You’re about to hear a lot more from Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi, who goes by Teeks. The Maori soul singer is well known in New Zealand but is about to step onto a global stage with the release of his first full-length album in February. The 26-year-old is one of the country’s most promising talents; his 2017 EP, The Grapefruit Skies, was released to much critical acclaim. (His voice, deep and smooth as butter, has caused some to dub him the male Adele.) Today, Teeks is releasing a brand new music video for “Without You,” the lead single off his forthcoming record, and Vogue has the first look.
Teeks actually wrote “Without You” back in 2018, but felt it was an appropriate song to lead with for the new album. “It’s about longing,” he says. “Longing for someone, and not being able to be next to them. Having that emotional weight and feeling it so strongly that the pain becomes physical.” The singer feels the track has especially taken on a new meaning in today’s socially distant landscape. “Now the song doesn’t belong to me,” he says. “It’s for anyone to interpret it.” His new album has been two years in the making as well, but “Without You” provided an opportunity for Teeks to introduce his work from a more pared-back perspective; the lead single forces listeners to focus on the meaning of the lyrics and his hypnotizing voice. “I was pretty intentional about leading with that track, because it’s one of the most stripped-back songs on the entire album,” he says. “When you get into the narrative of the album, it’s about [that song]—emotional expression and wearing your heart on your sleeve.”
Directed by Tom Gould, the music video for “Without You” was shot in Hokianga, New Zealand back in January. “It’s my favorite place in the world,” Teeks says, adding that it’s actually the territory his father is from. (His mother is from the city of Tauranga, where he briefly lived as a child.) The video follows Teeks as he travels through Hokianga’s scenic landscape. “The ocean for me is symbolic of emotion,” he says. “The whole journey of me trying to reach the water is metaphoric. It’s me going into myself and being okay with that feeling.” He also added a cast of familiar characters to intensify the sense of longing: his sister, nephew, and an elder from his own community. “It was such a special moment in time for me to be able to go home and get people involved from my own community,” he says.
Having grown up entrenched in waiata and kapa haka, the Maori words for song and dance, Teeks says his culture continues to shape his sound and provides a through line to his work. (He also grew up listening to artists such as Bob Marley and Elvis Presley.) “Performing and singing is such a big part of our culture,” he says. “The way we pass on our history is through song and chants, so ever since I was young, I’ve always been singing. All my friends and everyone around me could sing, so I thought that’s just how everyone in the world was.”
Above, watch Teeks’s new music video for “Without You.”
