Mohi, who was working as a television producer, sung at a tapu lifting ceremony for a recording studio, during which she impressed Coleman by her vocal ability.

Mohi promoted the single in the United Kingdom in 1999,[3] during which she shot a music video for the song in Epping Forest near London, redressed to look like New Zealand bush.

[8] While Mohi was in the United Kingdom, she was asked to perform the New Zealand National Anthem at the opening game of the 1999 Rugby World Cup.

[9] Mohi decided to sing the anthem in Māori instead of English, which received wide backlash in the New Zealand press at the time.

[8] The song was prominently used by the Jump Jam aerobics programme in New Zealand primary schools in the early 2000s,[13] and was used as the opening theme of the 2000 Brazilian telenovela Uga-Uga.