaker 2: solo work. But how different is it to go about

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Speaker 2: purposefully writing a song for children? Do you have fewer

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Speaker 2: minor chords? Like, how does it? You know? Fewer diminished chords?

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Speaker 2: Is everything in the key of A? And nice and sonny?

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Speaker 4: Well, the key does come into it because kids have

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Speaker 4: very high voices. So this album has me singing very

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Speaker 4: high because I want them to be able to sing

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Speaker 4: along easily. So there is actually a sort of window

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Speaker 4: of a key that you have to stick to for

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Speaker 4: kids to be able to broadly sing along with these songs.

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Speaker 4: But otherwise, you know, it's about for me, they're just

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Speaker 4: pop songs.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, so I've brought in.

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Speaker 4: My experiences as a songwriter to creating pop songs. The

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Speaker 4: thing that's different is I want these songs to be very,

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Speaker 4: very interactive, So they're interactive in the music recording, but

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Speaker 4: interactive also in the music video and the recording. It's

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Speaker 4: all about the sing along part. So almost every singing

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Speaker 4: section is call and response, So I sing you think

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Speaker 4: of that for that? Freddy Mercury at Live Aid, you know, yeah,

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Speaker 4: and the crowd goes back and forth and it's an

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Speaker 4: incredible moment. I wanted that within the song. And then

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Speaker 4: the extra thing is the music videos feature a stop

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Speaker 4: motion puppet called Milo who's a kind of a Marsupi

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Speaker 4: or mousey little character, and they do physical actions hopping, skipping,

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Speaker 4: eating peanut butter, these things that kids can all again

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Speaker 4: do in unison as a movement in non singing parts.

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Speaker 5: So the songs are structured.

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Speaker 4: We all sing together, then we move together, and it's

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Speaker 4: all to try and pack in as much of that

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Speaker 4: synchrony as possible.

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Speaker 3: That makes a lot of sense.

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Speaker 2: So do you like, do you see this sing along

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Speaker 2: size being performed in schools and that kind of thing

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Speaker 2: like that?

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Speaker 5: Is that we you're envisaging this absolutely.

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Speaker 4: I want teachers to be able to put this on

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Speaker 4: to start the day or as a brain break, or

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Speaker 4: and as well families. You know, maybe maybe you've just

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Speaker 4: noticed the kids have just just zoned out for a

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Speaker 4: few hours and you're like, hey, well, what's something that

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Speaker 4: we can put on to get them energized. And it's

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Speaker 4: a screen, so it's it's you know, it's it's attractive

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Speaker 4: for a kid, but it's healthy screen time because they're

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Speaker 4: expressing themselves, they're singing, they're moving, they're getting a bit

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Speaker 4: of health along with just having some fun. So that's

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Speaker 4: the idea, and definitely I'm taking it to a whole

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Speaker 4: bunch of schools in the Upper North Island next month

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Speaker 4: and I'm really looking forward to hundreds of kids doing

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Speaker 4: this all together. It's gonna be amazing.

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Speaker 2: That's a great idea. So do you remember, like when

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Speaker 2: you were at school, do you remember what songs they

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Speaker 2: used to sing when you're at school.

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Speaker 5: I do, because they were all church songs.

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Speaker 4: I went to a Catholic primary school and we would

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Speaker 4: all sing the same songs every week, and I do

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Speaker 4: remember bonding with my friends while singing those songs, even

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Speaker 4: if we were joking around during them.

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Speaker 5: There's something about it, and you know I've written about it.

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Speaker 5: Even you go to an all.

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Speaker 4: Blacks game and you sing the anthem and you look

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Speaker 4: around you and for those for those four minutes, you're

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Speaker 4: all just feel this.

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Speaker 5: This pride and this connection.

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Speaker 4: And then you see the ultimate, the ultimate version of it,

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Speaker 4: which is the huker, which is singing and moving together it's.

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Speaker 5: A very good point version of what I'm talking about.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So, given you've taken quite a scientific approach to this,

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Speaker 2: have you tried it out on kids?

