Preetipls (Preeti Nair)

Preeti Nair is a Singaporean comedic online personality who is also commonly referred to by her moniker Preetipls. Her moniker was inspired by the way her mother would ask her to do certain things by saying, “Preeti, please do this”.[1] She first received widespread attention when her satirical parody of a controversial Channel News Asia video went viral in 2017.[2] As of 2019, the part-time radio DJ creates parody videos on YouTube, produces music and hosts nationwide events. She has collaborated with other Singaporean talents such as THELIONCITYBOY and Benjamin Kheng. Prior to her comedy work, she was an assistant at the local media company Mediacorp. In 2019, Preeti was involved in the NETS E-pay "Brownface" saga.

Preetipls
File:Preetipls profile.jpg
Born
Preeti Nair
EducationDiploma in Mass Communication
Alma materRaffles Girls' Primary School, Ngee Ann Polytechnic
Websitehttps://www.preetipls.com/ https://www.facebook.com/preetipls/

Background

 
Pretti's childhood photos from when she was in Little Miss Singapore beauty pageants. Photo from ZULA.sg, courtesy of Prettipls.

Growing up, Preeti took part in Little Miss Singapore beauty pageants.[3] She has also been friends with Michelle Lee from local social media duo Youtiao666 since Primary One.[4] Preeti has worked on collaborative projects with the duo such as her first-ever parody video in 2016.[5] The video was a parody of Toggle's 'Fashion Police' video that was hosted by the local influencer Saffron Sharpe. First encouraged to produce comedy videos by her friends, Preeti has since worked on building her online presence and comedic character as Preetipls.[6]

Career highlights

YouTube (Aug 2016 - Present Day)

At more than 10,500 subscribers, Preetipls has produced several notable videos since her first upload on YouTube (YouTube channel). As of 17 July 2019, her highest viewed videos are ‘MEI LI (Nicki Minaj - Chun Li Remix)’ (YouTube video) with over 175,000 views and ‘PREETIPLS ASKS 5SOS WEIRD FAN QUESTIONS?!' (YouTube video) with over 115,000 views. She has also been featured on other Singaporean channels such as YAAASTV and The Smart Local.

Radio DJ (2019 - )

From 2017 to 2018, Preeti was a part-time DJ at local radio station 987FM. She co-hosted the Hot 20 Countdown on weeknights from 8 pm to 12 am with Charmian Tan.[7][8][9] In her capacity as a radio DJ, Preeti has interviewed celebrities such as English musician Dua Lipa, the American band Why Don’t We and American personality Bhad Bhabie.[10]

 
Pretti (third from bottom right) in the promotional poster for Happy Ever Laughter: The Battle.

Happy Ever Laughter: The Battle (Jul 2018)

In Dream Academy's fourth edition of the live stand-up comedy show Happy Ever Laughter, Preeti went up against comedy veteran Kumar.[11] This was the first time Preeti dabbled in live comedy.

Hosting

Date of event Partner / Organisation Event Location
16 December 2017 EATMEPOPTART Do You Remember The First Time? Esplanade Annexe Studio, Singapore
23 September 2017 The Colour Run Singapore Colour Run 2017 Sentosa, Singapore

Media appearances

Year Partner / Organisation Media appearance
2019 World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore WWF Earth Hour 2019 - Festival For Nature[12]

Preetipls was one of the four ambassadors for the festival.

2018 National Arts Council Singapore Writers Festival 2018[13]

Preetipls participated in a debate during the Festival on the motion that ‘Singaporeans are better off with social media”.

Klook Role Reversal Nairs Edition[14]

Preetipls was featured in an episode of Role Reversal Trave with her mother.

Buro Valentine’s Day: Comedians react to Tinder f*ckboi messages[15]

Preetipls was featured in a video with other fellow comedians for valentine’s day.

TheSmartLocal Preetipls was featured in the YouTube video titled “Honeymoon & Baby Announcement?! | Preetipls & Joakim Gomez Interview with TSL + GIVEAWAY”.
Grab Preetipls was featured in a promotional video for Grab’s GrabHitch service.[16]
2017 ZYRUP Preetipls was a ZYRUP Spotlight feature.[17]
M.A.C Cosmetics M.A.C Studio Fix[18]

Preetipls held a meet and greet to promote the new M.A.C line.

