In Cambodian music history, there was the era before VannDa, and the era after VannDa. The hip hop superstar changed Cambodian music forever with his signature 808 laden production, hard-hitting lyrics weaving the Khmer & English languages seamlessly, his deeply honest emotionality, and his uncanny ability to create moments sung loudly from tuk-tuks to supermarkets to nightclubs and pubs. Since signing with Baramey in January of 2019 with a respectable 30,000 YouTube subscribers, VannDa has rapidly and decisively taken over the Cambodian music industry having grown his YouTube audience to over 3 million subscribers at the time of writing. His personal following outpaces the total audience of most of the other Cambodian music labels with all of their total music artists combined.

Following the successful release of $KULL THE ALBUM in 2020, now at over 300 million collective streams, VannDa was already firmly established at the top of the Cambodian music world before the release of “Time to Rise” in 2021, currently at a Cambodian record breaking 86 million views. The chart topping hit exploded throughout Southeast Asia with its blend of soul-piercing lyricism and Khmer instrumentation with Hip Hop & Drill sounds. The transcendent song featuring 77-year old Cambodian music legend Master Kong Nay won Lifted Asia’s Song of the Year, Music Video of the Year, and was placed in Apple Music’s Editorial Teams’ Top 100 songs of the year. Before this moment, Cambodian artists hadn’t been included in international publications let alone so thoroughly celebrated in the pan-Asian music scene. Day by day, his international audience grows as they watch the rise of this Cambodian phenom who has only more room to grow and no clear signs of slowing his rapid ascent.

VannDa got his start in music while in high school in his hometown Sihanoukville in the year 2016. Coming from modest means, he worked as a coconut shavings seller as a young boy in front of his parent's shophouse. He began to experiment with music through a cracked version of Fruity Loops, utilizing internet cafes to feed his unquenchable interest in music. He devoured hip hop music and production tutorials on YouTube, developing a unique taste that would seem odd to the normal hip hop head from the west. From the fast flows of Twista to the raw, punk rap energy of the $UICIDEBOY$, VannDa slowly cooked his sound and developed a true music studio-obsessive workmanship and grind. Eventually, he decided he needed to be in Phnom Penh to chase his music dreams, and received his parents' blessings with a single $100 bill.

VannDa found early digital success with major hits "Cherr Te" and "Start and Stop" collecting 10 million and 16 million YouTube streams respectively by January 2019 (now 13 million and 24 million). However, without a team or any guidance, he found himself low on money bouncing from house to house and from one management to another.

Despite his great numbers, VannDa found himself in difficult circumstances trying to make his music dreams happen. Then in an off chance encounter at a show, VannDa ran into another Baramey artist, RXTHY, who asked him if he had a team to protect his interests and help actualize his vision. VannDa signed with Baramey the following month, January 2019, and on his birthday (Jan 22nd) released his culture-altering smash hit, "J+O" (22 million streams) and its subsequent remix (30 million streams). "J+O", a stylized romanized writing of the Khmer word for a form of arrogance, took aim at the upper class that looked down on people like VannDa, delivering poignant remarks and powerful criticisms of hypocrisy as he saw it around himself.

From this moment, VannDa would go on a still-to-this-day 100% hit streak, with no flops since his signing. He would follow "J+O" with the Khmer New Year themed "Prean Neary" (20 million streams), to "Hot Boy" (over 33 million collective streams) to "Born This Way" (33 million streams). As part of a Women's Day Campaign in March 2020, VannDa would release his 2nd most successful single to date, "Mama" (65 million streams), a collaboration with another legendary Baramey artist, rap/singing duo Kmeng Khmer. The mother (and father) appreciation song came at a unique time period, as March 2020 marked the beginning of the global Covid-19 pandemic, locking sons & daughters at home with travel bans disallowing them from seeing their parents. The success of the song, in addition to its honest emotion and mix of positive and remorseful emotional lyrics, can be attributed to driving this cultural moment of providing hope and solace to a scared population of Cambodians with no certainty of seeing their loved ones.

As the pandemic raged, all plans of Vannda's debut album launch concert were doused, but none of this deterred VannDa from his rise. In a meeting with Baramey, VannDa expressed his desire to still release his debut album during the pandemic despite not being able to take shows and capitalize off of his unprecedented success. "I want to give the Khmer kids something to have during this hard time" he told the Baramey team. He then set off to work like a madman, crafting new songs and remaking old ones for his game-changing debut album, $KULL. With the same sponsors who bought in to support his debut album, Vannda went on a summer defining campaign of 5 music videos, 2 documentaries, and a few Q&A's with fans. His album attracted the attention of international fans across the world, stuck at home with open eyes and ears. With English subtitles captioned for every song, fans from South Korea, the US, the UK, Ghana, and more reveled at the musical talents, visual ferocity, and virtuosic composition of Cambodia's finest musical export. With the release of $KULL, VannDa reached 1 million YouTube subscribers--a feat never accomplished by any solo Cambodian artist--and solidified his spot as the King of music in Cambodia.

Not one to rest of his laurels, Vannda has continued his hard work, signing as Brand Ambassador to Cambodian-owned telecom Cellcard, and releasing new singles "Hik Hik", "Solo", and "$KULL (If I Die) every month since November 2020. Vannda has only up to go and has his eye towards more international collaboration and the opportunity to perform overseas one day. The rabid VannDa fans; await the end of the pandemic so they can gather by the thousands at Vannda's first big solo show. VannDa has never lost his hunger or his love for music, and continues to expand his repertoire. He extends his success to other artists, featuring on their songs and helping to build their audiences. Still humble and hard-working, the sky is the limit for VannDa, who continues to surprise the world every single day.