Speaker 1: Hellove Sunshine, Hey besties.
Speaker 2: Today on the bright Side, we're joined by Tony nominated
Speaker 2: Broadway actor and singer Kala Settle. She's gearing up for
Speaker 2: the release of her latest project. You might have heard
Speaker 2: of it, the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked.
Speaker 2: So she's stopping by to get real about the role
Speaker 2: that put her on the map, and sheer why fame
Speaker 2: wasn't what she expected it to be. It's Monday, August fifth.
Speaker 3: I'm Simone Boyce, I'm Danielle Robe and this is the
Speaker 3: bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we
Speaker 3: come together to share women's stories, to laugh, learn and
Speaker 3: brighten your day. Simone, it's time for on My Mind Monday,
Speaker 3: and it's an opportunity for us to start the week
Speaker 3: fresh with some new ideas, new perspectives. Do you ever
Speaker 3: feel like you need to change your environment to get
Speaker 3: that new perspective?
Speaker 2: I feel like that more often than I am content
Speaker 2: with my environment. I just thought, I'm always like to
Speaker 2: switch it up. I feel like it brings new energy,
Speaker 2: new ideas.
Speaker 4: That's exactly it.
Speaker 3: It's that new energy and I have been needing to
Speaker 3: make some creative decisions, particularly to write some things lately,
Speaker 3: and I have felt so stuck, and so this weekend
Speaker 3: I rented an Airbnb for just one night to try
Speaker 3: and get the creative juices flowing. I got this house
Speaker 3: in Malibu. It was right on the beach, all windows.
Speaker 3: I fell asleep with the water crashing on the shore,
Speaker 3: and you know what happened?
Speaker 1: What happened? Tell me?
Speaker 3: I woke up with answers. Really, the ocean brought me
Speaker 3: the answers. I was writing like a mad woman.
Speaker 1: You're like Mohana. The ocean just brings everything you need
Speaker 1: get to you.
Speaker 4: I felt that way. So it was so nice.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy for you. I love this for you.
Speaker 4: Thank you. What's on your mind this Monday?
Speaker 2: So, you know, as I've been watching Simone Biles and
Speaker 2: the Golden Girls absolutely dominate the Olympics, I've been thinking
Speaker 2: about that Malcolm Gladwell quote that we talk about all
Speaker 2: the time that it takes ten thousand hours to master
Speaker 2: a craft. But I've been wanting to take it a
Speaker 2: bit deeper and think about, Okay, what should those ten
Speaker 2: thousand hours actually look like? If we get granular with it,
Speaker 2: what do we do with those ten thousand hours? How
Speaker 2: do we make the most of them? And one theory
Speaker 2: that I came across is deliberate practice. This is according
Speaker 2: to the author James Clear who wrote Atomic Habits, and
Speaker 2: he says, deliberate practices when you drill down into learning
Speaker 2: one tiny behavior, mastering that small skill, and then repeating
Speaker 2: that process for ten thousand hours. And when I think
Speaker 2: of athletes who embody deliberate practice, I think of a
Speaker 2: new hero who's emerging from the US men's Olympic gymnastics team,
Speaker 2: the Internet's boyfriend, pommelhorse guy, Stephen Nedoschik.
Speaker 3: Pommelhorse guy pommeled harder than anyone has ever pommeled before.
Speaker 3: You know, everyone in my feet was posting about him.
Speaker 3: They're calling him gymnastics Clark Kent. He is superman. He
Speaker 3: had one job at the twenty twenty four Paris Olympics
Speaker 3: and it was to absolutely kill it.
Speaker 4: But on the pommel horse.
Speaker 2: Well, that's what I think is so interesting about him.
Speaker 2: And for context, it's been sixteen years since the US
Speaker 2: men's gymnastics team has meddled at the Olympics, but the
Speaker 2: Stars and Stripes are once again on the podium in
Speaker 2: men's gymnastics this year. And it's all thanks to him,
Speaker 2: thanks to never amain. Seriously, so here's what's different about him.
Speaker 2: In the men's all around there are six events. He
Speaker 2: performs in exactly one event, Like you said, that's it,
Speaker 2: just one, and he's been building up to this moment
Speaker 2: for about twenty years. Stevens's parents put him into gymnastics
Speaker 2: when he was four years old, and as he started
Speaker 2: to advance in the sport, he decided to lean into
Speaker 2: one specialty, the pommel horse, and then ten thousand hours
Speaker 2: of deliberate practice later, here we are.
