KUALA LUMPUR: At first glance, Nurul Nurizzati Mohd Raffi looks like your average 19-year-old. In fact, she is.
But one thing that separates her from most of her peers is the huge following she has on social media. As far as the Internet is concerned, she’s pretty much a social media star.
Nurul, or better known as @itsrosenicotine among her 138,000 followers on Instagram garnered the attention of netizens with her incredible lip syncs to big hits using the lip sync app, musical.ly.
While there is an abundance of teens out there posting similar videos, Nurul stands out as she injects a little bit of fun in her lip sync episodes, often pulling a series of goofy expressions as she lip syncs, showing she's not afraid to let loose.
Launched mid last year, the app allows users to create their own music videos with their favourite songs. Users can play around with the content and more with the press of a button.
Teens around the world flocked to download the app and this had led some to find fame on the platform.
Nurul, who calls herself Nuriz, can definitely attest to the viral nature of the app.
“I love to sing, dance and lip sync to songs. When a song comes on the radio for instance, I spontaneously get my groove on. It’s just who I am,” she said in an interview with New Straits Times today.
“One day, while on semester break, I decided to play around with musical.ly for fun. Someone shared a video of me lip syncing to Akon’s hit song 'Lonely' on Twitter, and eventually the attention snowballed from there."
To date, that video has garnered more than half a million views on Instagram.
"Frankly, I never expected my lip sync videos to be a ticket to fame. My friends and family were as surprised as I was,” said the final year fashion student from Kolej Vocational (ERT) Setapak, here.
“I’ve had a mixture of good and negative comments about my videos from Internet users. I don’t take it too hard when negative comments appear because I enjoy what I do.
“People are entitled to their own opinions and that’s okay. While some may say they don’t like my videos, others are entertained by it,” said Nurul.
Her fame even garnered the attention of industry players from the local entertainment industry.
Nurul said several local producers had reached out to her, suggesting that she venture into acting or take up hosting gigs.
But the youngest of four siblings said she would like keep her mind focused on her studies for now.