The Falsetto That Keeps Winning: Kalani Pe'a, Two Years On From "Kuini"

Two summers ago this week, on July 26, 2024, Kalani Pe'a released "Kuini" — Hawaiian for queen — a record built as a tribute to the women, matriarchs and goddesses who shaped him. It went on to win the 2025 Grammy for Best Regional Roots Music Album, his fourth win in the category, and swept three Nā Hōkū Hanohano awards including Hawaiian Music Album of the Year. Two years on, with the trophies settled and the touring cycle wound down, "Kuini" reads less like an awards magnet and more like what it always was: one of the most fully realized Hawaiian albums of the decade, made by an artist who lives and works on Maui.

Pe'a is a particular kind of local hero — a Hilo-born, Maui-based singer whose falsetto and full-throated soul phrasing put contemporary R&B inside mele Hawai'i without ever cheapening the language. When the Maui News marked his ten years in music last August, the through-line of the coverage was steadiness: a decade of records, a shelf of Grammys and Hōkū awards, and a home base that never moved off-island even as the wins could have taken him anywhere.

"Kuini" also carries Lahaina inside it. The album includes a tribute to the town, folded among its songs for the women in his life, and Pe'a has spoken repeatedly since 2023 about music as a form of Maui's resilience rather than a distraction from its grief. That instinct — to honor without exploiting — is the hardest note to hit in post-fire Hawaiian music, and he hits it cleanly.

Why feature him now, outside any single show? Because a healthy local scene needs resident champions, not just visiting headliners, and Pe'a is the island's clearest proof that you can win at the genre's highest level and still belong to a specific place. When a young musician like Anthony Pfluke talks about what a Maui-made Hawaiian record can be, Pe'a's catalog is part of the answer.

Start with "Kuini," then work backward through the wins. Then watch the island calendars — a Kalani Pe'a homecoming show is always worth rearranging a week for.

Sources: GRAMMY.com: Kalani Pe'a wins Best Regional Roots Music Album, 2025; Maui News: "Kalani Pe'a celebrates 10 years of music" (Aug 2025); Wikipedia: Kuini (album))