Her song, Best of Me, was the first of nine by songwriting trust Play It Strange alumni being aired during different episodes of the popular soap.
Carey, 19, who finished Wakatipu High in 2023 and is studying film composition at Wellington’s Victoria University, has featured on many Play It Strange albums and was its national lyric winner in ’21.
She was really happy with the placement of her song on the December 23 episode "because it was a beautiful scene and it was a very climactic, cliffhanging moment in the show, so I was very honoured to have it at the most powerful moment in the entire episode".
"My mum shed a tear.
"They cut out one verse because it is a very long song."
Carey says "my main career path is just composition and film scores, so I love the instrumental orchestration side of it".
"But when it comes to songwriting, that’s kind of like a completely separate thing, and I love my lyrics because I am an English student."
She’s aiming for honours at Victoria before heading to Europe, most likely, to get her masters.
She then hopes to make a career in film composition.
Considering her dad, Dave Comer, was a prominent film location scout who died just over 10 years ago, "it’s very much keeping it in the family", Carey says.
She adds she’s got some great mentors, including Steve Harrop from Sublime Studios in North Otago.
- Peta Carey’s song on Shortland Street is on Play It Strange’s February 3 Facebook post.
