Take 5

Vika and Linda Bull are national treasures.
From their early days singing backing vocals with Joe Camilleri and The Black Sorrows to breaking out on their own with acclaimed records, they're part of the very fabric of Australian music, and they do it all in harmony. Their voices have soundtracked decades of Australian life, but it's the story behind those voices that makes them extraordinary.
Growing up in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster, they lived between two worlds: ordinary suburban school life during the week, and the rich, Tongan culture of their mother's homeland every Sunday at church. It was there, surrounded by four-hour services of soaring Tongan choral singing, that they learned harmony, not through formal lessons, but by feeling the floor vibrate beneath them. Their mother, a Tongan nurse who married an Australian man, taught them their parts at age five: Vika the high, Linda the low. A split that would define their sound for the next four decades.
Their career path was never straightforward. They started in their own band before taking a deliberate side step to join The Black Sorrows as backing vocalists; a six-year apprenticeship under Joe Camilleri that taught them everything from studio technique to stagecraft. It was Vika's voice on "Chained to the Wheel" that transformed the song, and the band's fortunes. But eventually, the pull to tell their own stories became too strong. A difficult conversation with Joe, encouragement from Paul Kelly to try writing, and a year of Thursday afternoon songwriting sessions set them on a new path.
This year, they released an incredibly personal new album reflecting on identity, culture, and mid-life (Where Do You Come From?). They were also inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, an honour that still bewilders two women who started as "a couple of backing singers."
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe at Bakehouse Studios in Melbourne, a rehearsal room the Bull sisters know intimately. They were warm, funny, and deeply emotional in exploring their extraordinary life across five songs.
Vika and Linda Bull's song choices: 
The Maopa Choir and Band - 'Halleluia Chorus (from The Messiah)'
The Rolling Stones - 'Gimme Shelter'
Bob Marley and The Wailers - 'Could You Be Loved'
The Finn Brothers - 'Edible Flowers'
The Staple Singers - 'Respect Yourself'
00:00 Introduction: Vika and Linda Bull, National Treasures
01:55 Childhood in Doncaster: Singing at Church at Five Years Old
04:15 First Song: The Maopa Choir and Band, 'Halleluia Chorus (from The Messiah)' 
07:11 Two Worlds: Suburban Doncaster and Tongan Culture
14:15 Visiting Tonga: "One of the Best Times of My Life"
15:51 Second Song: The Rolling Stones, 'Gimme Shelter'
20:58 Chained to the Wheel: Stepping Up in The Black Sorrows
23:21 Leaving The Black Sorrows: "We Gotta Give It a Crack"
27:44 Third Song: Bob Marley and The Wailers, 'Could You Be Loved'
30:48 Paul Kelly: "You Should Try Writing Songs"
35:21 The New Album: "Not Scared Anymore"
37:18 The Memoir: Finding the Confidence to Tell Their Story
38:46 The Punk and the Prefect: "Sisters First, Singer Second"
41:15 Fourth Song: The Finn Brothers, 'Edible Flowers'
45:06 Tim and Neil Finn: Sibling Harmony and Songwriting Lessons
47:23 Final Song: The Staple Singers, 'Respect Yourself'
51:38 ARIA Hall of Fame: "We Never Thought That Would Happen"
54:29 Zan's Wrap-Up: Season 5 Finale
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.
Watch this episode of Take 5 on ABC iview 
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-rowe

Genesis Owusu is one of Australia's most thrilling new artists.
Born Kofi Owusu-Ansah, he immigrated to Canberra with his family when he was just two years old. Almost immediately he felt like an odd one out. And he used that feeling to get weird.
20 odd years later, his music, visuals, and storytelling has resonated with millions. He's won the ARIA for Album of the Year twice (first for Smiling with No Teeth in 2021, and then with Struggler in 2023), and leads the nominations again this year for his third album, Redstar Wu & the Worldwide Scourge. All across the world people sing his praises. Barack Obama has a Genesis song on his summer playlist ('Gold Chains'). And he's done it all, his way.