Speaker 3: First of all, I'm so excited for him. There's all
Speaker 3: these memes of him sort of like sleeping on the
Speaker 3: bench on the sideline waiting and everyone's like, he's just
Speaker 3: napping waiting to pommel horse.
Speaker 2: He's either sleeping or he's doing a Rubik's cube in
Speaker 2: nine seconds.
Speaker 3: And I think what he's really doing is meditating and
Speaker 3: getting into this. But your explanation and story I think
Speaker 3: brings up a larger question, which is we're obsessed with
Speaker 3: multi hyphenates, yeah, in this world, And part of me
Speaker 3: loves that because I think for so long people were
Speaker 3: thought of as only being able to do one thing. Well,
Speaker 3: I actually just heard Kate Hudson talking about this. She
Speaker 3: wanted to sing her entire life and she never put
Speaker 3: out an album because she said everyone thought of her
Speaker 3: as an actress, and when she was coming up and
Speaker 3: starting to be successful, you could only be one thing.
Speaker 1: Well, that's why I actually hate that phrase stay in
Speaker 1: your lane. I think it's so annoying.
Speaker 2: Is particularly when it's directed at women, and I feel
Speaker 2: like it's directed at us more than other people oftentimes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I agree with you, And on the flip side
Speaker 3: of the idea of being a multi hyphen it, I
Speaker 3: do think that to be great at anything you do
Speaker 3: have to be singularly focused in many ways and just
Speaker 3: repeat it over and over and over again. I have
Speaker 3: a hard time juggling this because like, the creative brain
Speaker 3: in me wants to be able to do a few things,
Speaker 3: and the interviewer in me wants to just do that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, how do you feel?
Speaker 2: I feel this tension all the time, and where I've
Speaker 2: landed with it is I am a multi hyphen it.
Speaker 2: I don't know that I'm ever going to be able
Speaker 2: to just be a hyphen it a singular hyphen it. However,
Speaker 2: I think that one of those hyphens should be in
Speaker 2: bold and then the rest.
Speaker 1: Oh, I like that are additive to it. I really
Speaker 1: like supplementary to it.
Speaker 4: Yep, I really really like that.
Speaker 2: So as always I can't pick. I think you should,
Speaker 2: I think you should have it all. I'm firmly standing
Speaker 2: in the nuance here.
Speaker 3: Well, our guest today is someone who knows about that focus,
Speaker 3: that dedication to your craft.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but she's also been known to rack the stage.
Speaker 3: We have a Tony Award nominated actress here with us.
Speaker 3: Kala Settle has been in theatrical productions that have made
Speaker 3: enormous cultural impact. I'm talking Lamez Waitress, hair Spray one
Speaker 3: of my favorites. Sister act another favorite, And there's a
Speaker 3: show that's particularly close to her heart. She played Angelique
Speaker 3: in the West End production of Anne Juliette, and it was.
Speaker 2: A role in the twenty seventeen film The Greatest Showman
Speaker 2: that launched her into the stratosphere and straight into my
Speaker 2: heart because her character, Letty's song this is Me became
Speaker 2: this gripping empowerment anthem. It almost became bigger than her,
Speaker 2: bigger than the film itself, and it really thrust Kayala
Speaker 2: into the Spotlight in a way that she never imagined.
Speaker 2: And then in twenty eighteen, the song won a Golden
Speaker 2: Globe for Best Original Song, So that was huge. It
Speaker 2: was a groundbreaking moment for her career. But here's the thing.
Speaker 2: Behind the scenes, Kayolla was really struggling with the scope
Speaker 2: of her newfound fame and also being saddled with the
Speaker 2: pressure of representing all the marginalized communities who saw themselves
Speaker 2: represented in the song's lyrics. So she's actually spoken pretty
Speaker 2: publicly about resenting the attention that she received for a
Speaker 2: song about being who you are when she felt like
Speaker 2: she couldn't be herself at the time.
Speaker 3: And after considerable self work, self discovery, and what I
Speaker 3: really think was self love, she's now starring alongside Ariana
Speaker 3: Grande and Cynthia Rivo in the much anticipated film adaptation
Speaker 3: of Wicked coming this fall. So, Simon, let's see if
Speaker 3: she gives us a little inside.
Speaker 4: Scoop on Wicked.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we have to try, We gotta try, all right,
Speaker 3: We'll be back with Kayala Settle right after the break.
