How did you feel when you sang the Tongan national anthem at the Rugby League World Cup Semi Final?

Girl, it felt like I was singing for the Super Bowl! I know no one in America will ever experience something that I did in that moment. I don’t think there’s another stadium you can ever experience with your own people singing with you. The players started losing tackles, and when that happened, our people started singing hymns to encourage them to get to the end. And I kid you not, I know the players were so driven by that. Even though they lost in 2017, I would take away from that World Cup that our people still won at the end of the day because we were so one, and we were showing everyone who we were. And I feel like they lost because of the refs. We would have won, but they were not ready for the red sea to take over the whole country [laughs]. But I would definitely say that was one of the best experiences in my life. The Polynesian Super Bowl was definitely something to experience. If you weren’t there, you missed out, because there was never another like that.

BuzzFeed: I could see even in the videos I watched. The emotion, people crying, such a strong, beautiful moment of unity.

Exactly. Before I even got there, my uncle was the one putting it all together. And he’s like, “Hey, so they have a track for you to go with the anthem.” And I told him, “No, I don’t want the track. I just want the people to lead me.” And he was like, “OK! If that’s what you want, you’d be the first.” But I had a feeling the people, we were going to lead each other with the anthem. I’ll call it a hymn. And what do you know? They did lead me, and I was able to make it to the end without crying.

My mom’s family from out there, they dressed me. My aunty made my outfit from scratch. My dad’s family flew in from Brisbane, and they were like, “We’re going to get you ready, too.” I had a great-grandma there, and she was also helping me rehearse it before I went on stage. To have all my people in that room, I’ll never forget how they were able to prepare me for that big moment. It wasn’t just for me. It made me realize that was for all of us.