MNZ Interview: CoffeeBar Kid Cuts S02 / E02 – CHAII

During a break shooting acts at WOMAD Aotearoa 2025 Emily Gruar sat down with Mona Sanei (aka CHAII) For her first ever interview for Muzic.nz.

Iranian-born, Kiwi raised, producer, rapper songwriter, producer and sometimes creative director CHAII was enjoying her first time at WOMAD and getting ready to perform on the Gables stage later in the evening.

Keen ears will recognise her big hits, including Fun, the third single from her new album Safar which recently dropped.

They may already know her uplifting anthem of self-respect Main Thing and the ultra-cool Drippin’ In Gold, co-written alongside Tom Scott (Avantdale Bowling Club, Home Brew, @peace), with a theme urging you to stay focused on your dreams and plans. If you’ve watched any TV lately, it would be impossible to avoid snippets of her 2020 track Lightswitch, which is used in a Mercury advert.

After the success of her first two EP’s, 2020’s Lightswitch and 2021’s Pineapple Pizza landed CHAII a New Zealand Rolling Stone Awards nomination, coveted placements including soundtracking a Fendi campaign and gaming and TV soundtracks including FIFA 2021, Tony Hawk and EA Sports’ F1 22, Netflix’s Inventing Anna, and more, CHAII is gearing up to release her long-awaited debut album.

Her music is blowing up. In 2023 CHAII was named the inaugural NZ Spotify Radar artist, which spawned global attention. She’s also found her way onto countless influencer and DJ’s-to-know streaming platform playlists. And, if that’s not enough her tracks have featured in soundtracks for games like FIFA, Fortnite, Tony Hawk; ad campaigns for iPhone, Google, FENDI and the KIA car company. Even music spots on the music tracks of ‘Marvel’s Ms Marvel’, ‘Inventing Anna’, ‘Wellmania’ and ‘The Old Guard’, a film made by Netflix.

 

CHAII has collaborated with many artists including with Kings, Yoko-Zuna (of whom she’s had a 9 year working relationship) and many others. At the age of eight, CHAII migrated to New Zealand from Iran. So, it was natural for her music to be in both English and Farsi. Her latest album, Safar features a number of tracks in her mother tongue. There is plenty more to her story.

So how have you found WOMAD so far?

We got to WOMAD yesterday, last night, and we got to check out some acts at the Gable Stage and the Bowl. I have been dreaming to see the Bowl in person. I saw Nitin Sawhney, Delgres/Protoje & The Igdiggnation. It was awesome seeing that. Enjoying lots of good food and with my good friends. So, yeah.

Emily: So, I see you identify as a Kiwi-Persian artist, what does the term ‘Persia’ mean to you?

A lot of Iranians like to say ‘Persian’ as well. Because some Persian people are from Iran. But Persia overall a (very) large area of the East and, obviously, it’s not as simple (as just identifying one country, pointing to that and saying this is what Persia is. It’s a complex part of the world). I’m enjoying finding my identity. It’s just something you can say – either you’re Persian or Iranian. I like to kind of go between the two identities.

I read that it was one of your music teachers that encouraged you to explore mixing Persian music with hip-hop. Were there any role models you looked up too?

So, actually, I was the one that went to my teachers and told them I am trying to mix Persian and hip-hop music together.

And there was competition called Play It Strange. I don’t know if you heard of it but (the competition) is an awesome national competition for the schools. And you make something that’s different (challenging yourself as a songwriter).

And, so, I went to my teachers and said:’ Hey, I really want to make Persian music and Hip-Hop and Electronic Music. Back then it wasn’t even cool to say where you were from (like Iran) or your culture. But I have, literally. Since then, I’ve been continuing to mix the two (music cultures) and over the time there have been waves – But, yeah, I’m glad I stuck to it. Here I am at WOMAD!

When did you start making beats? I read you were really young. You were into it back then?

Yes. I started writing poems and, like, rap songs when I was 10, 11 learning English and then I started making beats when I was around 15 yrs, or so. All through High School. Then producing has been kind of been like an on-and-off thing for me. It’s always there but, yeah, I’d love to spend more time producing some new beats.

2020’s Lightswitch put you on the map (and every home thanks to that Mercury TV advert). You’ve been in the EDM scene for some time now. Your tracks appeared on everything from Fortnite to FIFA, soundtracks, adverts for iPhones, FENDI, KIA, even Marvel and Netflix films. How did that all come about?

Well. So, in the movie world, Netflix world and all that, there’s this whole process thing. Someone gets pitched towards these programs and these amazing publishers make the decisions as to whether the music fits their shows (It’s a ruthless process). But, also, at the end of the day it’s I think the music (that holds up). It’s really nice that they (the songs) get chosen for those shots because they (the producers) always look for something that’s different. I guess my music does that right now.

Sometimes (link in the case of the Marvel films) my sound is like ‘the future’. Or something like that that. It always felt amazing to know your music is getting recognised by these music supervisors. It’s cool that the music is a hit in the game and all my little dreams coming true.

I’m in awe that you made videos in Oman (Digebasse (Enough), Part one of a three-pronged project titled Safar (Journey), was partly filmed in Oman). How did that come about? Do you have any Whanau connections there?

No. I’ve worked in the music industry for some time, behind the scenes and I did a lot of videos. So, lots of different roles. I have my group of friends who I work with. And we made music videos for other artists. For Oman I just literally googled the place and (I found) this is what was the closest place to Iran I could travel to and film. (Prior to that) I’d never even heard of Oman. I made some mood boards, researched about what to do there, did some plans and, called my friends and said: “Lets come to Oman. Let’s go make some videos.”

I didn’t realise you were connected with Yoko-Zuna. How? Are they still in your live band?

Yes. So, Yoko-Zuna. Love the boys. Frank Keys (from the band) is my husband. The connection comes from when I meet Frank, and for a few years during, when Yoko-Zuna was touring, I would go along, film some of their shows. Then Frank and I started working on making some music together – that’s a few years after we met. We were kind of both doing our own thing. Then down the line we have come together. So, Yoko-Zuna will be here for my set. It’s like a full circle moment.

Safar came out last year. How’s that going? And you made a song with Tones and I, and Young Franco, (Can’t Get You) Off My Mind, which is going great guns nearly 4M streams on Spotify alone! How did you get connected with Tones and I?

Safar is going well. It came out last year and first album. So, lots of love went into it and me and Frank (Keys, Yoko-Zuna) worked on it for around three years to try and get it to where it is. You know. It’s our little baby. And it’s still pushing the album. And for Tones and I, it was actually kind of a cool collaborative project, which she picked up. I loved working with her

Safar means journey and travel. Why did you pick that for the album title?

The whole album is like a highlight of my whole journey. How it was built sonically and musically. I wanted it to be so that if you listen to the album from top to bottom it goes from more English, through Hip-Hop and techno, first, then slowly starts to get more Persian. That Influence (starts to infuse and take over). It ends with songs completely in Farsi. And if you listen to it the other way round it’s a different journey (from Iran to Aotearoa). Either way, it’s me and my dream. If I was to put it into to one album.

Thank you so much for your time. I’m so looking forward to your show tonight.

Thank you so much, I am super excited for WOMAD. I can’t wait to do more shows, going on tour soon, thank you.

 

Photo Credit: Tim Gruar