Speaker 4: Kayala, Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 5: Ah, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 3: Simone and I grew up as theater kids, so We
Speaker 3: are really excited to learn about you and your professional
Speaker 3: path to some of the biggest stages. Wicked is coming
Speaker 3: out in late November, and I was excited to hear
Speaker 3: that you're originating a new role, one that did not
Speaker 3: exist in the theatrical performance. So when you're creating a
Speaker 3: character from scratch, what is the first thing that you do?
Speaker 6: In general, it just depends on the genre of what
Speaker 6: you're doing. If you're doing like a live stage production
Speaker 6: versus a television production versus a film. The one constant
Speaker 6: through all of those is what is the small bit
Speaker 6: of you as a person that connects with each of
Speaker 6: those characters, with the knowledge and the bits and pieces
Speaker 6: that you have of yourself and what you want to
Speaker 6: put into the character.
Speaker 5: As far as like creating a backstory for each character.
Speaker 5: What have they done before? What are they doing now?
Speaker 5: What are their hopes, what are their dreams, what are
Speaker 5: their fears? You know, all of those things. Yeah, coming
Speaker 5: to play. I'm very, very grateful for the career that
Speaker 5: I've had. Are clientsate career.
Speaker 6: It sounds weird to me for the opportunities that I
Speaker 6: have that I continue to have and hope that I
Speaker 6: will continue to have more of them, because.
Speaker 5: Art reflects life and it's a very important thing that
Speaker 5: we need to keep doing. So I'm very grateful for
Speaker 5: it and happy to do it, Kayla.
Speaker 2: Whenever we speak to performers, they often trace their entire
Speaker 2: career back to watching this one show that really planted
Speaker 2: the theater bug in them, and they were like, man,
Speaker 2: I could see myself on that stage in that show.
Speaker 2: Was there a show that did that for you growing up?
Speaker 6: No, No, there wasn't because I am Polynesian. My dad
Speaker 6: is from England and my mum was an indigenous Maori,
Speaker 6: so I saw no one that looked like me. And
Speaker 6: I was born in Rosen Hawai, which is as much
Speaker 6: as it is a part of the United States culturally speaking,
Speaker 6: in almost every aspect, it is not so leaving there
Speaker 6: and then.
Speaker 5: Moving to the continental United States.
Speaker 7: It's all magsaze in a way.
Speaker 6: Growing up, who I was in reality didn't exist.
Speaker 5: Not that I'm trying.
Speaker 7: I'm not trying to go deep. These are just facts.
Speaker 2: My question for you, then, is because I can really
Speaker 2: relate to that, I was very othered growing up, never
Speaker 2: really saw anyone, always always the other, always the only,
Speaker 2: always the first. Yeah, So when did that change for you?
Speaker 2: What was the experience or the moment that opened up
Speaker 2: your possibilities for you and made you believe that this
Speaker 2: career that you now have was possible.
Speaker 5: Honestly, it just happened two months ago.
Speaker 1: Really, what happened? What was the moment?
Speaker 6: I had an opportunity to go and play a character
Speaker 6: called Angelique in the Australian touring production of and Juliet,
Speaker 6: which I've had the privilege and pleasure and honor to
Speaker 6: play a couple of times. I did the original reading
Speaker 6: of it in LA in twenty seventeen when.
Speaker 5: I was a completely different person in a completely different life,
Speaker 5: And when I really got to do it was when
Speaker 5: I moved to the UK and had the chance to
Speaker 5: play it on the Western and then I was just
Speaker 5: recently given the opportunity to do it again because they
Speaker 5: were closing and the lovely, incredible talent that was playing
Speaker 5: and already was moving on to another show, but she
Speaker 5: needed to go before the show was closing, so they.
Speaker 6: Had asked if I wanted to do it. And because
Speaker 6: my family on my mother's side is from New Zealand,
Speaker 6: and because I carry a valid New Zealand passport because
Speaker 6: of my mother. I absolutely jump at the chance. Because
Speaker 6: of where I was born and raised. It's very rare
Speaker 6: that you get to go back to New Zealand as
Speaker 6: an indigenous Maori, not physically there, and because it had
Speaker 6: been so long, and because life had happened a million
Speaker 6: times over, pre pandemic, pandemic, everything in between. There was
Speaker 6: work that I had been doing for myself that I
Speaker 6: needed to close chapters on and I did and it
Speaker 6: was the greatest feeling ever. And in closing those chapters,
Speaker 6: I got closer and closer to who I was before
Speaker 6: the world told me who I was.
