If Vera Ellen thinks her music is Ideal Home Noise, we’d politely disagree. Some songs just feel like they were made for the Laneway Festival stage. Vera Ellen has a suitcase full of them. Take a listen to her debut album It’s Your Birthday (2021), her sophomore follow-up Ideal Home Noise (2023) or her recent EP heartbreak for jetlag (2024), and you’ll hear some of the sharpest indie-rock to come out of Aotearoa in years. With irresistibly catchy melodies and her signature conversational vocal presence, it’s clear that Vera Ellen is an exceptional talent. The judges for the Taite Music Prize think so too.