A Samoan college student, whose rendition of a Bruno Mars song went viral on social media, has met with representatives of a local mobile phone company to discuss plans to make a music video.

The raw singing talents of 15-year-old Paul VI College student Vaesala Talavave of Fasito’o Uta remained unknown – until a video of her rendition of Bruno Mars' hit song “When I was Your Man” was uploaded to a Facebook page on 8 February 2023 and immediately went viral.

Her video, which was uploaded to her music teacher's Facebook page 'Baba Yaga Don', has already been viewed over 26,000 times and had 233 shares on top of close to 1000 reactions. 

On Wednesday local telecommunications company Vodafone Samoa issued a statement, saying they've invited Ms. Talavave to a meeting in the morning at their headquarters to meet with their team, and to discuss plans to make a music video. 

"Vaesala will be filming this music video with one of Samoa’s renowned bands, Pacific Love Band from the big island of Savai'i," the telecommunications company said.

Ms. Talavave's music teacher, Vilo Fonomaaitu Sulufai, said he was elated seeing his video go viral after he uploaded it to his Facebook page.

“There is so much that is going on in the world today, especially in the lives of the young people, but I am glad that Vaesala would use this opportunity to make a difference in her life," Mr. Sulufai said.

The support that the local telecommunications company is putting together for the talented student is a natural fit for Vodafone Samoa, according to the Acting C.E.O. Rana Bose.

“Vodafone has always encouraged young talents in Samoa and build their careers. Our long association with Manu Samoa 7s to identify young rugby players from grassroot level, many have represented Samoa on the world stage," he said in the statement.

“We have been sponsoring Miss Samoa pageants over many years to empower young women. With Ms. Vaesala, she has the potential to represent Samoa at the international stage. 

"We were already looking for a singer for our upcoming music video, and when her viral video was shared to us by few employees, we immediately decided to give her a platform. She will join Pacific Love in our upcoming music video."

The father of the teenage upcoming star, Talavave Fa’ai’ugame Pulou, said words cannot express how proud he was of his daughter and he thanked Vodafone Samoa for recognising her talent. 

"I thank Vodafone Samoa for recognising Vaesala’s talent and immediately giving her a platform to expand her talent," Talavave said.

"Vaesala loved singing from a very young age, and we are privileged that this opportunity given by Vodafone will help her chase her dream."