As a DJ who loves singing, Ponz is all about the connection

Although she finds December in the UK pretty cold, Pondes is starting to settle into her new home and says she feels "super happy" to be connecting with friends from the dance music scene, like the electronic group Hybrid Minds.

After playing Kiwi festivals like Bay Dreams and Soundsplash - "probably my favourite moments in my entire life" - the musician says she felt like she'd hit the ceiling with her music career in Aotearoa.

"I'd probably played the biggest shows that I could play, without expanding that audience a little bit, and was also just ready for a change and to do something a little bit different," she tells RNZ's Music 101.

Pondes - who DJs, sings and MCs at the same time - says that, as an audience member,she's always been "more into the performance side" of a DJ set. When she's behind the decks herself, connecting with the crowd is key.

"I feel like it makes such a difference if a DJ actually connects with you. It was just what I really liked out of a set, and then also I loved singing, so that bit was easy.

"I just really try to make my sets more performative and more about the people going to them. Most people don't really know exactly what's going on the DJ side of things, apart from the other DJs that are there, so I just want to make it more about the people.

"Anyone can push play, but when people really connect with you, that's when you're actually like, 'Oh, that was a really, really cool show and I would like to go again'."

Making When It's Late and creating visuals for the album ended up being a dedicated two-year journey, which was a "big learning experience", Pondes says.

"I've learned so much about myself, and about my songwriting style and everything. I'm just so grateful to have been able to do it."

The music video for the album's opening song, 'Hideaway'- filmed on the streets of London - was made with the help of some other New Zealand friends who've also relocated to the UK, she says, including Christchurch-born pop artist Bexy (Bexy Shingleton).

"I just knew whatever [Bexy and I] did, it was going to be fun, and that's totally what kind of came across in the music video. Honestly, it worked out so much better than I could have ever imagined - it's a great video.

"['Hideaway'] takes you through this emotional kind of experience of when two people know that they both really like each other or want to be together, but are kind of scared to be the first one to say it.

"That sets up the album for this chaotic mess of my early 20s, which is kind of what it's all about."