Genesis Owusu's song choices: 
Cibo Matto - 'Birthday Cake'
N.E.R.D. - 'Rock Star'
Lupe Fiasco - 'American Terrorist [Ft. Matthew Santos]'
Prince - 'All the Critics Love U in New York'
Tyler, The Creator - 'I Think'
00:00 Introduction: From Ghana to ARIA Award-Winning Musician
02:06 Early Life: Family, Music, and Immigrating to Canberra
04:50 First song: Cibo Matto, 'Birthday Cake' & Jet Set Radio Future
06:35 "Ugly Was Also to Be Appreciated": Why Every Album Opens Abrasive
07:23 The Biggest Creative Influence: Jet Set Radio Future & Video Game Soundtracks
09:29 First Ever Favorite Song: Wu Tang Clan, 'Gravel Pit' (via the Original Xbox)
11:35 Second song: N.E.R.D, 'Rock Star' & Finding His Identity
20:08 The Tree Dream: A One-Man Band Playing to All the School Kids
21:34 First Rap: The Ansah Brothers & Parents' Reaction
25:35 Third song: Lupe Fiasco, 'American Terrorist' & Political Awakening
35:33 Fourth song: Prince, 'All the Critics Love U in New York' & Making Smiling With No Teeth
41:47 Winning the ARIA for Album of the Year
46:14 Side Quests: Learning New Skills Beyond Music
49:41 Fifth song: Tyler, The Creator, 'I Think' & The Power of the Album
51:32 Solange's Unsung Influence on Music Videos
54:59 Fear of Stagnation & Staying True to the 10-Year-Old's Mission
57:55 Wrap-Up & Next Episode Preview of Vika & Linda Bull
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.
Watch this episode of Take 5 on ABC iview 
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-roweTake 5: live in record stores
This November, we're heading into record stores with some very special guests - and we want you to come along.
Zan Rowe will visit four record stores in New South Wales and Victoria to record rare, intimate live episodes of the Take 5 podcast, which celebrates 20 years in 2026.
She's pulled out the Rolodex for this one, convincing Aussie legends The Presets, Dan Sultan, Kate Miller-Heidke, and her old mate John Butler to come along for the ride.
Find out all the details here.

Lainey Wilson is a force of nature.
Raised in the tiny farming town of Baskin, Louisiana (population 170) she grew up between corn fields and country radio, where music wasn't a genre but a way of life. From writing her first song at nine years old to hauling a camper trailer to Nashville at 19, her path to becoming one of country music's biggest stars was anything but overnight. It took a decade of hustle, a Hannah Montana wig, and an unshakable belief that if she could just get one opportunity, she could do the rest.
Now she's selling out arenas across the world, winning back-to-back CMA Entertainer of the Year awards, starring in Yellowstone, and counting Dolly Parton as a friend who called her "sister." Through it all, her southern charm and small-town values remain her compass; ride horses, sit on the front porch with your dogs, and never forget who you are.
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe. Lainey was warm, funny, and generous in sharing her extraordinary journey across five songs. The theme that emerged was clear: staying grounded is a choice you make every day, and being yourself is the bravest thing you can do.
Lainey Wilson's song choices: 
Mel McDaniel - 'Louisiana Saturday Night'
Lee Ann Womack - 'I Hope You Dance'
CCR - 'Lookin' Out My Back Door'
Brothers Osborne - 'I'm Not For Everyone'
Tim McGraw - 'Humble and Kind'
00:00 If Dolly Parton Believes in Me, Then I'm Fine
00:24 From Yellowstone to CMA Entertainer of the Year: "Cowgirl of the Night"
00:52 Daddy's Wisdom: "If You Tell All Your Business, You Ain't Got None"
02:44 First song: Mel McDaniel, 'Louisiana Saturday Night'
09:24 Nine Years Old in Nashville: "This Feels Like Home"
12:43 The Hannah Montana Impersonator: Five Years of Birthday Parties
14:39 Second song: Lee Ann Womack, 'I Hope You Dance'
19:00 Nashville Is a 10-Year Town and It Was Spot On
20:13 19 Years Old, 2011: A Camper Trailer Hauled to Nashville
23:19 Heart Like a Truck: The Breakthrough Single
25:59 Third song: CCR, 'Looking Out My Back Door'
30:13 Yellowstone, Grammys, and CMA Entertainer of the Year: "Since Taylor Swift"
30:49 "My Mind Is Always Racing": ADHD and the Song 'Can't Sit Still'
33:00 Fourth song: Brothers Osborne, 'I'm Not For Everyone'
37:52 TJ Coming Out as Gay: "Is Country Becoming More Welcoming?"
42:01 Fifth song: Tim McGraw, 'Humble and Kind'
45:09 Writing a Letter to Tim McGraw at 18: "All I Need Is an Opportunity"
47:07 Mama Meeting Dolly: "You're Like My Sister"
49:13 New Album: "Showing a Different Side and Pushing the Boundaries"
50:51 Zan's Wrap-Up: "I Could Listen to Her Speak All Day Long"
51:11 Watch Take 5 With Shania Twain on ABC iview
51:22 Next Time: Genesis Owusu
51:58 From Ghana to Canberra: "We Don't Have Time for the Honey and the Dress-Ups"
52:21 Season 5 of Take 5 With Zan Rowe. Stream on ABC iview
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.