Speaker 5: So does that makes sense?
Speaker 1: Yeah, makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 5: I just know that who I was was revitalized.
Speaker 6: And the fear that I've had working in this industry,
Speaker 6: I'll be perfectly honest with you, dissipated because I remembered
Speaker 6: who I am and the fear went away.
Speaker 3: I can feel it in how you're saying it more
Speaker 3: than even your words.
Speaker 4: It sounds like you feel free.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so how does that manifest in your personal
Speaker 3: life now that you're back in London.
Speaker 6: To be honest, when I was leaving, I was really
Speaker 6: scared to come back here. Because in our lives as
Speaker 6: we continue, if we allow ourselves to continue to grow
Speaker 6: and evolve, I left a different person and I came
Speaker 6: back a different person. In my personal lives, there are
Speaker 6: things that no longer mattered to me in the sense of,
Speaker 6: like every morning for decades, I worried about the way
Speaker 6: I looked and the way that, you know, my physical appearance,
Speaker 6: and I had to do this. I had to do that,
Speaker 6: and I thought with that my entire life, but in
Speaker 6: particular women who again are just running this rat race.
Speaker 6: And when I realized it and remembered that it was
Speaker 6: just with myself, it just set me free. The biggest
Speaker 6: thing that I took with me when I came back was.
Speaker 7: I looked in the mirror.
Speaker 5: And realized how much I fell in love with myself.
Speaker 4: You're getting tierry talking about that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, because it's it's you know, when you're when you're
Speaker 6: someone that is constantly for decades going out with going
Speaker 6: please love me, please love me, please love me, and
Speaker 6: all of these situations that happen and continue to recur
Speaker 6: so that you learn the lesson that you need to
Speaker 6: love yourself and you don't really want to pay attention
Speaker 6: to it and then you're given this gift of an experience,
Speaker 6: which for me it was just leaving just for six
Speaker 6: weeks and going back to where my mother's roots were
Speaker 6: and understanding that those are actually my roots as well,
Speaker 6: no matter what anyone has ever told me or ever
Speaker 6: will tell me. And to understand that fully and to
Speaker 6: accept that for myself for no one else, is one
Speaker 6: of the most powerful things that you could ever attain.
Speaker 3: You've mentioned your mom a few times, and I want
Speaker 3: to better understand your childhood, Kayala. You were the oldest
Speaker 3: of five kids, and I read that your mom actually
Speaker 3: was not supportive of your path as an actor growing up.
Speaker 4: Is that correct?
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's correct. But that's because she wanted me. She
Speaker 5: wanted all of us to live the life that she
Speaker 5: had chosen for us. And because I was the oldest
Speaker 5: and I ended up having the skill set of whatever
Speaker 5: I had, my mother was hell bent on me being a.
Speaker 6: Recording artist, which is why a lot of the physical
Speaker 6: appearance was coming into play, because back then it was
Speaker 6: like the late seventies early eighties and it was like
Speaker 6: Olivia Newton John.
Speaker 7: However, my parents.
Speaker 6: Bought the American Dream b BLN and Thinker, which was
Speaker 6: great for them because of where they came from. When
Speaker 6: you're a.
Speaker 5: Child of immigrant parents, your entire life is spent going
Speaker 5: in between culture after culture, between culture, between accents, between dialects,
Speaker 5: between if you have it, the actual language, the other
Speaker 5: language that is being spoken. So for me, just personally,
Speaker 5: my entire life was spent surviving all of those things.
Speaker 1: The code switching is exhausting, right, That's why I'm.
Speaker 6: So tired of it, Because I can be and I
Speaker 6: understand that there's going to be bits and pieces where
Speaker 6: I speak and I sound like I'mori. There are bits
Speaker 6: and pieces of me that will still sound like ah't
Speaker 6: for bits and pieces of England. And then there are
Speaker 6: bits and pieces that I still sound like an American,
Speaker 6: an American in New York, an American in Hawaii, and
Speaker 6: American in La wherever you want to pick Kayla.
Speaker 2: As I'm hearing you process all of this, it sounds
Speaker 2: like you have reached this place of liberation, but it's
Speaker 2: taken you a lot to get there. What was the
Speaker 2: catalyst for this period of growth?
Speaker 5: My mother died. She died on the opened waitress in Cambridge,
Speaker 5: literally right forward Cone Core.
