Vaimalama Chaves (born 3 December 1994) is a French singer, beauty pageant titleholder, and model who was crowned Miss France 2019. Chaves had previously won Miss Tahiti 2018 and became the fourth representative from French Polynesia to win the Miss France title. During her reign as Miss France, Chaves began a music career under the

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

Vaimalama, releasing her debut single "Jardin d'hiver" in November 2019. Her debut studio album ''Good Vaïbes'' was released in February 2020.

Early life and education

Chaves was born on 3 December 1994 in Mahina on the island of

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

in French Polynesia. Her father works in

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

at the Office of Posts and Telecommunications of French Polynesia, while her mother is a nurse. Her maternal grandfather was Wallisian, while she also has

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

and

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

origins through her father. Chaves is the second of five children, and is the cousin of Mareva Georges, who had been crowned Miss France 1991. As a teenager, Chaves was overweight and was bullied immensely throughout her youth for her weight. Chaves received her '' baccalauréat'' in

communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

, and later received a

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-pr ...

in negotiation and customer relations, a bachelor's degree in

managerial economics Managerial economics is a branch of economics involving the application of economic methods in the managerial decision-making process.• Trefor Jones (2004). ''Business Economics and Managerial Decision Making'', WileyDescriptionand chapter-pre ...

, and a master's degree in

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

from the

University of French Polynesia The University of French Polynesia (french: Université de la Polynésie française) is a French university located in Puna'auia, French Polynesia. History Created by a decree of May 29, 1987, the university was originally called French Pac ...

in 2017. Prior to winning Miss Tahiti, Chaves worked as a community manager at a gym.

Pageantry

Miss Tahiti 2018

Chaves began her pageantry career competing in Miss Tahiti 2018. She went on to win the competition on 22 June 2018 in Papeete and was crowned by outgoing titleholder Turouru Temorere. As Miss Tahiti 2018, Chaves earned the right to represent French Polynesia at the Miss France 2019 competition held in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

Miss France 2019

Preparations for Miss France began in November 2018, with Chaves traveling to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

for pre-pageant activities,

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

for the pageant's overseas trip, and then to Lille to begin rehearsals. The finals were held on 15 December 2018, at the

Zénith de Lille The Zénith de Lille (or Zénith Arena) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Lille, France. Designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas with Cecil Balmond and inaugurated in 1994, the Zénith Arena is a part of the cultural complex Lille Grand Pa ...

. Chaves advanced from the thirty contestants to the top twelve, later also advancing to the top five. She went on to be crowned Miss France 2019 by outgoing titleholder Maëva Coucke, with her first runner-up being Ophély Mézino of Guadeloupe. Chaves was the first Tahitian representative to be crowned Miss France in twenty years, after

Mareva Galanter Mareva Galanter (born 4 February 1979) is a French singer, actress and former beauty queen. Galanter won the 1998 "Miss World Islands" and then the 1998 "Miss Tahiti" beauty contest that allowed her to compete for the Miss France 1999 crown, whic ...

was crowned Miss France 1999, and only the fourth Tahitian crowned ever. Following her win, Chaves became a knight of the Order of Tahiti Nui, one of the highest civilian honors in French Polynesia. On 25 June 2019, Chaves announced that she would not represent France at

Miss World 2019 Miss World 2019, the 69th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 14 December 2019 at the ExCeL London in London, United Kingdom. Vanessa Ponce of Mexico crowned her successor Toni-Ann Singh of Jamaica at the end of the event. Backgroun ...

Miss Universe 2019 Miss Universe 2019 was the 68th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Stage 1 of the Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, United States on 8 December 2019. At the end of the event, Catriona Gray of the Philippines crowned Zozibini Tunzi of S ...

, as she would rather accompany the contestants of Miss France 2020 during their trip to Tahiti, which would have conflicted with preparation for the international pageants. Her first runner-up, Ophély Mézino, was appointed as Miss World France 2019, while her predecessor, Maëva Coucke, was appointed to represent France at

. She completed her reign on 14 December 2019, after crowning Clémence Botino as her successor during Miss France 2020.

Post-pageantry

Music career

In November 2019, Chaves began a music career, performing under the

Vaimalama. She released a cover of the song "Jardin d'hiver", written by Benjamin Biolay and Keren Ann and originally performed by

Henri Salvador Henri Salvador (18 July 1917 – 13 February 2008) was a French Caribbean comedian, singer and cabaret artist. Biography Salvador was born in Cayenne, French Guiana. His father, Clovis, and his mother, Antonine Paterne, daughter of a native C ...

. An official

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for the cover was released via Chaves's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel on 13 November. Her debut studio album ''Good Vaïbes'' was originally set for release in February 2020, but after several postponements, partially due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the album was released in December 2020.

Television

In September 2021, Chaves was confirmed as a celebrity contestant in season 11 of '' Danse avec les stars'', the French version of '' Dancing with the Stars''. Chaves was partnered with Christian Millette during the competition. They were the fifth duo to be eliminated, during the 15 October 2021 episode.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1994 births 21st-century French women singers French beauty pageant winners French Polynesian beauty pageant winners French female models French women pop singers French Polynesian musicians French people of Irish descent French people of Wallis and Futuna descent French Polynesian people of Irish descent French Polynesian people of Portuguese descent Living people Miss France winners People from Tahiti Spanish-language singers of France Tahitian women singers University of French Polynesia alumni Knights of the Order of Tahiti Nui