5 minutes with... Estelle Fly

This Singaporean musician used to be a Japanese idol. Up until 2013, she was a part of Japanese idol group Sea*A. She has since moved onto creating YouTube content, but also recently released her first digital single “Blue”.

Portrait of Tammy Strobel
This Singaporean musician used to be a Japanese idol. Up until 2013, she was a part of Japanese idol group Sea*A. She has since moved onto creating YouTube content, but also recently released her first digital single “Blue”.
 
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Estelle was scouted to be a Japanese idol when she was working at an anime café.

“It happened during an anime event called Anime Festival Asia. I was selected to do a simple dance number to promote the café and also had to sing an anime song solo. My performance caught the attention of one of the artiste managers and I was offered a contract [a year later].”

“Blue” is quite different from the music she used to produce under Sea*A.

“Sea*A focused on anime music, otherwise known as anisongs. But to be honest, I’ve always been more of a pop and R&B kind of girl, which is how ‘Blue’ came about.”

She’s an experienced dancer.

“My mum sent me to my first ballet class when I was five and I did that until I was 14. When I turned 17, I went for a Lasalle audition and, to my surprise, was accepted as a dance major. I was subsequently exposed to hip-hop and furthered my training in street jazz, ballet and contemporary dance.”

There’s a cute story behind the name “Estelle Fly”.

“When I was in school, the term ‘fly kite’ was really popular. I had no idea what it meant but knew that the cool kids used it, so I used ‘Estelle Fly’ as my first name and ‘Kite’ as my surname when signing up for Facebook. However, only ‘Estelle Fly’ was approved, so I have the website to thank for saving me from something uncool!”

Five things that make her happy:
“Performing, gaming, makeup, food and holidaying with my family.”
 
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