Zindzi & The Zillionaires’ make children’s music that adults can enjoy, making their upcoming Melbourne Recital Centre performance a treat for all ages.
With track titles such as YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY and TIME TO HAVE FUN, the project conspicuously targets a pre-teen audience, but frontperson Zindzi Okenyo was eager to make music that would please listeners of all ages.
“I really wanted to specifically try to create a kids’ record that wasn’t completely simplified,” Okenyo says, referring to the project’s self-titled debut album. “Kids these days are listening to popular music anyway, but it doesn’t have appropriate content a lot of the time.”
Zindzi & The Zillionaires
- Thursday 23 January 2025 at 10.30am
- Melbourne Recital Centre, Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
- Get tickets here
Keep up with the latest music news, features, festivals, interviews and reviews here.
View this post on Instagram
Okenyo worked on the Zindzi & The Zillionaires album with producer Lionel Towers (Gypsy & The Cat). The production draws on 90s and 2000s hip hop and R&B, with a touch of indie disco and 808-heavy trap.
“I wanted to make music that, for parents, they weren’t going to be too irritated by it,” Okenyo says. “Because, you know, if kids want to have it on repeat, then at least it’s something the whole family can enjoy.”
Zindzi & The Zillionaires recently won Best Album, Best Song (for MOVE YOUR BODY) and Best Newcomer at the 2024 Australian Children’s Music Awards. The album, which came out in November 2023, was also nominated for Best Children’s Album at the 2024 ARIAs.
Okenyo and the Zillionaires will be performing songs from the album live at Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday 23 January.
“I’m bringing along a couple of the Zillies, which are my furry creature friends,” Okenyo says. “They really get into the choreography, which is really fun. I also work with my long-time collaborator, Cat Hunter, who’s a drummer, and I’m also adding backup vocals; two really beautiful young African Australian girls.”
Despite taking place in the Recital Centre’s stately Elisabeth Murdoch Hall, the show will be interactive, and the kids will have a chance to meet Okenyo and the Zillies. “That is a really important part of the kids’ music scene,” Okenyo says. “Kids can meet the Zillies and cuddle them and meet me and we’re going to plan some activities around it as well.”
Zindzi & The Zillionaires is just one of many creative endeavours keeping Okenyo busy. Over the last decade, she’s released adult-oriented hip hop and R&B under the mononym OKENYO, including the Native Tongues-esque single Woman’s World in 2017 and 2021’s Best Friend, a collaboration with Saweetie, Doja Cat and JessB.
Okenyo has devoted the bulk of her professional life to acting and directing on stage and screen. Highlights from her lengthy CV include leading roles in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband and Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing, and co-directing Aleshea Harris’ hip hop and Afropunk-inspired Is God Is alongside Shari Sebbens.
“I’m always busy, but I like it that way,” says Okenyo. “And also, as an artist you can’t just wait for other people to give you opportunities. You’ve got to create them yourself.”
Okenyo has also been a presenter on Play School since 2013. Her various skill sets coalesce in Zindzi & The Zillionaires. “On Play School I learned how really to engage with children and I learned a lot about early childhood education because the show takes that really seriously; there’s always an advisor there.
“So, I’m taking my love of rap and R&B and hip hop and my music skills and performing skills and melding the two things,” she says.
One significant lesson Okenyo has learned from Play School is that kids tend to have quite discerning taste, and they’re just as interested in quality as their adult associates.
“We are taught as Play School presenters to look down the camera and speak to one child so that that one child feels that we are not condescending and not dumbing down,” she says. “We’re on their level and we’re interested in understanding the world from their point of view.”
Okenyo carries this ethos over to Zindzi & The Zillionaires. “It’s a big, great responsibility, but I think if you can somehow influence a child, in terms of helping them be kind and thoughtful and confident, then I think that’s a great contribution. So that was very much part of why I chose the themes that I did for the record.”
Zindzi & The Zillionaires are performing at Melbourne Recital Centre on Thursday 23 January. Get tickets here.
This article was made in partnership with Melbourne Recital Centre.
