Young Ōamaru singer-songwriter Winnie Conlan is living her best life.

The 16-year-old Waitaki Girls’ High School pupil has just been to Auckland with a small group of young songwriters for a special evening with Kiwi musician Bic Runga.

The group got to watch the artist rehearse two new songs with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra on Friday night (September 5), in preparation for a concert the following night, followed by a Q&A session.

Winnie was invited to take part, after coming second, out of almost 200 entries, in the Play it Strange Peace Songwriting Competition with her song One-Sided Love Getaway.

The song was inspired by watching others her age going through relationships, and not having experienced that yet herself, she says.

Play It Strange is a charitable trust established in 2003 by Split Enz founding member Mike Chunn, which supports and encourages young New Zealand songwriters to write, record, and perform their own songs.

The other Play It Strange competitions include Junior Songwriting (years 9-11), National Songwriting (years 9-13), Waiata Māori, as well as the Strange Art Competition (for album cover art).

There are 50 finalists in each category, and each finalist wins the opportunity to have their song professionally recorded to the value of $800, for a compilation digital album.

Winnie spent a day at Sublime Studios in the Waitaki Valley last month, and just received the finished result a couple of days ago.

“So hopefully it'll be going on Spotify next month.”

Only about 12 finalists took up the last-minute chance at the session with Bic, and Winnie herself didn’t really think it was an option.

“When they emailed me saying that it was an opportunity, I kind of assumed I'm not gonna be able to go because it's in Auckland . . . and I got [the email] the week before.

“So I showed it to my mum, just because I was like, ‘look at how cool this is’ and then she was like, ‘okay, we'll make it work’, and I was like, ‘actually?’.

“So I got to go, which was amazing. I’m so grateful to my mum for taking me.”

Winnie and her mother Metka Conlan (middle row, far left) with other Play it Strange finalists and Bic Runga (back, right). Photo: Supplied

Winnie says Bic Runga is one of the artists she has grown up listening to, and she was excited that she had been one of the judges who chose Winnie’s song.

“She gave me comments on it, which is awesome.”

In Auckland, Winnie got to ask Bic several questions about songwriting during the group Q&A.

“And her favourite song and why it means so much to her.”

Writing and performing solo is a relatively new experience for the teen. 

She and best friend Olivia Morriss (16) perform together as Winnie and Liv, and have been writing their own songs and performing together since they were in year 9.

“When we write songs together, she generally writes the lyrics, then I write the chords, and then we write the melody together and our own harmonies, and build it off that, kind of.”

Both girls sing, with Winnie on the piano or guitar, and Liv on the bass guitar.

The duo were winners at last year’s regional Rock Quest heat, and earlier this year also won the Ōamaru Jazz and Blues Festival Talent Quest.

Their prize for the talent quest was also a recording session at Sublime Studios, where they laid down their first four-song EP, with their dads, Craig Conlan and Jay Morriss, as backing musicians.

Winnie (left) and Olivia at Sublime Studios. Photo: Supplied.

The four songs they recorded were Pretty like Purple, Queen of Hearts, Training and Bigger Man. 

The tracks now require final editing before they are released, which they just heard will be paid for by funding from the Ruby Marris Trust.

“Because we won the Jazz and Blues Talent Festival, that gave us the opportunity to go and record a song. And then Steve [Harrop, owner of Sublime] was really generous and said that we could record four if we wanted.

“So we went and recorded four, but we haven't quite finished them, and it's gonna be a lot of money to finish them.

“So that is amazing.”

The girls have also applied for other funding to record a whole album, which they are in the process of writing.

Winnie performed one of her own original songs for the first time last year.

“Then me and Dad had been working on the song that I submitted since January.

“We were just kind of working it out ourselves, and Dad was learning all the mixing, and we recorded all the elements ourselves, and then we saw the Play It Strange Competition and we just decided, within a week, we should enter it.

“So we put it in. I wasn't really expecting anything, and then I got second!”

Aside from music, Winnie has also been Highland dancing since she was three and does a lot of musical theatre, so she’s had a lifetime of being up on stage.

“I definitely still get nervous before I go on, but when I'm performing, I'm not normally nervous. It’s just always fun.” 

When she finishes high school, she is considering a double degree in psychology and performing arts. How that looks exactly depends on where she ends up studying.

“Theoretically, I'd love to make a career out of music, but obviously that's quite hard to make happen, so probably, that's my dream."

To hear Winnie and Liv perform live, catch them at Ōamaru’s Penguin Club on September 20.

Olivia and Winnie, performing live. Photo: Supplied