Hamilton mum-and-daughter busking duo delights TikTok
Just a month after she started busking, eight-year-old Miss Ally and her mum Jessie Matthews are getting selfie requests.
After deciding to take a road trip to their ancestral land in Whangārei this summer, Jessie and Ally (aka Miss Ally) had the "bright idea" of busking along the way.
They kicked off at the Ngāruawāhia markets on 20 December, and on Ally's suggestion, posted a clip of the performance on the TikTok account @mumandmebusking, waking up the next day to over 2,000 followers.
"It feels really heartwarming to see someone enjoy my singing," Ally tells Morning Report.
On Christmas Eve in Huntly, Jessie and Ally sang 'No Scrubs' and were given some caramel corn. Their covers of Chappel Roan's 'Pink Pony Club', Alanis Morrissette's 'Ironic', Connie Francis's 'Pretty Little Baby' and 'Have You Ever Seen The Rain?' (House of Shem version) have also proved popular.
Although Ally has been singing her whole life, she only became a busker about a month ago. Now the chatty eight-year-old is educating her international TikTok followers on this "really nice" way of performing as she learns what it's like to be famous.
"Usually [people] come up to me and they'll be like, 'Oh my gosh, are you guys mumandmebusking? We're like 'yes', and they're like, 'Oh, can we have a selfie?!'
"It feels really heartwarming to see someone enjoy my singing."
Ally says she really loved visiting her great-grandparents' resting place in Whangārei recently, and it's been "very special to have time with my mum and do something we both enjoy".
After visiting Whangārei, the pair have now hit the road again and in the next few weeks, will busk around Hamilton, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.
In the hope of reaching 10,000 TikTok followers, Ally and Jessie are now posting daily videos of their summer singing adventure.
Funds raised will mostly go towards overseas travel, Jesse says, but Ally is also "paying forward" some of it - this week delivering a gift to a Whangārei woman who'd served them breakfast - and enjoying a little spending money.
"She loves skincare. She's a normal eight-year-old. She'll buy herself a lip gloss."
