N\u0101 H\u014dk\u016b Hanohano award-winning singer and songwriter Kimi\u00e9 Miner recently released her first original mele Hawai\u02bbi, or song written entirely in \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi.<\/span><\/p>\n That song, \u201cKu\u02bbu Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d is the title track of a five-song extended play that dropped Nov. 14, 2025. This week, Miner is playing that song \u2014\u00a0along with ones from other albums \u2014 at the Swell Restaurant & Pool Bar at the \u02bbAlohilani Resort Waik\u012bk\u012b Beach on Friday, Feb. 6. The event runs from 6 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Get tickets.<\/u><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n February marks Mahina \u02bbOlelo Hawai\u02bbi, or Hawaiian Language Month<\/u><\/span><\/a>, making the performance even more special.<\/span><\/p>\n The Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter was drawn to music at a young age and taught herself guitar. <\/a>She began writing original songs as a teenager, according to her website. Miner attended Kamehameha Schools <\/a>where she was a boarding student.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have a bunch of new music, and I didn’t know how to best share it \u2014 or what to share first \u2014 so I decided to anchor in to Hawai\u02bbi, my home where I live, and this place I love so much,\u201d Miner told Aloha State Daily. \u201cSo \u02bbKu\u02bbu Hawai\u02bbi\u2019 is the theme of just my beloved Hawai\u02bbi.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The first few songs focus on where she has been since she last released music, she said. \u201cKu\u02bbu Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d is her first original mele Hawai\u02bbi, written entirely in \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat was really important to me to anchor this album in the language of this \u02bb\u0101ina, of this place,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd then we go all over the place \u2014 all over the Island \u2014 from there. It\u2019s just a fun reflection of where I’ve been.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The new release of music includes five tracks: \u201cKu\u2019u Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d \u201cSippin\u2019 Somethin\u2019\u201d (with Kala\u02bbe), \u201cSweet Island Air\u201d (with H\u0101wane Rios), \u201cLove in Me – Interlude\u201d (with her daughter, \u02bb\u014cmealani), and \u201cWhere I Belong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The interlude track, \u201cLove in Me,\u201d focuses on learning to love yourself, she said. <\/span>It also shares Miner\u2019s hope that her daughter and future generations of w\u0101hine also carry on this love.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then at the end, the last song is \u02bbWhere I Belong,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd that’s really my return to myself. That I am the mountain. And I talk about the history \u2014 it\u2019s layers and layers \u2014 but our\u00a0mo\u02bbok\u016b\u02bbauhau, or our genealogy. Where we come from, who we are, who made us what we are, and the realization that I am that mountain I’ve been trying to climb. It’s really about return to self and acknowledging the path that you were on, the journey that I’ve been on, and then coming home to myself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Miner, who is the mother of three keiki, credits her children with influencing her music, especially the al<\/span>bums: \u201cProud as the Sun,\u201d \u201cHawaiian Lullaby\u201d and \u201cChildren of the Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith each birth, I created an album as well,\u201d she said. \u201cSo I carried my babies and a piece of work that I wanted to share with the world at the same time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In 2018, she won <\/span>N\u0101 H\u014dk\u016b Hanohano Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year and Song of the Year (\u201cBamboo\u201d). She also won N\u0101 H\u014dk\u016b Hanohano Awards in 2020 and 2016. <\/span><\/p>\n Nearly a decade later, her guiding words are \u201caloha \u02bb\u0101ina.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi \u2014 or as I call it \u02bb\u014dlelo makuahine, which is the mother tongue of this place that we live \u2014 is super important and crucial as I think about my year,\u201d she said. \u201cThis year, my theme is aloha \u02bb\u0101ina. It’s the reciprocity of taking care of the land that takes care of us. And that can mean our bodies that take care of our soul. Or it can mean this actual physical place that we live on and taking care of that which takes care of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Her children attend an immersion school where learning is in \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi, she added.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMy keiki will be there, and I’m going to have them as part of the show,\u201d Miner said. \u201cThey’ll be speaking \u02bb\u014clelo Hawai\u02bbi. And I’m inviting their classmates because 12 [years old] and under is free, so I thought it would be really fun to invite a lot of the keiki who \u02bb\u014dlelo. We’ll do songs from the \u02bbHawaiian Lullaby\u2019 album and other songs that I think the keiki will like, too, so it’s a family event for sure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The title track, \u201cKu\u02bbu Hawai\u02bbi,\u201d was co-written by Miner and Brad Watanabe (The Green).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat was a really fun process to try to tell the story of all the places that raised me on the Big Island,\u201d she said. \u201cI would tell him the story, and then he would help me find the words. But I didn’t want it to be so eloquent or beyond where I’m at in my \u02bb\u014dlelo, so I wanted it to feel really simple and to the point. It’s not some massive saga or poetic thing. At the surface, it’s just straight up: This is the places I love. These are the places that raised me, and it’s my home, and this is where I’ll stay.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The track features vocals by Miner and Imua Garza (\u02bbOpihi Pickers). Casey Olsen plays steel guitar, while Garza provides bass, guitar, percussion and \u02bbukulele.<\/span><\/p>\n The last song in the EP, \u201cWhere I Belong,\u201d is also a collaboration, which talks about being a mountain. Miner worked with Nitanee Paris.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnother one I really want to mention is \u02bbWhere I Belong,\u2019 because I wrote that with Nitanee, and her name \u2014 it\u2019s an Indigenous name from another culture, but it also talks about the mountains that sprout out from the bones where people are buried,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, where her ancestors were buried, a mountain would grow. I love that we came together to write a song, and this is the song that we wrote. Because we both were on different journeys but meeting at the same place. That was really beautiful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Paris is based in Los Angeles, so the duo worked together via Zoom. On the second session, Miner brought in composer Chase Kauhane of Hawai\u02bbi Island. <\/span><\/p>\n The first time Miner sang the song all the way through, she was by herself with her \u02bbukulele on Kaho\u02bbolawe.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAs I sang: \u02bbCarving the image of my history. A love for this land is my legacy,\u2019 I was literally on the land of Kaho\u02bbolawe, which was bombed, which has craters and holes all in it,\u201d she said. \u201cI just felt it so much. I’m in this place. We’re doing ceremony and regreening the island. I’m taking care of that special place, but it’s also taking care of me and holding me as I share this song as an offering, a chance for healing for the Island. So it\u2019s a very special deep song for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0Get tickets.<\/u><\/a> Follow Miner on Spotify, YouTube<\/u><\/a> and Instagram<\/u><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n For the latest news of Hawai\u2018i,\u00a0sign up here<\/u><\/a> for our free Daily Edition newsletter.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/aloha-state-daily-img.imgix.net\/Articles\/ARWB_SwellVideoArtSeries__1428.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&q=75&auto=compress&fm=webp\")
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