Northland soul sensation Teeks has won his first Tui, taking out the Te Māngai Pāho Best Māori Artist award at the NZ Music awards.
And if the pundits are right, it won't be the last, with the young artist also winning accolades from critics and praise from new fan Prime Minister Jacinda Adern.
The Te Māngai Pāho Best Māori Artist award was always going to go to a Northland artist, with the other finalist Waipu teen thrash metal band Alien Weaponry. Alien Weaponry were nominated in part for their te reo Maori heavy metal anthem Raupatu.
Teeks was also a finalist in the Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Best Soul/RnB Artist categories at Thursday's awards, but missed out to Aldous Harding and Ladi6 respectively.
Teeks, whose real name is Te Karehana Gardiner-Toi, grew up in Opononi and took the New Zealand music scene by storm when he released his debut EP The Grapefruit Skies earlier this year.
He gave a stunning live performance of his new single Never Be Apart at the award ceremony that wowed the audience, including Ms Adern, who was there to present the People's Choice award to Lorde.
After the event Ms Ardern jumped on Instagram to document the night, posting a picture of Teeks and gushing over his performance.
"Feeling very lucky to have made it to the NZ Music Awards tonight to hear talent like this - the amazing Teeks!" the Prime Minister posted.
In his review of the event NZ Herald deputy head of entertainment Chris Schultz said Lorde rightly cleaned up, but he reserved special praise for Teeks.
"But, if you can, try and forget about the Lorde factor for a minute. Because we got to see the start of something. It might have been a subtle shimmer, but look closer and you'll see a star who is getting ready to shine," Schultz wrote.
"His acceptance speech, humble and purposeful, was spoken all in te reo Maori. Right now, Teeks only has one release to his name [Grapefruit Skies]. At just 23, his feels like just the start of a very long story, one that will be told in its own time."