Watch this episode of Take 5 on ABC iview 
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-rowe

Jacinda Ardern is a history-maker.
As Prime Minister of New Zealand at 37, she became only the second woman in the world to give birth while in office. But it was her leadership style that defined her time at the top, leading with empathy and kindness in the face of back-to-back tragedies, and showing the strength of coming together.
From growing up in small-town New Zealand singing country and western duets with her sister at the local community hall, to raging to Smashing Pumpkins in her first car with a discman plugged into the cassette deck, Ardern's musical taste has always been eclectic and deeply personal. She's the teenager who loved alternative music and heavy metal while being a dedicated student rep raised in the Mormon faith, and the world leader who chose a drum and bass track as her walk-on song.
Her career path was never straightforward. She ran from the possibility of becoming a politician, buying a one-way ticket to New York to escape the suggestion she should run for office. But a sense of responsibility (what she calls her "oversized sense of duty"), kept pulling her back. In 2017, everything changed in a single year: a by-election, deputy leadership, then the top job itself, all while secretly pregnant. She led her country through the Christchurch mosque shootings, the Whakaari White Island eruption, and a global pandemic, all while insisting that being human is not a weakness.
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe at the Australian Chamber Orchestra's studios on Sydney Harbour. Jacinda caught the ferry to the location, rolling up without any entourage, proving just how down-to-earth she is. She was candid, emotional, and generous in exploring her extraordinary life across five songs. The theme that emerged was clear: optimism as a courageous act, and the enduring power of being useful.
Jacinda Ardern's song choices: 
Smashing Pumpkins - 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings'
Fat Freddy's Drop - 'Wandering Eye'
Cat Stevens - 'Peace Train'
The Mountain Goats - 'This Year'
Shapeshifter - 'Stars'
00:00 Introduction: Jacinda Ardern Made History
00:54 "They Are Us": Leading with Empathy and Kindness
05:11 Song One: Smashing Pumpkins, 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings'
08:01 Teenage Angst: Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails
15:04 Song Two: Fat Freddy's Drop, 'Wandering Eye'
15:46 Sworn In as PM: Fat Freddy's Drop Playing on Parliament Steps
21:25 Cognitive Dissonance: Progressive Politics and the Church
22:02 Leaving the Church: "Something Had to Give"
25:39 Secretly Pregnant During Coalition Negotiations
27:49 Song Three: Cat Stevens, 'Peace Train'
28:55 Yusuf Islam Coming to New Zealand After the March 15 Terror Attack
33:13 The Christchurch Mosque Shootings: Finding Out in Bits
34:47 "Simply a Human Response": Why Emotion Isn't Weakness
37:25 "A Sadness I'll Carry for the Rest of My Life"
38:21 Song Four: The Mountain Goats, 'This Year'
41:19 Christchurch, Whakaari, COVID: "It Was Relentless"
45:43 "Nothing Left in the Tank"
46:54 "I Am Human. Politicians Are Human."
49:10 Song Five: Shapeshifter, 'Stars'
52:06 The Coffee Date with Clarke: Surprising Each Other
56:10 "15-Year-Old Jacinda Would Be Very Surprised. But I Think She'd Be Proud."
58:29 Zan's Wrap-Up: The Only World Leader with Drum and Bass as a Walk-On Song
58:44 Filmed at the ACO Studios on Sydney Harbour
59:10 Next Time: Lainey Wilson
59:55 Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe. Stream on ABC iview
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.
Watch this episode of Take 5 on ABC iview
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-rowe

David Byrne is a music icon.
With Talking Heads, or his many wild collaborations, and as an acclaimed solo artist, he's continually pushed the boundaries of sound, crafting some of the most iconic live performances of our time.
Over five decades, he's never stopped asking why. His curiosity has driven an extraordinary creative life that stretches way beyond music: on canvas, in writing, filmmaking, composing musicals. He's even designed bike racks.
From hearing Bob Dylan's mysterious words on a tiny radio and discovering James Brown's interlocking grooves, to forming Talking Heads at the Rhode Island School of Design and moving to New York's CBGB scene, Byrne has always followed his curiosity wherever it leads. He wrote his very first song, "Psycho Killer," as a test to see if he could write one at all, and it became an instant classic.
His collaborations read like a who's who of music history: Brian Eno, Arthur Russell, Parliament-Funkadelic, and even Celia Cruz. His 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense with Jonathan Demme remains one of the most celebrated live performances ever captured. And decades later, he's still rearranging his classic songs, finding new meaning in them, sometimes discovering, as with "Life During Wartime," that they feel more real and more close than ever.
