Jamie Chua on launching her NFTs and why she has 'given up' on TikTok

If you're wondering why you haven't been seeing social media queen Jamie Chua on TikTok lately, the reason has been revealed — she just doesn't enjoy it very much.

Jamie shared this in a recent podcast hosted by American socialite and author, Paige Parker, who has been based in Singapore for over a decade with her billionaire husband, Jim Rogers.

In the podcast released on Sept 20, Jamie described how she used to spend days filming 12 hours in a row just for TikTok, which she has since "given up on".

"I used to spend so much time on social media," said Jamie, that her kids had to "force off days on me".

Confessed the mother of two: "I think I'm much happier not doing TikTok."

Jamie, 47, found trying to come up with creative content for the popular platform "mentally straining", and believes that "if creating something doesn't make you feel good, then stop creating that."

"I'd never been as unhappy as I was when I started TikTok, honestly, but you know we were locked down, and that seemed to be something that's fun to do until you start doing it all the time and it becomes really mentally straining and not fun at all anymore," shared the driven content creator who has 518,000 subscribers on YouTube and 1.2 million followers on Instagram.

It doesn't help that Jamie doesn't dance, nor does she like to follow internet trends.

"I am a person who does not like to follow trends, I don't dance, I have two left feet and I would not think of dancing for TikTok for all the money in the world," said Jamie, whose last post was on Sept 15 was for the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in April before that.

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Despite having amassed more than 250,000 followers and 2.3 million likes on TikTok, Jamie said "that doesn't mean I'm going to do a triple somersault for them anymore".

"It was hard because I didn't want to just mimic videos right off TikTok, so I tried to make videos that were a little bit more funny… that really took a toll on me and I realised it wasn't worth it at all.

"And my god, I really hate to change like 12 times (for a video), you have no idea!" said Jamie of the viral TikTok fashion trend. "It's really ridiculous!"

 

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"And I've read reports of many people struggling with mental health because of TikTok and that's just very sad."

Having spent a lot of time on social media, Jamie realised that it's "not very healthy" and tries not to be so hard on herself these days. "At the end of the day, who am I trying to please? Being too obsessed with social media makes everyone unhappy," she reflected.

But never say never. Jamie says when it comes to TikTok, she is "just waiting for the inspiration to arise".

 

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And it seems Jamie is deeply invested in all things digital and being way ahead of the curve. She recently launched her own series of Non-Fungible Tokens, better known as NFTs, which is the buzzword these days in the cryptocurrency world.

The digital art pieces launched on Rara comprise a "series of digitalised creations of my world", depicting objects that she "cherishes the most", Jamie noted of her "Doll House" NFT cards which were launched in July.

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We haven't seen them, but Jamie added that a second NFT series is in the works, though it "needs to be kept under wraps for now".

When Parker asked if there's a trend she'd like to end, Jamie replied with zero hesitation, "Yes I'll like the TikTok trend to end!", before stating that she was "just kidding". "I'm not a person that imposes my opinion on people."

In the 48-minute podcast, the fashionista also bantered with Parker on other aspects of her life, including how long she takes to get ready each day, the misconceptions that people have of her, and of course, her collection of Birkin bags.

But it seems Jamie may be a little tired of the attention on her bags (the podcast episode is aptly titled 'Beyond the Birkins', after all), but admits that it contributes to her unique selling point.

"I wish that people will follow me because of what I am and not what I own," said Jamie.

candicecai@asiaone.com