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Speaker 5: Absolutely? I haven't.

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Speaker 4: I haven't put brain imagery imagery devices on their mind,

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Speaker 4: on their heads. Levels of joy and levels of joy

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Speaker 4: are really really high, and it works on adults too,

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Speaker 4: So we're looking We're looking pretty good at this point.

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Speaker 4: But you know, it's at this point we need to

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Speaker 4: take it to a whole bunch of schools, a whole

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Speaker 4: bunch of kids, and and really get as much feedback

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Speaker 4: to refine it as we go forward.

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Speaker 5: But I think we've We've released one song so far.

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Speaker 4: And the reaction I've had so far is just yeah,

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Speaker 4: I'm getting so many wonderful messages, so yeah, I can't complain.

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Speaker 2: Hey, you're you're based in the Netherlands these days.

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Speaker 5: I am.

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Speaker 4: I'm in a city called Utrecht, which is hard to say,

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Speaker 4: but it's a little mini version of Amsterdam.

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Speaker 5: It's a beautiful place.

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Speaker 2: Ah, how good? So how are you finding life in Europe?

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Speaker 5: It's nice, it is.

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Speaker 4: I think any immigrant story is tricky, especially when you

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Speaker 4: move to a country with a different native language and

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Speaker 4: I didn't move here for opportunity.

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Speaker 5: It was very much to support family and be with family.

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Speaker 4: So I moved here with no idea what I was doing,

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Speaker 4: had zero connections, zero network, and you had to make

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Speaker 4: something happen. And it's a huge challenge and I can't

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Speaker 4: pretend that the fact that it's been really hard. But

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Speaker 4: at the same time, it's a place for opportunity and

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Speaker 4: a place for self discovery and growth. And I just

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Speaker 4: feel like I've grown so much in the last few

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Speaker 4: years and this album and the intention and meaning behind

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Speaker 4: these songs.

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Speaker 5: Is part of that, because.

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Speaker 4: I think this kind of situation refines you as a

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Speaker 4: person and refines you as an artist, and this, for me,

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Speaker 4: this is a kind of refined version of kids music

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Speaker 4: for me.

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Speaker 2: Anyway, before we let you go, I've got to ask,

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Speaker 2: given it's been out for or what sixteen hours now,

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Speaker 2: have you listened to any of the new Taylor Swift album?

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Speaker 2: Do you have any thoughts?

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Speaker 4: May I have been just diving into Budapest. It's my

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Speaker 4: first day here, and can I just.

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Speaker 2: Say thank goodness that you've prioritized that over listened to

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Speaker 2: the New War, which is not a slight on Taylor Swift,

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Speaker 2: but just to say that what a shame it would

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Speaker 2: be if you were declining being in a graffiti laden,

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Speaker 2: potentially sticky Budapest dive bar so that you could listen

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Speaker 2: to Taylor'swift's new album exactly.

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Speaker 4: And I've got so many songs from Synthony. This is

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Speaker 4: why I'm going around Europe in my head. There's no

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Speaker 4: space for Taylor Swift. It's just tuff once once it's going,

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Speaker 4: There's nothing wrong with that.

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Speaker 2: Hey, I really appreciate your time, juring me so good

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Speaker 2: to chat and congratulations. It's just it's so cool to

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Speaker 2: see artists really, like, you know, just just expanding the

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Speaker 2: boundaries of where their art might go. And I just, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I think it's I think it's fantastic and such a

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Speaker 2: such a good cause to you know, get kids and

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Speaker 2: adults singing and moving together.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely, Thanks Jack for your time, and I hope all

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Speaker 4: your listens out there can give it a sing along

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Speaker 4: the size a shot.

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Speaker 2: That is Jeremy readmore. We'll have all the details for

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Speaker 2: sing Along Size on the News Talk.

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Speaker 1: ZB we for more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame.

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Speaker 1: Listen live to News talksz' B from nine am. Saturday,

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Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio