Shanice Zhuang
Vivian Goh
Photo Credit: Shanice Zhuang
If you are active on TikTok, you would probably have seen Mr Raymond Lei’s dancing clips on your For You Page (FYP). And if you’ve been following Uncle Raymond closely, you’ll notice that he tags @lilys455 regularly.
Who is @Lilys455?
She is Ms Lily Hui, the tall, slim and stylish woman who’s appeared in several clips on Uncle Raymond’s page.
Like Uncle Raymond, Ms Hui enjoys dancing to English and Chinese electro-pop songs in various parts of Singapore. She shares her clips on TikTok almost daily, and her clips are always captioned “I’m Chinese 48”, which simply means she’s a 48-year-old Chinese.
The Xi’an native told The UrbanWire that she used to work in the fashion industry before coming to Singapore in 2007. Her husband is Singaporean. They have two children, aged 24 and 26.
The homemaker said: “They (Her family) usually have no time and are too busy to play with me so I play with TikTok.”
Her TikTok Journey
Ms Hui first used Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, before starting her TikTok account in December last year. Her most viewed video to date was taken at Merlion Park, where she danced in her black halter top, torn jeans and high heels to Tanja Thomas’s “One Way Ticket (To The Blues)”.
Ms Hui said she enjoys dancing not only because it keeps her healthy. It also makes her and the people around her happy.
When asked if she feels embarrassed dancing spontaneously in public, Ms Hui said: “No, I’m not a thief, I don’t steal anything and I am just dancing to make myself happy so I don’t see anything wrong with that.”
On Uncle Raymond …
Ms Hui said Mr Lei first approached her when he had just 9 followers. He wanted to learn how to be TikTok-viral.
That’s how she became his TikTok dance mentor.
“I taught him how to dance but his popularity is definitely increasing and he might be even doing better than me on TikTok already!” she said.
Ms Hui has more than 168,000 followers on TikTok. Her mentee Mr Lei has a lower follower count at about 43,000, but he’s scored mentions in TV news, radio shows and many online publications.
“I’m so happy that I taught him well,” Ms Hui said.
While many have speculated that Mr Lei and Ms Hui are, or were a couple, Ms Hui said they’ve never been an item.
“Even if Raymond was the last man on earth, I would not marry him as he is not my type!” Ms Hui quipped.
What’s clear is the duo will continue to cheer each other on as they grow their following on TikTok.
And her advice to other TikTok users who hope to get viral too?
“Everyone is the same so you have to be different and special,” she said.
Curious to know what Lily’s favourite dance moves are? Watch this clip to find out!
Proofread By: Shannon Gan, Darrius Chua and Effa Serena