YAAAS TV Preetipls was featured in the YouTube video titled “What’s The Problem? - How To Become Famous (Feat. Preetipls)”.[19]
Sahur Saleim Preetipls was featured in YouTuber Sahur Saleim’s video titled “PREETIPLS GETS A TRANSFORMATION | Doing Preeti Nair’s Makeup”.[20]

Discography

 
The album art for Ooru (2018). Photo from Spotify.

Singles

The song 'Ooru' was released in 2018 as a collaborative effort between Preeti and her brother, Subhas.

Year Title Duration
2019 E8 2:30
2018 Ooru (with Subhas) 3:23
2018 Thicc 3:01

Collaborations

THELIONCITYBOY and Preetipls collaborated to produce ‘My Turn’ which was initiated by the Singapore Tourism Board for the Passion Made Possible campaign.[21]

Year Title Duration
2018 My Turn (with THELIONCITYBOY) 2:14

NETS E-pay advertisement reaction video (2019)

For more details on the NETS E-Pay incident, refer to the full entry NETS E-Pay "Brownface" saga (2019).



On 29 July 2019, Preeti uploaded a video on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube titled "K Muthusamy". The reaction video was made in response to a NETS E-Pay advertisement that controversially depicted a Chinese actor in brown-face. The video featured Preeti and her brother, Subhas, who rapped about the discriminatory stereotypes Singaporean minorities experience. Mediacorp apologised for the ad, admitting that it was "insensitive".[22] As of 31 July 2019, Preeti's original upload has been taken down from Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. On YouTube, a disclaimer states that the video and all its reuploads are not available on Singapore's country domain due to "a legal complaint from the government".[23]


Preeti's video which contained expletives directed at the Chinese race drew the attention of government officials such as Minister Grace Fu and K Shanmugam.[24] Ministers disagreed with the content but the Singapore government's decision to remove the video elicited an online uproar from the public. On 30 July 2019, it was reported that the video was being investigated by the Singapore police on the account of "offensive content".[25] Netizens on Facebook pointed out the double-standards in how the original NETS video had been dealt with as compared to Preeti's video.[26]

