Māori Keala Settle is favoured to win at the Oscars!

Publish Date: Thursday, 25 January 2018, 9:06AM

Keala Settle is a name you need to know! With a voice of an angel, she's taking New Zealand places on the international stage.

A chart-topper originally performed by Settle who is of Maori descent, in The Greatest Showman is up against tunes sung by Mary J. Blige, Andra Day, Miguel and Sufjan Stevens for the Academy Award for best song.

This is Me, is a track sung by cast member Keala Settle in The Greatest Showman and is the immediate favorite. We are not surprised with vocals like that!

With state-of-the-art pop production, it has recently been covered by Kesha. "This is Me" helped the soundtrack rise to No.1

Keala Settle is Hawaiian-born but has strong ties to her Maori roots. The singer's mixed heritage and her struggle to fit in was her inspiration for the hit.

The song recently won best original song at the Golden Globes and is now striving for best song. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul who co-wrote the music and lyrics thanked Settle, "Keala performed the song and her story inspired the song...so we thank you," they said.

Good luck fam! We're backing you all the way.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission.

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