Speaker 6: And because my mother was a very hard woman, but
Speaker 6: I don't blame her for being hard.
Speaker 5: There weren't many people like her in the continental United States,
Speaker 5: and she had five children, which were basically a human
Speaker 5: fortress for her. So when my mother passed away, we
Speaker 5: had no reason to exist. And I will not speak
Speaker 5: for my other brothers and sisters because I'm sure they're
Speaker 5: still going through it. I know they are, but we
Speaker 5: all had to learn who we were almost ten years
Speaker 5: ago and meet each other for the first time.
Speaker 1: Go back to those inner children.
Speaker 5: Without knowing who the hell we were.
Speaker 3: Have a question for you about fame, because I've read
Speaker 3: that you sort of have a conflicting relationship with it. Obviously,
Speaker 3: you love performing, that's you. That's so easy to tell
Speaker 3: in just speaking with you do. I love it, and
Speaker 3: it's electrifying when you're someone with your talent, it's electrifying
Speaker 3: to be on stage.
Speaker 7: You're so lovely. Say that is so much.
Speaker 5: That's the thing that makes me cry to hear that.
Speaker 7: I'm very grateful.
Speaker 5: Thank you. That's very You're very glind to say that.
Speaker 4: That's kind of you to say, but I mean it.
Speaker 3: If your mother wanted you to stop and you don't
Speaker 3: like fame, what makes you keep going.
Speaker 5: That's a very good question, because humans are fascinating. The
Speaker 5: capability that we have to change.
Speaker 6: The world with our energies. If we can all align,
Speaker 6: that's magic. That is magic, and when you feel those energies,
Speaker 6: wherever you.
Speaker 5: Are in the world, you can sense it.
Speaker 6: I've always been that person.
Speaker 5: I've always been someone who.
Speaker 6: Believes and has hope when all hope is gone because
Speaker 6: I've had to and I'm grateful for that, because I
Speaker 6: never ever want to lose hope.
Speaker 5: Peb I never want to lose.
Speaker 3: So we have to take a quick break, but we'll
Speaker 3: be right back with more from Kala Settle.
Speaker 2: Stay with us, and we're back. Kayola, You're someone who
Speaker 2: gives me so much hope whenever I see you perform,
Speaker 2: and I know I'm not the only one who feels
Speaker 2: that way. I mean, seriously, watching you in The Greatest
Speaker 2: Showman as Letty singing this is Me gave me goosebumps
Speaker 2: and it still does.
Speaker 1: But I read that for you.
Speaker 2: You actually struggled in that spotlight with Wicked coming out
Speaker 2: in time for Thanksgiving? Have you thought about how you're
Speaker 2: going to handle the reception to this project and.
Speaker 1: How you made me tell no Look, here's the deal.
Speaker 7: I love doing what I do.
Speaker 5: I absolutely love it. I love it so much that
Speaker 5: if I can't do it on a live stage, on
Speaker 5: an acting.
Speaker 6: Platform, if I can't do it on a television show,
Speaker 6: if I haven't got the opportunity to do it on
Speaker 6: a film, I will find another way to do it.
Speaker 6: And I'm about to, ironically enough, I'm about to start
Speaker 6: going on the music end of it. A couple of
Speaker 6: years ago, I did my first ever and I was
Speaker 6: going to say last, but that's not happening. My first
Speaker 6: ever concert that was just about my life and why
Speaker 6: I was here and how I got here, and a
Speaker 6: lot of it was me understanding where this is me
Speaker 6: lies in my life because it was just a song
Speaker 6: I sang, and then all of a sudden it became like, oh,
Speaker 6: she's this, She's a.
Speaker 7: Victim for the world.
Speaker 1: That's a lot. That's a lot. Kerry. Yeah, you're the.
Speaker 6: First person in an interview that ever said that to me,
Speaker 6: and I cannot say you I am you say that
Speaker 6: it is a lot because I I lost my mother
Speaker 6: and then all of a sudden it turned into this
Speaker 6: thing over and up literally overnight, and I was being
Speaker 6: put in the face of this and the face of that,
Speaker 6: people were expecting me to understand what it all was.
Speaker 6: And on top of it, I was allowing it all
Speaker 6: to happen because you know, for the greater good of
Speaker 6: the film, for everyone that was there, because they are
Speaker 6: all lovely. And when I did that, I absolutely suffocated
Speaker 6: any chance of me being who I was because it
Speaker 6: getting squashed because they just wanted to see the victim
Speaker 6: of the world, which I had never been. But all
Speaker 6: of that to say, I only started taking accountability for
Speaker 6: my own involvement in me losing who I was like
Speaker 6: three or four months ago, because I understood.