References / Citations

  1. Ong, Cheryl. “Local YouTuber Preetipls Is Attempting To Out-Funny Kumar. Who Is She And Can She Pull It Off?”. Today. July 17, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.todayonline.com/8days/seeanddo/thingstodo/local-youtuber-preetipls-attempting-out-funny-kumar-who-she-and-can-she
  2. Selina Altomonte. “This Preetipls satire is the perfect clapback to that CNA social experiment video”. Honeycombers. November 28, 2017. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://thehoneycombers.com/singapore/preetipls-satire-video-perfect-clapback-cna-social-experiment-racism-singapore/
  3. Lim, Melanie. "A Chat with Preetipls On Life Growing Up and Singapore's Social Media Scene". March 1, 2017. Accessed on 17 July 2019. ZULA. Retrieved from: https://zula.sg/preetipls-singapore/
  4. Keng Yang Shuen. “Watch Video: Our Fun (And Funny) Q&A With YouTube Sensations Preetipls And Youtiao666”. Female Singapore. October 17, 2017. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.femalemag.com.sg/fashion/preetipls-youtiao666-youtube-influencers/
  5. youtiaotv. "Episode 1 - Fashion Polis with Preetipls". YouTube. July 4, 2016. Accessed on 17 July 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jxlu6xFEyao
  6. Ong, Cheryl. “Local YouTuber Preetipls Is Attempting To Out-Funny Kumar. Who Is She And Can She Pull It Off?”. Today. July 17, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.todayonline.com/8days/seeanddo/thingstodo/local-youtuber-preetipls-attempting-out-funny-kumar-who-she-and-can-she
  7. 987FM. “LIVE ON THE HOT 20 WITH CHARMIAN AND PREETIPLS!”. Facebook. October 30, 2017. Accessed on 18 October 2019. Retrieved from  https://www.facebook.com/987fm/videos/live-on-the-hot-20-with-charmian-and-preetipls-5-preetis-prom-makeup-look-when-s/10155263696292029/
  8. Ong, Cheryl. “Local YouTuber Preetipls Is Attempting To Out-Funny Kumar. Who Is She And Can She Pull It Off?”. Today. July 17, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.todayonline.com/8days/seeanddo/thingstodo/local-youtuber-preetipls-attempting-out-funny-kumar-who-she-and-can-she
  9. Charmiantyx. “Preetipls leaving the Hot 20 countdown”. Instagram. December 10, 2018. Accessed on 18 October 2019. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/BrMbuB2Fxq6/  
  10. “987FM”. YouTube. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/user/987fmOnlyTheHits/videos
  11. BAKCHORMEEBOY. "Review: Happy Ever Laughter 2018 - The Battle by Dream Academy". bakchormeeboy. July 13, 2018. Accessed on 17 July 2019. Retrieved from: https://bakchormeeboy.com/2018/07/13/review-happy-ever-laughter-2018-the-battle-by-dream-academy/
  12. “Eath Hour 2019 Festival For Nature”. WWF SG. Accessed on 23 March 2019. Retrieved from: http://www.wwf.sg/get_involved/earth_hour_2019/
  13. “Singapore Writers Festival 2018”. National Arts Council. September 4, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.nac.gov.sg/media-resources/press-releases/Singapore-Writers-Festival-2018
  14. Preetipls. “Role Reversal Nairs Edition: Mum Plans Our Tokyo Holiday”. Klook. November 29, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.klook.com/blog/en-sg/role-reversal-preetipls-in-tokyo/
  15. Adibah Isa. “Valentine’s Day: Comedians react to Tinder f*ckboi messages”. Buro. February 15, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.buro247.sg/culture/insiders/valentines-day-singapore-comedians-react-tinder.html
  16. Grab Official. “GrabHitch with Nicholas & Preetipls”. YouTube. March 5, 2018. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_jgMqnQkZg
  17. Lim, Joel. “Spotlight: Preetipls”. ZYRUP. January 9, 2017. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://zyrupmag.com/2017/01/09/spotlight-preetipls/
  18. “M∙A∙C’s Studio Fix Meet-And-Greet with @Preetipls at Robinsons!”. Robinsons. August 29, 2017. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.robinsons.com.sg/blogs/news/m-a-c-s-studio-fix-meet-and-greet-with-preetipls-at-robinsons
  19. YAAAS TV. “What’s The Problem? - How To Become Famous (Feat. Preetipls)”. YouTube. August 14, 2017. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDLWAe_cKOo
  20. Sahur Saleim. “PREETIPLS GETS A TRANSFORMATION | Doing Preeti Nair’s Makeup”. YouTube. October 16, 2017. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSOfl66-yEg
  21. “THELIONCITYBOY and Preetipls celebrate the Singapore hustle in new music video ‘My Turn’”. Hear65. Accessed on 2 April 2019. Retrieved from: https://hear65.bandwagon.asia/articles/thelioncityboy-preetipls-singapore-my-turn
  22. "Singapore authorities advise public not to share 'offensive' Prettiple rap video". Channel News Asia. July 31, 2019. Accessed on 1 August 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/preetipls-subhas-video-authorities-advise-not-to-share-11769706
  23. NinjarTurtle. "[REUPLOAD] prettipls - brown face ad rap song". YouTube. July 30, 2019. Accessed on 1 August 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FaQqxmIk_c
  24. Co, Cindy. "'Two wrongs don't make a right': Ministers, religious leaders on rap video and 'brownface' ad". Channel News Asia. July 30, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/preetipls-ministers-religious-leaders-rap-video-brownface-ad-11766998
  25. "Police investigating Preetipls' video on controversial E-Pay ad for offensive content". Channel News Asia. July 30, 2019. Accessed on 1 August 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/preetipls-brown-face-ad-dennis-chew-police-investigation-11765362
  26. Kiara Xavier. "Netizens slam Government for taking action against rap video by local YouTube star Preetipls that critics “brownface” advertisement for E-Pay". The Online Citizen. July 31, 2019. Accessed on 1 August 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/07/31/netizens-slam-government-for-taking-action-against-rap-video-by-local-youtube-star-preetipls-that-critics-brownface-advertisement-for-e-pay/