NZ-Persian artist CHAII drops VIP today via BMG, led by the self-directed video for So What, a track about falling, failing and getting back up that draws direct inspiration from D12’s Purple Pills.
by Paul Cashmere
CHAII has released her second album VIP, also known as Very Important Persian, today via BMG. The project arrives with the new single So What and a playful, chaotic self-directed video that channels the spirit of D12’s Purple Pills.
Produced by her husband and longtime collaborator Frank Keys, So What is framed by CHAII as a love letter to anyone who has been knocked down and kept going.
“As someone who loves working in the music business, I wanted to write an anthem about never giving up,” she says. “There are times when you’re celebrated and times when you feel completely unseen. So what? Your worth isn’t defined by how much attention you’re getting at any given moment. So what if we fall? So what if people don’t understand us? Who cares what anyone else thinks?”
The video, which CHAII directed herself and which was shot and edited by Taine Noble, leans into fun and deliberate disorder. “I remember watching Purple Pills as a kid and absolutely loving how playful and chaotic it was,” she says. “I wanted to capture that same sense of fun, not taking ourselves too seriously, embracing the ridiculous and just having a good time. We didn’t overplan the filming and shot it on the fly. I think that’s what makes the video perfect for the song and the message.”
VIP follows CHAII’s 2024 debut album Safar. That record earned six nominations at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, the most of any artist that year, along with a performance slot and a win for Best Engineered Release. The new album includes previously released tracks Ride or Die, Persian Cowgirl, Persianality and Call Me On My Cellular alongside So What.
CHAII describes VIP as the soundtrack to Planet Persia, a surreal, dreamlike space where Persian culture feels both ancient and futuristic, odd and familiar. In the narrative she has built, she falls through a mysterious portal and wakes in a place that feels like home yet looks like nothing she has seen before. Her grandmother, family and friends appear living different lives. Pieces of that world keep leaking into ours, inviting listeners to step through the portal with her.
“Inspired by the era I grew up in and the places I grew up in, Iran and New Zealand, VIP is a record that I hope can be the soundtrack to a part of my listeners’ lives,” CHAII says. “The way a rug is made over years and years, I feel like there are so many similarities to my career and how I’ve taken my time building everything in an intentional way, while still letting the music and the visual world speak for itself.”
The album was made at the gallery studio at BMG in Sydney, where CHAII and Frank Keys are now based. It marks a clear sense of arrival for an artist who has long navigated questions of belonging across cultures and places. CHAII has spoken of building a world she feels completely at one with at a time when more musicians are addressing the experience of not belonging to just one place or culture.
Born Mona Sanei in Ahvaz, Iran, CHAII moved with her family to Christchurch at the age of eight. Her childhood was split between the two countries, and that dual identity has remained central to her work. She developed an interest in sound engineering at high school in Auckland, later studying at SAE Institute and working as an audio engineer before releasing music under the CHAII name. Her early singles and EPs Lightswitch and Pineapple Pizza established a reputation for whip-smart lyricism, genre-blending production and a strong visual identity.
She was the first New Zealand artist selected for Spotify’s global RADAR program. Her songs have appeared in FIFA, Tony Hawk, Marvel’s Ms Marvel, Inventing Anna, Wellmania and Netflix’s The Old Guard, as well as campaigns for Apple, Fendi, KIA and Coca-Cola. Safar took her to SXSW in Austin, School Night in Los Angeles, New Colossus Festival in New York and MBC Persia TV in London.
CHAII writes, produces, engineers and directs her own work, maintaining control from the first beat to the final frame. VIP continues that approach with a concept that is both personal and expansive. The album presents Persian culture through a lens that feels lived-in and forward-looking at once, grounded in the places that shaped her while refusing to stay fixed in any single tradition.
With VIP now available, CHAII has delivered a record that builds deliberately on the foundation of Safar while opening a new visual and narrative world for listeners to enter. So What stands as its clearest early statement: a track that acknowledges setbacks without letting them define the outcome, delivered with the same playful energy that runs through the accompanying video.
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