Take 5 with Jacinda Ardern

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 History00:54 "They Are Us": Leading with Empathy and Kindness01:04 Filming Take 5 with a Former PM01:56 Extended Podcast Edit: The Most Eclectic Song List of the Season02:02 Childhood in Rural New Zealand: The Record Player at Home02:26 Roy Orbison, ABBA, and Parents' "Slightly Different Era" Taste03:02 The Country and Western Club: Every Friday Night at the Community Hall03:26 Singing Duets with Sister Louise: "She's the One Holding the Microphone"04:03 "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" and the Christmas Special04:58 Sister's Pop vs. Her Alternative: Cypress Hill, Rage Against the Machine05:11 Smashing Pumpkins: 'Bullet With Butterfly Wings'05:53 Growing Up in Morrinsville: Dairy Farms and $20 a Week at the Fish and Chip Shop06:02 The Discman in the Car: Cassette Adapters and Judder Bars06:39 The Multi-Change CD Player: "The Most Exciting Thing"07:02 The Walkman and Sister Louise: "I've Never Gotten Over It"07:44 Playing Every CD to Death: "You Valued Every One"08:01 Teenage Angst: Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Pantera, Nine Inch Nails08:21 Smashing Pumpkins: "Both the Lyrics That Spoke to Teenage Angst and Great Music"08:52 Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness: A Double Album for the Multi-CD Player09:15 "Despite All My Rage, I'm Still Just a Rat in a Cage"09:29 An Earnest Teenager: Raised in Religion, Student Rep, Working Hard10:13 Not a Headbanger: "My Mother Would've Taken Me to a Chiropractor"10:44 Parents Respected Their Own Musical Taste and Belief Systems11:26 Born in Hamilton, Then Murupara: First Observations of Poverty and Inequality12:00 "A Place That Made Me Quite Political"12:29 Writing the Book: How Do You End Up in Politics?12:48 "All of It Contributes to How You Come to Be the Person You Are"13:15 The Kinship Between Australia and New Zealand13:44 Empathy and Awareness: Seeing What Affects People14:17 Father the Policeman: "Power as a Responsibility"14:40 "Being Useful Is a Driving Force"15:04 Fat Freddy's Drop: 'Wandering Eye'15:13 Moving to Wellington in the Early 2000s15:46 Sworn In as PM: Fat Freddy's Drop Playing on Parliament Steps16:08 Carpooling on a Bus Instead of Crown Cars16:33 "Sitting at the Base of the Steps, Just Playing for Us"17:00 A Full Circle Moment: Unexpected PM, Secretly Pregnant18:29 First Job in Parliament: Interning in Wellington18:57 "I Couldn't Possibly Be a Politician"19:36 People Identifying the Leader in Her Before She Did20:22 The Beehive: Flatting and a Normal Life in Her 20s21:06 Still a Practicing Mormon in Her Early