NZ Hayley News

[stevemacdonald]

I'm bothered by the new article's reference to Charlotte Church as a "foul mouthed strumpet". That's so below the belt it's not funny.

Hayley herself has met Charlotte and has always stated that she is "lovely" when asked to describe her.

Was it really necessary for the author to slam the competition so harshly in order to champion the local heroione?

Hayley would be well advised to distance herself from this odious comparison.

[Belinda]

To answer your question , Steve ,Why the author said what she did has alot to do with the way Charlotte acted on her New Zealand trip towards the media.I had saved some articles ,but there was nothing nice in it .and i probably threw them out,she made a real fool of herself while here .
I think the first view of Charlotte New Zealand got was her two fingers.
Hayley did meet Charlotte about 3 years ago she may have been lovely at that time.Although i did remember hearing that Charlotte really was more interested in texting her boyfriend who was outside the venue in the car.
I'll see if i've still got the articles from when Charlotte was here.

Belinda

[roger]

Hi Steve - good to see you here.

The author to whom you refer presumably thought those comments were in order to sell more copies! Scandel = money, seemingly! I can see no other reason for it.

I certainly agree that Hayley would do well to distance herself from such odious comparisons and I'm sure she would if only the press would let her.

Regards,
Roger

[Belinda]

Hi Roger ,
Sorry to disagree but the author was just stating the facts.so i really don't have any problem with what she said.I think that she just mean't talking to Hayley was a pleasure and the reception they got from Charlotte wasn't.
and for selling more papers ,its a free paper.

I still think it was a very nice article but yes they should have left any mention of Charlotte out of it.
Belinda

[stevemacdonald]

Belinda, with all due respect, how can labeling Charlotte a "strumpet" (dictionary definition: "prostitute") be a case of "stating the facts"? It was, at best, a viciously catty remark -- in an otherwise delightful piece on Hayley, which, by the way, I was thrilled to read!.

[portia]

In response to Jeremiah, I think both Charlotte and Hayley are nice young ladies who are growing up and neither feel the need to be compared to each other. Sermonizing about it won't help.

And really, foul mouthed Charlotte may be (but then, aren't we all), strumpet she is not. She's stated time and again that when she's with a boyfriend, she won't even look at another man.

[fusilier23]

I think it is necessary to look at this from the standpoint of the writer, who I presume is a Kiwi.

To the New Zealanders Hayley's more than just a beloved performer as she is in the UK, she's the local kid who became a star, but never forgot where she came from. Chances are the writer knew or at least met Hayley starting out, before she hit the big time. For all we know the writer's kids may have been friends with Hayley or her siblings or known someone who was. She's the equivalent of Mario Lanza coming back to Philadelphia and shaking hands with his old neighbors or Ronan Tynan making the rounds in his old town in Ireland.

Against that, Charlotte's an outsider who came to New Zealand most recently not to perform or even do a personal appearance, but just to see Gavin play, yet did not keep the fact that she'd be there quiet. When the reporters approached her, as they inevitably were going to, she cursed them out and became abusive. To this day the press in NZ has not forgiven that, and, in this writer's opinion, they are under NO OBLIGATION OF ANY KIND to do so, as no forgiveness has been asked for. The NZ press is not on CC's side the way the Welsh press needs to be to some degree, since she's Cardiff's only bona fide star and without her the gossip columnists would be out of work.

That said, the comparisons with CC are wearing thin as the gap between the two widens further and further, and probably should be abandoned, they are two totally different people with two totally different styles of music, two totally different backgrounds, and two totally different worldviews. But they won't be, the press everywhere loves comparing good girl against bad girl and it sells papers, the UK press can't turn away from CC, and the NZ press has a somewhat justified grudge now.

It's for us, the fanbase, to decide what comments made by the press mean anything and what comments mean nothing, and, as intelligent, educated, wise people of goodwill, we have the ability to sift away the irrelevant and the merely sensational.

The bulk of this article paints a wonderful picture of a wonderful person with wonderful talent that has only in the past year and a half gone from bud to full-fledged blossom, and shows no sign of withering anytime soon. There's room to relax and room for a twinkle and a joke, and hopefully room for love eventually, but all things in moderation and in their proper time. There is a slight implication that niceness can equal blandness, but anyone who's met Hayley knows that niceness means she's a person you actually enjoy being with and that you wake up the next day glad you met her. Although she's certainly human, she's a wonderful example of what this race can produce.

It might be a mistake to think that Hayley's always going to be exactly as she is now, or even that she's always going to be as active, life simply dictates otherwise, but hopefully not too much. But, for now, in words set by Sir Arthur Sullivan, "Ere life grows old, and hearts grow cold, and the autumn gathers gray, with heart and voice in your youth rejoice, and merrily keep your May!" We're only into the early days of May with Hayley, and I think it will be a long bright June, July, and August ere the fiery colors of autumn start to show themselves.

[Belinda]

"whoops i did it again" upset the apple cart.
If i'd thought about it i could have left the Charlotte bit out when i typed it out.
I'll think twice now about what i post.

Belinda

[fusilier23]

Sorry Belinda, silly me, I should have just kept quiet.

[Belinda]

Fusilier it was nothing you said ,i agreed with most of what you said
Thanks
Belinda

[Oksana]

Hi Belinda!

Thanks for typing up the article! Apart from the Charlotte thing, I liked it. It's the kind of story that would make me interested in a celebrity I've never heard of before.

Oksana

[fusilier23]

all the same I decided to step back a bit. Things like this set me off.

[hayleydisca]

hi Belinda,
Cool interview!!

[roger]

Hi everyone,

Belinda was right to post that article and fusilier was right to respond in the way he did. Like Belinda, I agree with practically every word he said.

Just because an article from the press is posted here doesn't necessarily mean that the person who made that post agrees with it's content. If HWI staff and forum members post such press coverage selectively, it amounts to censorship which we try to avoid except in the most serious of cases.

We all know how we feel about Hayley, and about Charlotte, and about the all-too-frequent comparisons. So I hope we can now conclude the topic and look forward to the next "NZ Hayley News" item.

Best wishes to all,
Roger

[spiderman]

hi all, just a couple of little things that have surfaced in the last while. i hope they havent come up somewhere else... robert


Dominion Post 14/02/2006, pB4
DIARY

The ever-polite Hayley Westenra delighted Air New Zealand staff in business class when she signed autographs as she jetted off after her
recent nationwide tour. The Kiwi songstress, pictured, posed for
photographs with the upper-deck cabin crew and signed a steward's shirt
at the end of the 11-hour flight from Auckland to Los Angeles. It is a
busy start to the year for the Christchurch-born singer, who will spend
this month touring with Il Divo in the US, before heading to Canada in
March.


Christchurch Press 06/02/2006, pA2
* Christchurch pop diva Hayley Westenra. "I think what's great about
Waitangi Day is it really celebrates the uniqueness of New Zealanders
and Kiwis. "I'm going to be on a plane flying from Atlantic City to Toronto. It's
my day off, and I'll be thinking of home."