China’s number one female rapper VaVa partners Singapore’s top virtual influencer Rae for JSTYLE精美 magazine cover shoot
The duo graces the January cover of China’s JSTYLE digital magazine
Singapore, 6 January 2021 – Singapore’s top virtual influencer, Gen-Z digital artist and street culture enthusiast, Rae (@here.is.rae) is kicking off 2021 with a cover shoot with China’s number one female rapper, VaVa (@vava.mis). The duo appears on China’s leading online fashion portal and publication, JSTYLE精美 Magazine, melding fashion, music with the virtual world. The latest issue marks the first time the magazine is featuring a virtual personality and celebrity on their cover.
The photoshoot with VaVa builds on Rae’s growing list of accomplishments. In Singapore, Rae ended 2020 as the country’s top virtual influencer, gaining over 1,500 Instagram followers since her debut in October in the same year. Rae marked her fashion debut fronting the latest 2020 campaign for cult label Monsoon Patrol1. She also collaborated with sneaker designer maestro Mark Ong (@mr_sabotage) to release a sold-out SBTGxRae capsule collection2. She was featured on Team Night Owl Cinematics’ YouTube and Instagram pages culminating in a fashion show down with Grace (@gracelsyy) from Night Owl Cinematics.
In China, Rae has an impressive reach with over 100,000 followers on her Weibo account (hereisrae), making her the fastest growing virtual influencer in the market. She was also recently featured on the cover of China’s World Traveller Magazine. Rae’s significant social presence in Singapore and China positions her as an ideal virtual partner for brand collaboration opportunities and marketing partnership in both countries.
More commonly known by her stage name VaVa, Mao Yanqi is a Chinese rapper from Ya’an, Sichuan. Dubbed as China’s Rihanna, she rose to fame from her performance on the first season of The Rap of China – a widely popular hip-hop reality TV show. VaVa debut her album “21” in 2017 and soon gained international attention with her song “My New Swag” (我的新衣). Bridging hip hop and Chinese opera, the hit song was featured in the soundtrack of internationally acclaimed film, “Crazy Rich Asians”. She is currently promoting her latest EP, "朝歌暮宴,上卷", released in December 2020.
On working with VaVa, Rae shared: “I jumped at the opportunity to be part of the photoshoot in China with VaVa. I’m a huge fan and it was such an honour to work with China’s queen of rap! As a popular female rapper in China, VaVa is breaking down stereotypes, proving that us strong girls can truly make a change and stand out when we put talent, passion and hard work together. It was an unreal and amazing opportunity to push the boundaries of fashion together. During the photoshoot, we clicked the moment we met. We share the same love for street culture, and now, we share the same magazine cover!”
VaVa said: “Working with a virtual influencer like Rae is a completely new experience for me! I look forward to furthering my collaboration with Rae in the future. Rae skateboarding in one of my MVs would be pretty cool! (这对我也是一次全新的体验！也很期待未来可以和Rae有其他的合作，如果她能在我的MV里面滑板那还挺酷的!)”
1 The Monsoon Patrol is a collaboration between Limited EDT and SBTG. Limited EDT is the first dedicated sneaker boutique founded by Mandeep Chopra while SBTG is founded by sneaker design maestro Mark Ong. For more, please visit https://tinyurl.com/yyamrs5r.
2 The SBTGxRae capsule collection was launched on 30 Nov 2020. For more, please visit: https://tinyurl.com/yyuqpmmq.