A few days before Miss France 2026, a candidate is making a lot of talk about her well beyond the traditional presentation portraits. Elected Miss Tahiti 2025 at the end of June in Pirae, Hinaupoko Devèze saw images filmed well before her coronation resurface: her participation, in 2021, in Koba LaD’s rap video, where we see the rapper enjoying a chalet in the mountains between cannabis, alcohol and pretty women. The contrast with the very codified universe of Miss France was enough to fuel a massive buzz.
Behind these few seconds on screen, however, there is the story of a 23-year-old young woman, who completed a scientific baccalaureate and studied law and then psychology, who lived for a long time in mainland France before returning to Polynesia in 2023. Today declared favorite for the national crown, Hinaupoko Devèze chose to calmly explain the context of this filming and to recall that she did not, in her words, try to hide anything.
Miss Tahiti Hinaupoko Devèze faces the buzz around the rap clip
The clip in question, , brings together Koba LaD and Naps in a non-stop party scene in a snowy chalet. The lyrics directly evoke a daily life punctuated by drug dealing and consumption. For example, we hear the rapper say, then follow up with The message is clear: the character prefers drug trafficking to school, in a setting where herbal cannabis is omnipresent.
In this clip, Hinaupoko Devèze appears twice, notably in the back of a car driven by Koba LaD, while he raps while holding a bag full of weed. These images have taken on particular resonance since the rapper was sentenced last June to a six-year prison sentence for a fatal road accident, in which he admitted to being speeding while under the influence of cannabis. Enough to fuel questions about the image of the future representative of Tahiti at Miss France.
“I never hid it”: what Hinaupoko Devèze says in the clip
Questioned about this 2021 shoot, the young woman fully assumes this parenthesis of figuration. To , she first talks about her taste for this type of project: , explains Hinaupoko Devèze in this interview given to the election’s partner media. She also recalls the context:
Concerned about the rules of beauty contests, the Tahitian assures that she did not take this decision lightly. She says she called the director before accepting: Today, faced with the loop of images, she insists on the fact that she never tried to erase this episode from her career, on the contrary: For her, it was a one-off professional opportunity, consistent with her activity as a model, and nothing more.
From Céline to Hinaupoko, a Miss journey between doubts and commitment
Another question intrigued Internet users: why does the young woman appear in this clip under the first name of Céline Devèze, and not with her Polynesian first name? Here again, Hinaupoko Devèze gives a very simple explanation, linked to her dual culture. She confides: Back on her native island, it is therefore her Tahitian first name, Hinaupoko, that she wears on the Miss Tahiti sash.
Behind this debate around a rap clip, the candidate also recounts a personal journey marked by complexes and a strong commitment to mental health. She remembers: and mentions her large size, long a source of teasing at school: Her studies were also chaotic, to the point that she admits to having and even . From this difficult period was born his desire to defend the cause of mental health; she summarizes: So many elements which place the episode of the Koba LaD clip in a broader itinerary, that of a young woman who tries to build herself, between Polynesia, metropolis, podiums and cameras.
