Bic Runga's record company asked her to re-record a more produced version of her debut single, “Drive”, for her 1997 album of that title—but ultimately released her original guitar-vocal demo instead. That tiny win for self-determination presaged a much larger victory for the daughter of a Chinese-Malaysian cabaret singer-turned-Christchurch singer/songwriter. Second single “Sway” was a global hit as the album sold 7x Platinum. For the phenomenal '02 follow-up, Beautiful Collision, she self-produced her way around the studios of the world and added another 11 platinum records to her stash.