Speaker 3: It in hearing you sort of pushing the fame away,
Speaker 3: which makes total sense. I think of UK mass singer
Speaker 3: and now that makes total sense to me because you
Speaker 3: get to perform without anybody realizing that it's you.
Speaker 4: This is like the perfect job for you.
Speaker 6: Ah. I absolutely loved it, and I are we allowed.
Speaker 7: To custle this?
Speaker 4: For sure?
Speaker 1: Go for it?
Speaker 7: Oh great.
Speaker 6: I was shitting breaks wow box because I still thought
Speaker 6: that everyone could see me. So I was so afraid
Speaker 6: to sing some of these songs that I was hiding
Speaker 6: and tucking my face as far as I could thinking
Speaker 6: that I could just whisper.
Speaker 7: And no one could hear me. I have a bloody
Speaker 7: by God, close you.
Speaker 1: Well to catch everybody up.
Speaker 3: You were dressed up as an air fryer, that's correct,
Speaker 3: which is hilarious when you're on that show.
Speaker 1: Do you get any say in the costume that they
Speaker 1: put you in?
Speaker 7: Yes, that was the.
Speaker 6: First thing they showed me, and they couldn't even get
Speaker 6: out the explanation for it. They had all of these
Speaker 6: sketches and the first thing they showed me was this
Speaker 6: blind out sketch of an air fryer, and I said, that's.
Speaker 4: The one, And do you choose what song you sing?
Speaker 6: I tried to some of them. I did, and then
Speaker 6: there were a couple that the network had asked me
Speaker 6: to do, which I did guy absolutely, because I also
Speaker 6: knew that this was a learning experience for me. I
Speaker 6: understand very plainly in my life when things come and
Speaker 6: go in my life, every single thing is a lesson,
Speaker 6: whether it's a recurring lesson or a brand new lesson,
Speaker 6: and I need to learn something from it. That very
Speaker 6: early on that I got on that, and to always
Speaker 6: be when I'm learning now is to always be ready
Speaker 6: for it. And not in anxiety, but to just breathe
Speaker 6: and kind of go right.
Speaker 7: You have no expectation at all.
Speaker 6: You are here to just be as much love as
Speaker 6: you possibly can, because that's what you want, so be
Speaker 6: that for yourself. So I try and do that every
Speaker 6: second of every day. And sometimes I'm acceptable and sometimes
Speaker 6: I'm not. But that's the beauty of being a human.
Speaker 6: You can always go back and try and keep doing
Speaker 6: it again.
Speaker 3: So when you decide to take on these roles in
Speaker 3: New Zealand, in Sydney, in la it requires a ton
Speaker 3: of travel. It's similar to the life of a comedian.
Speaker 3: Do you care about making your space a home in
Speaker 3: London or is it just a space that you pass through?
Speaker 6: Now?
Speaker 5: Of course I do.
Speaker 8: I mean I've just got a penny I put in
Speaker 8: right before it. But to be fair, everything is been permanent.
Speaker 8: That's one of the one things I wish we could
Speaker 8: all understand. Nothing is set in stone. Everything is temporary. Yeah,
Speaker 8: I'm not going to be here forever, but I do
Speaker 8: know that while I'm here, I want a patio, So
Speaker 8: I'll go a patio.
Speaker 5: While I'm here. I'm going to make sure my dog
Speaker 5: hats fresh food that I can get mailed and.
Speaker 7: Delivered every month that I could put in a freezer.
Speaker 7: That's what I get.
Speaker 6: When the time comes for us to leave, to go
Speaker 6: back to the States, to go to Australia, wherever to go,
Speaker 6: to Italy to go, the possibilities are endless.
Speaker 1: Kay Ala.
Speaker 2: I will be in theaters on opening day for Wicked.
Speaker 2: I will be cheering you on. And now that I've
Speaker 2: spoken to you, you can bet I'm going to tell
Speaker 2: whoever my friend is that's with me, like I know her,
Speaker 2: we had her on our podcast.
Speaker 1: That's my friend.
Speaker 2: But this is truly this is about to be a
Speaker 2: really big year for you, a really big season for you.
Speaker 2: It's really really exciting. What are you saying yes to
Speaker 2: in this season?
