Tyrun re-imagines Niuean love in smooth new R&B single ‘Fila’

Aotearoa New Zealand’s pop scene has a fresh Pacific love song and it speaks in Vagahau Niue.

Auckland-based Niuean-Sāmoan artist Tyrun has released his new single Fila - short for Fall in Love Again - a smooth R&B track that explores the ups and downs of long-term love.

At its heart, the song reflects on commitment beyond the honeymoon phase. “I guess in its simplest form, it’s about long-term love, just believing in love almost being everlasting,” Tyrun tells Pacific Days.

Inspired by his own seven-year relationship, Fila looks at the reality that love is not always perfect or straightforward.

“Being able to let go of things, knowing that the love still exists or the love will come back,” he says. “Sometimes you do get to a point where you might have thoughts of inadequacy.

“Exploring that idea and being able to say that you still love someone, even if you have to let them go for a little bit, is really honest and really true to what love I think is.”

Watch Tyrun's full interview below.

Beyond romance, the track is also about language and belonging.

Proudly part of the Niuean diaspora in Aotearoa, Tyrun weaves Vagahau Niue into contemporary pop to help bring the language into modern music spaces.

While Fila is mostly English, it includes Niuean lyrics and the music video features subtitles translated fully into Vagahau Niue.

For Tyrun, who grew up feeling disconnected from his Pacific languages, that choice was deliberate.

“I wasn’t taught the language and we didn’t get taken around to any of the family things, so I wasn’t raised with it and I wasn’t super comfortable with it,” Tyrun says.

He hopes the song creates space for young Niueans who may feel like outsiders to their own culture.

Growing up, Tyrun saw himself reflected in the music of R&B icons Aaradhna and Adeaze, artists who brought Pacific identity into mainstream music. But he rarely heard Vagahau Niue in that space.

He says if Vagahau Niue had been visible in pop culture, “then maybe I would have connected earlier or I would have been able to find myself in the culture earlier”.

Fila single cover. Photo/Facebook

The sound of Fila began with Tyrun building the initial beats. The track was later produced and mastered by Jarna, while Kaysee Savali directed the music video, which stars Wellington’s indigenous artist collective, Shifting Centre.

The project was supported by PMN’s Moana Reo Media Fund, which backs Pacific language content and storytelling.

Tyrun, who is part of the Rainbow+ community, says bringing together culture, language, and identity in his music feels deeply personal.

He is set to perform at the Auckland Pride Closing Party this month before heading to CubaDupa in Wellington on 28 and 29 March.

“My family has been so supportive of me, regardless of what it is that I've wanted to do,” Tyrun says. “Especially when it comes to showing pride and who I am. For me to be able to bring all of those worlds together is always going to feel like a dream to me.”

Fila is available now on all major streaming platforms.