Shortland Street - Is It You Or Is It Me (30th anniversary song)

Is it you or is it me? Lately I've been lost it seems, I think a change is what I need...

– Opening lyrics to Shortland Street's iconic theme song

I sang the whole thing through a few times and I remember thinking to myself ‘this is really interesting, I wonder what it is'...

– Singer Tina Cross on recording the original theme song in 1992, The Spinoff, 28 May 2022

The Shortland Street theme song is perhaps our most enduring piece of television music, right up in the god tier with the Country Calendar song and the Interislander jingle.

– TV reviewer Alex Casey on the iconic status of the Shortland Street theme song, The Spinoff, 28 May 2022

I thought it was odd how it had become part of the culture — I’m even more surprised the show is still going 30 years later.

– Composer Graham Bollard on hearing school kids sing his theme tune in 1992, The Spinoff, 28 May 2022

There’s celebration in there, there’s history in there, there’s te reo Māori in there too — there’s those extra layers of richness because we have put all of those things together that are uniquely New Zealand.

– Singer Bella Kalolo on this version of the song, The Spinoff, 28 May 2022

The 30th birthday episode ended in a glittery extravaganza complete with a jazzy rebooted theme song performed by Bella Kalolo. (lipsynched by Desi) and OG legend Tina Cross. In the words of a tearful Chris Warner, it felt like the perfect escape, a dazzling and unabashedly cheesy celebration that laughs in the face of the last few years in Ferndale —and here on Earth in Aotearoa.

– Spinoff writer Alex Casey, 26 May 2022

They had about four or five people trying to write themes. I did a demo and they chose mine. I hadn't seen anything to do with the show . . . I did something based on a relationship struggle and what I could do within a minute of screen time.

– Graham Bollard on composing the show's opening theme song, in Shortland Street - Production, Text and Audience, page 51