Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Making Music with Chloe Malau’ulu
April 24, 2020 | Softball, HailStateBEAT
by Brian Ogden, Assistant Director/Communications
STARKVILLE – While many people are irritated by travel delays, Chloe Malau'ulu makes the most of them. For her, they're just more time to work on her latest hobby – TikTok.
Mississippi State's sophomore outfielder leads her teammates in making the short video clips whenever she gets the chance, on the field after a game, in the locker room or, yes, even the airport.
"I think our team's really funny," she said. "You know, we have a lot of personality. We can dance. I think a lot of people would enjoy us because I enjoy us."
During one delay in the Birmingham airport, she gathered her teammates to make a new dancing clip. She set her phone up on a nearby windowsill and started the recording. What she didn't realize was on the other side of the window was a restaurant full of people eating between flights.
It wasn't until she retrieved her phone that she realized her mistake.
"They were laughing, and we just sprinted away like okay time to get on the plane now,'" she said. "The weird part about it was we did the same thing three times to get it right, and they were watching the whole time."
The Bulldogs often need multiple takes to get their TikToks exactly right. Malau'ulu and a pair of teammates once spent 45 minutes trying to synchronize a dance until they figured it out.
But occasionally, they get it right from the start.
When MSU won the NFCA Leadoff Classic to open the season in Clearwater, Florida, the team filmed a celebratory dance with the trophy in the outfield.
"First try and we were done," Malau'ulu said. "It's always a hit or miss. You get it down on the first try and it looks good, or we're going to do it 27 more times."
The Long Beach, California, native tends to be the mastermind behind most of the team's choreography. That skill was on full display at the Bulldogs' preseason banquet where each class prepared a performance for a talent show.
Malau'ulu's idea began with the recognition that her class was the smallest with just four sophomores on the roster. The quartet quickly ruled out doing a skit, so she began thinking of four-member bands. Last season, the team all watched the Bohemian Rhapsody film and picked up an appreciation for Queen, but her classmates didn't know very many of the band's songs.
The sophomores gathered at Malau'ulu's apartment to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, and she showed them some simply choreography she had planned. They were all in.
"Man, I could have a drum solo," Anna Kate Segars said.
"Oh my gosh, I could do a guitar solo," Jackie McKenna replied.
Grace Fagan's reaction was a bit different: "Alright, you guys take all the solos because I'm going to pee my pants on the stage."
Malau'ulu sang the group through their practice runs, but they lip synced for the actual performance. She was able to provide a keyboard, ukulele and drumsticks for the show since she has them handy for writing music in her free time.
It began when she was seven and started taking piano lessons. Later, she moved on to learning the guitar, but her fingers were too small to play some of the chords. That was when she leaned into her Samoan roots and picked up the ukulele. Most of her tracks mimic the island reggae style she admires and remind her of a day on the beach.
It doesn't take long to realize how proud Malau'ulu is of her Samoan blood. The culture is pervasive, and it was a major reason she chose to come to Starkville.
Her father, who played quarterback at Arizona in the early 90s, runs recruiting events and camps for Polynesian student-athletes. That allowed her to build lasting relationships with student-athletes across the country playing football, softball and volleyball. While her friends compete as hard as anyone, when they step off the field they all consider each other family.
Family. It's a word often used at Mississippi State, but it was especially important to Malau'ulu in her recruiting process.
"The thing that really put the icing on the cake was Fa [Leilua], Sarai [Niu] and [head coach Samantha] Ricketts," she said. "They have that Polynesian family quality that I was looking for in a school. It was a green light for me. I loved it here already."
Of course, it helps when you can say you truly are family. Malau'ulu has ties to Leilua, Niu and Ricketts. She'd known of the first two for a while, but she just recently discovered the connection to her head coach.
It's a complicated family tree, made more convoluted by the fact that Samoans call everyone Aunty or Uncle regardless of if they are cousin, niece, nephew or in-law. The four Bulldogs spent just over two hours tracing their family trees for this story alone.
Malau'ulu has known Leilua the longest of the three. That connection is also the easiest to trace. Malau'ulu's Aunty Miya, and yes, this is an aunt in the traditional sense of the word, married Leilua's "Uncle" Tevete, her father's cousin.
From there, it gets a bit tougher.
Malau'ulu's grandmother's brother connects her to Niu through marriage. He married Niu's grandmothers' cousin.
Tying the Ricketts and Malau'ulu families together is easier in some ways, but it goes back the most generations.
Malau'ulu's great-great-grandfather had a daughter named Mata in addition to her great-grandfather. Mata married Arthur Ripley whose sister, Louisa, is Ricketts' maternal grandmother. Mata and Arthur also had a son named Eddie.
"That's the pinpoint right there," Malau'ulu said. "We're both related to Uncle Ed. We're his mom's side and they're his dad's side."
With her family by her side in the dugout, Malau'ulu has grown from a shy, intimidated freshman to someone who can dance carefree in the middle of the airport. She credits Leiliua and Niu for helping her grow.
"They're just always there, and I really thank their families for that because they were very blessed growing up and you can tell through their personalities," she said. "They're very supportive, and you can tell they have a strong foundation."
Their family bond and an appreciation for Samoan culture has spread throughout the team. When the Bulldogs traveled to California for a tournament, Malau'ulu's family hosted the team for a Samoan cookout.
On that cool California night, Malau'ulu, Leilua and Niu pulled out the ukulele and began to play. Assistant coach Tyler Bratton and Christian Quinn came over to join in. It's one of Malau'ulu's favorite games. She plays four simple chords that are used in plenty of popular songs, and her teammates attempt to sing along with as many different songs as they can.
