Kiwi singer Moses Mackay has a wide range of fans. Some people approach the 33-year-old to tell him how much they enjoy his dulcet voice in international singing sensations Sol3 Mio, while others are keen to chat about his on-screen love life.
“When people start with, ‘I saw you on The Bachelor!’ I know what type of questions are about to follow,” smiles Moses, who starred in the reality show in 2021. “People assume I have ladies around me all the time!”
With his Sol3 Mio cousins Pene (left) and Amitai Pati.
In fact, these days, the heartthrob is single and laser-focused on his music. Moses, who grew up on Auckland’s North Shore, has recently released his solo album Grace, which the singer says felt like going on a quest.
“I jumped on the plane and took off to LA,” Moses recalls. “I had ideas in my pocket, but I had no idea what I was gonna do with them. It was crazy.”
Crashing on the couch of a musician friend and spending his days recording in a Hollywood studio, Moses found himself brushing shoulders with musicians he’d long idolised – like the night the Black Eyed Peas’ songwriter lent him a pair of pants when he got turned away at the door of a gig for wearing shorts.
But being far from his home base had its challenges.
“I left everything behind,” tells Moses, who made the difficult decision to leave a relationship in order to be able to focus fully on his dream.
“It felt like, ‘If I don’t do this, it’s never gonna happen.’ It was getting to that time. It felt right. You could say, ‘Well, we’ll call each other every day.’ But when you’re doing that, you’re neither here nor there – you’re in this limbo space. And as a writer, I’m trying to get these creations out. I knew I had to go do this.”
While recording Grace, Moses says he very much felt the presence of his grandmother, who the record is dedicated to.
“Grandma was my guiding light in the whole process,” Moses smiles. “She comes before any other woman in my life. She raised me as a kid, so the first 10 years of my life was basically spent with her.”
Moses’ grandmother has left a lasting impression on the star. “She comes before any woman in my life.”
His grandmother was a constant support to Moses as he struggled with his hearing, wearing conspicuous hearing aids to school. She passed when he was only 10 years old – and soon after, Moses began to complain of ear pain.
“The audiologist tested me again and was dumbfounded,” remembers the musician.
“He told my mum, ‘I’ve never seen this before. Moses doesn’t need hearing aids any more – his hearing is 100%.’ Apparently, I told my mum, ‘My nana gave me her hearing.’ It was a very pure moment.”
After his hearing aids were removed, Moses was able to hear birdsong for the first time. He credits this moment for sparking his interest in sound – a passion that persists.
He explains, “Mid-filming of The Bachelor NZ, I was sitting in a pub with the production team. I’d take a sip and put my beer up to my ear, then flick the glass. Eventually, one of the producers asked what I was doing. I explained how the frequency of the sound changes depending on the volume of the liquid and the fizz – real nerdy stuff. She said, ‘I can see why you’re single!'”
Still holding out hope he’ll meet his soulmate, Moses continues, “That’s me and I’m OK with it. For a long time, I tried to dull it down and fit the box or fit the relationship. Some of the loneliest times in my life have been in relationships because I compromised so much of myself that I didn’t know who I was any more.
“I don’t know too many people like me in New Zealand and that can feel a bit lonely, but I’m very much in the belief that when it happens, it’ll happen. I hope to find someone who really understands my world and I can understand theirs. I look to the old-school songs and the old-school films – that type of love inspires me.”
In the meantime, Moses has plenty to keep him busy.
“When you get to a point when you realise your purpose, your purpose becomes your passion and everything else becomes secondary,” he enthuses. “I’m always learning. I’m writing a soundtrack for a film at the moment. I have no idea what I’m doing, but I love that because it keeps me thinking.
“There’s a classical singing teacher in Italy I want to study with – I just always want to make sure I’m living up to my full potential.”
Smiling, he adds, “I dream of having kids one day. I want to be the dad who can say, ‘I gave life a crack – I had my dream and I went for it.'”
