When NVI last caught up with the musician, she was out of work because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and limited to an apartment and the company of her boyfriend and a German Shepherd.

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The months of downtime were not wasted, resulting in reams of fresh songs, a new record, growing fan base, and a stronger presence on social media.

"Apart from the obvious stress that comes with loss of work, I've really tried to use this time in a positive way ... I've tried to knuckle down and use this time for doing all the things in my business I never had time to do," Burgoyne said.

"Over lockdown, I recorded a new record with my boyfriend/producer in our 700-square-foot apartment downtown. With the roads so quiet, we didn't have to deal with woo girls outside our window. We turned our closet into a vocal booth and I'm so proud of what we achieved.

"My first USA single comes out July 17 and more songs will follow throughout the end of the year."

The 31-year-old said a lot had changed now that restrictions were being lifted.

"Some days it feels like it's back to normal with tourists and protesters coming to town. We are not yet onto phase three, which means bars cannot have entertainment. However, some bars down Broadway have opened and are running as usual against the governor's wishes," Burgoyne said.

"Some of my friends who have played gigs down town have walked away with $30 for a four-hour show with no breaks; it's pretty disheartening."

The singer-songwriter turned to social media when work dried up earlier this year, and each week she has been gigging live online.

"We started going live from Facebook and YouTube on Thursday's 10am Australian time and noticed a big boost in engagement on my Facebook page. Also my followers and mailing list is growing," Burgoyne said.

"Over the times we've worked on our show and now have three cameras and sometimes special guests. I think this is something we will continue to do, even when the world opens back up fully.

"It's been such a great way to connect with friends, family and supporters over this time and we've got a lovely community of viewers."

Burgoyne has no way of knowing when she'll be able to hit the stage again, so she's been focusing on writing.

"My main focus is writing for my own releases with the exception of a few regular artists I work with. I'm loving my new songs and cannot wait to record them. With every really good song, I question if it will be the last good song I write. This new batch of songs is really showing some gems and I'm so blessed that I can still see improvement after 21 years of writing songs," she said.

Burgoyne's words are finding their way into the charts through other avenues as well.

"Since lock-down I've had a few artists release my songs. ABC recording artist Travis Collins just released a song I wrote called "Better than you Found 'em" and it has been added to some big playlists in the USA [and] Warner Music Irish artist Lisa McHugh released a song we wrote called "You're Gonna Get Back Up"," she said.

"Indie New Zealand artist Jaydin Shingleton saw our song "Damn Love" top the all-genre New Zealand iTunes chart, and this week Social Family Records' artist Taylor Moss released "Don't Let Me Let Go", which topped the country iTunes chart."

Burgoyne said she would "love some local support" for her new music.