Speaker 6: I'm saying yes always in this season learning saying yes
Speaker 6: to me. I will always check in with me every morning,
Speaker 6: every night. It may be like that, or it may
Speaker 6: be a meditation, or it may be a just lying
Speaker 6: in bed going how are you doing?
Speaker 7: Thank you for being around. What I'm also saying.
Speaker 6: Yes to is every energy that is also willing to
Speaker 6: say yes in the hopes that the next moment will
Speaker 6: be there for all of us, not just one group
Speaker 6: of people, not just one person for all of us.
Speaker 2: I also think that's very Polynesian of you, Like, that's
Speaker 2: very much the Polynesian, that's the Polynesian spirit.
Speaker 7: You're right.
Speaker 6: If I remember going to New Zealand when we were kids,
Speaker 6: which was very rare. I think we went like twice,
Speaker 6: and every time we'd come back to Ha you with
Speaker 6: an empty suitcase because.
Speaker 5: We left it all there because I didn't have it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, they didn't have it.
Speaker 6: Our family lives, you know, everyone just knows all these
Speaker 6: beautiful star places in.
Speaker 7: All Middle Ast and all that.
Speaker 6: But when you get out into the guts of New Zealand,
Speaker 6: girls like a body all, let me tell you, you don't
Speaker 6: want to go by yourself.
Speaker 7: Don't do not by yourself.
Speaker 2: I'm totally that tourist that went to the Shire and
Speaker 2: just frolicked and did did did the American.
Speaker 7: Thank you for your money, Thank you for your mon.
Speaker 2: It is my pleasure. I will happily spend on a
Speaker 2: Shire experience. But truly New Zealand, I think about it
Speaker 2: all the freaking time. Lives rent Free in my head
Speaker 2: is like the most dentic, perfect place to live on
Speaker 2: this planet. And I know it's not like that in reality.
Speaker 2: But I also just I have so much respect though
Speaker 2: for how the New Zealand people live, how the Kiwis live,
Speaker 2: and also how much reverence, at least from the outside
Speaker 2: it seems there is for motory culture that we do
Speaker 2: not have here in the States. We do not acknowledge
Speaker 2: or honor our indigenous people in the same way that
Speaker 2: Zealanders do.
Speaker 6: It's also a thing that in order to do that,
Speaker 6: you've got to dig deep. I mean, I was afraid
Speaker 6: to do that because it was so intense that it
Speaker 6: scared the living daylights out of me. Until I went
Speaker 6: home this last time and dealt with almost everything that
Speaker 6: I needed to deal with, and seeing my aunties and
Speaker 6: uncles and hearing them talk about how hard my mother
Speaker 6: was and how difficult she was and how they loved her.
Speaker 6: It was the reality of all that, and also just
Speaker 6: accepting that the reason why I am who I am
Speaker 6: is because of this, also because of my father and
Speaker 6: the working class he came from from up north in Manchester.
Speaker 6: All of those bits and pieces and the hope that
Speaker 6: exists in me comes.
Speaker 7: From the United States of America.
Speaker 6: It's that thing that you can go I can make
Speaker 6: a dream happen. If I can dream it, I can
Speaker 6: do it.
Speaker 7: All of those things like.
Speaker 6: That, who I am for the fast time in old
Speaker 6: man's fifty years.
Speaker 5: I couldn't be more in.
Speaker 7: Love with myself.
Speaker 2: It's really freeing once you realize you don't have to choose. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: that you can embrace all of it. Yes, Cala, thank
Speaker 2: you so much for coming on the bright side.
Speaker 7: You guys are so lovely. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: Thank you for your time.
Speaker 3: Kayala Settle is a Tony nominated Broadway actress and singer.
Speaker 3: She'll appear in the upcoming movie adaptation of Wicked, coming
Speaker 3: to theaters this fall.
Speaker 4: That's it for today's show.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow, cookbook author and celebrity private chef Gobby Dalkin is
Speaker 3: here to talk about her fertility journey, grilling, and even
Speaker 3: slutty brownies.
Speaker 4: Yes I just said slutty brownies.
Speaker 1: You don't want to miss this thanks to our partners
Speaker 1: at Airbnb.
Speaker 3: Listen and follow the bright Side on on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: I'm Simone Voice.
Speaker 2: You can find me at simone Voice, on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok that's r o
Speaker 3: b A.
Speaker 1: Y see you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.