Through her musical talents, Malau'ulu has brought a small taste of Samoa to Starkville.
STARKVILLE – While many people are irritated by travel delays, Chloe Malau'ulu makes the most of them. For her, they're just more time to work on her latest hobby – TikTok.
Mississippi State's sophomore outfielder leads her teammates in making the short video clips whenever she gets the chance, on the field after a game, in the locker room or, yes, even the airport.
"I think our team's really funny," she said. "You know, we have a lot of personality. We can dance. I think a lot of people would enjoy us because I enjoy us."
During one delay in the Birmingham airport, she gathered her teammates to make a new dancing clip. She set her phone up on a nearby windowsill and started the recording. What she didn't realize was on the other side of the window was a restaurant full of people eating between flights.
It wasn't until she retrieved her phone that she realized her mistake.
"They were laughing, and we just sprinted away like okay time to get on the plane now,'" she said. "The weird part about it was we did the same thing three times to get it right, and they were watching the whole time."
The Bulldogs often need multiple takes to get their TikToks exactly right. Malau'ulu and a pair of teammates once spent 45 minutes trying to synchronize a dance until they figured it out.
But occasionally, they get it right from the start.
When MSU won the NFCA Leadoff Classic to open the season in Clearwater, Florida, the team filmed a celebratory dance with the trophy in the outfield.
"First try and we were done," Malau'ulu said. "It's always a hit or miss. You get it down on the first try and it looks good, or we're going to do it 27 more times."
The Long Beach, California, native tends to be the mastermind behind most of the team's choreography. That skill was on full display at the Bulldogs' preseason banquet where each class prepared a performance for a talent show.
Malau'ulu's idea began with the recognition that her class was the smallest with just four sophomores on the roster. The quartet quickly ruled out doing a skit, so she began thinking of four-member bands. Last season, the team all watched the Bohemian Rhapsody film and picked up an appreciation for Queen, but her classmates didn't know very many of the band's songs.
The sophomores gathered at Malau'ulu's apartment to listen to Bohemian Rhapsody, and she showed them some simply choreography she had planned. They were all in.
"Man, I could have a drum solo," Anna Kate Segars said.
"Oh my gosh, I could do a guitar solo," Jackie McKenna replied.
Grace Fagan's reaction was a bit different: "Alright, you guys take all the solos because I'm going to pee my pants on the stage."
Malau'ulu sang the group through their practice runs, but they lip synced for the actual performance. She was able to provide a keyboard, ukulele and drumsticks for the show since she has them handy for writing music in her free time.
It began when she was seven and started taking piano lessons. Later, she moved on to learning the guitar, but her fingers were too small to play some of the chords. That was when she leaned into her Samoan roots and picked up the ukulele. Most of her tracks mimic the island reggae style she admires and remind her of a day on the beach.
It doesn't take long to realize how proud Malau'ulu is of her Samoan blood. The culture is pervasive, and it was a major reason she chose to come to Starkville.
Her father, who played quarterback at Arizona in the early 90s, runs recruiting events and camps for Polynesian student-athletes. That allowed her to build lasting relationships with student-athletes across the country playing football, softball and volleyball. While her friends compete as hard as anyone, when they step off the field they all consider each other family.
Family. It's a word often used at Mississippi State, but it was especially important to Malau'ulu in her recruiting process.
"The thing that really put the icing on the cake was Fa [Leilua], Sarai [Niu] and [head coach Samantha] Ricketts," she said. "They have that Polynesian family quality that I was looking for in a school. It was a green light for me. I loved it here already."
Of course, it helps when you can say you truly are family. Malau'ulu has ties to Leilua, Niu and Ricketts. She'd known of the first two for a while, but she just recently discovered the connection to her head coach.
It's a complicated family tree, made more convoluted by the fact that Samoans call everyone Aunty or Uncle regardless of if they are cousin, niece, nephew or in-law. The four Bulldogs spent just over two hours tracing their family trees for this story alone.
Malau'ulu has known Leilua the longest of the three. That connection is also the easiest to trace. Malau'ulu's Aunty Miya, and yes, this is an aunt in the traditional sense of the word, married Leilua's "Uncle" Tevete, her father's cousin.
From there, it gets a bit tougher.
Malau'ulu's grandmother's brother connects her to Niu through marriage. He married Niu's grandmothers' cousin.
Tying the Ricketts and Malau'ulu families together is easier in some ways, but it goes back the most generations.
Malau'ulu's great-great-grandfather had a daughter named Mata in addition to her great-grandfather. Mata married Arthur Ripley whose sister, Louisa, is Ricketts' maternal grandmother. Mata and Arthur also had a son named Eddie.
"That's the pinpoint right there," Malau'ulu said. "We're both related to Uncle Ed. We're his mom's side and they're his dad's side."
With her family by her side in the dugout, Malau'ulu has grown from a shy, intimidated freshman to someone who can dance carefree in the middle of the airport. She credits Leiliua and Niu for helping her grow.
"They're just always there, and I really thank their families for that because they were very blessed growing up and you can tell through their personalities," she said. "They're very supportive, and you can tell they have a strong foundation."
Their family bond and an appreciation for Samoan culture has spread throughout the team. When the Bulldogs traveled to California for a tournament, Malau'ulu's family hosted the team for a Samoan cookout.
On that cool California night, Malau'ulu, Leilua and Niu pulled out the ukulele and began to play. Assistant coach Tyler Bratton and Christian Quinn came over to join in. It's one of Malau'ulu's favorite games. She plays four simple chords that are used in plenty of popular songs, and her teammates attempt to sing along with as many different songs as they can.
Through her musical talents, Malau'ulu has brought a small taste of Samoa to Starkville.
Players Mentioned
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