This episode was filmed for Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe in a recording studio in Sydney while David Byrne was in Australia touring over the 2025/26 summer. He was jubilant, fascinating, and so generous in exploring his huge life across five songs. As a lifelong DB fan, the theme was clear: curiosity. And as David himself says, the answers don't come in the songs. They come in the live shows, in how we perform and how we are with one another.
David Byrne's song choices:
James Brown - 'Get On the Good Foot'
Joubert Singers - 'Stand On The Word' (Larry Levan mix)
Celia Cruz - 'Cucala'
James Blake - 'The Wilhelm Scream'
Caetano Veloso - 'Tropicalia'
00:00 Introduction: A Lifetime of Asking Questions
02:01 Meet David Byrne: Icon, Collaborator, Polymath
02:33 Extended Cut. Watch on ABC iview
02:55 The Theme: Curiosity and the Songs That Spark It
03:25 A Tiny Radio, The Byrds, and the Mysterious Words of Bob Dylan
04:45 James Brown: 'Get On the Good Foot'
05:09 Interlocking Puzzles: "I Treat Every Instrument as a Percussion Instrument"
05:34 The Social Metaphor of Funk. A Penny Drop Moment Decades Later
07:12 First Time Seeing James Brown Live: The Dancing Women Who Weren't Singing
08:37 Art School and Music as a Hobby: "Don't Get Your Hopes Up"
09:23 Rhode Island School of Design: Meeting Chris Frantz
09:52 Putting a Band Together and Writing the First Songs
10:39 Why Write Songs at All? "Just to See If You Could"
11:04 Writing "Psycho Killer" as a Test. And People Liked It
11:31 "Check That Box. I Can Write a Song."
12:12 Influences: James Brown, Disco, Bowie, and the Velvet Underground
12:54 Moving to New York: CBGB, Television, and Patti Smith
13:47 MTV and "Once in a Lifetime": Going Back to Art School for Music Videos
14:26 Joubert Singers: 'Stand On The Word' (Larry Levan mix)
14:53 Gospel in a Disco Club: The Shared Transcendence of Dance and Church
16:31 Hearing Talking Heads in the Clubs: "We've Been Validated"
17:11 My Life in the Bush of Ghosts: When the DJ Picked It
18:00 Losing Yourself: The Body Perceives Music Before the Mind
19:25 Trust and Surrender on the Dance Floor
20:01 Celia Cruz: 'Cucala'
20:41 The Latin Club Down the Street from CBGB
21:06 Dance Music Played Live: Salsa, Hips, and Sensuous Rhythms
21:56 Celia Cruz's Voice: "It Cuts Through Everything"
22:36 A Pinch-Yourself Moment: Recording a Song with Celia Cruz
23:12 Different Worlds: Spangly Outfits, Huge Hairdos, and Skinny Jeans
23:50 Collaborators Expanding: Arthur Russell's Cello Arrangement of "Psycho Killer"
24:44 Adding Parliament-Funkadelic Members: The Universe Keeps Growing
25:23 James Blake: 'The Wilhelm Scream'
26:03 Minimalism: "You Don't Have to Keep Piling Everything On"
26:51 Brian Eno vs. James Blake: Learning to Strip Things Down from a Song
27:18 Seeing James Blake Live and Discovering He's "a Great Singer"
27:43 James Blake the Producer: Pulling Things Apart and Stitching Them Back Together
27:58 Stop Making Sense: Showing the Audience How the Sausage Is Made
28:20 "You're Playing to Tracks, Aren't You?" Proving It's All Live
28:45 Breaking a Song Apart Onstage: One Instrument at a Time
29:09 Wireless Instruments and Witchcraft
29:21 Caetano Veloso: 'Tropicalia'
30:27 Caetano Celebrating Everything: "We Can Say Yes to All These Things"
30:50 A Mentor Who Keeps Evolving: "I Want to Be Able to Do That"
31:59 Political Messages in Flower Language: Getting Ideas Past the Censors
32:35 Learning from Caetano and Celia Cruz: Protest Songs Don't Have to Shout
32:58 "Years Ago, I Was an Angry Man"
33:31 Rearranging the Old Songs: They're Recognisable, But the Meaning Changes
33:57 Playing "Life During Wartime" Today: "It Seems Too Real, Too Close"
34:46 Licensing News Footage: "It Takes Your Breath Away"
35:17 Songs That Evolve Personally and Globally. Communion in Concert
36:32 What an Absolute Joy: David Byrne Across Five Songs
36:56 Next Time: Jacinda Ardern
37:31 Season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe. Stream on ABC iview
This episode was filmed for season 5 of Take 5 with Zan Rowe on ABC TV and ABC iview. You can stream the whole season on ABC iview now.
Watch this episode of Take 5 on ABC iview: 
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/take-5-with-zan-rowe