During the pandemic, people were stuck indoors. We started to tune in to our hobbies, got glued to our screens, and listened to music more than ever. This is where people found solace during those somber days.
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Filipinos found more solace in our locally made songs since it uses our native language. As a result, more local talents surfaced. One of them is a Cebuana teenager but now based in Catbalogan, Samar.
Meriel de Jesus — more known by her stage name, mrld — has garnered almost 90 million streams on Spotify at the young age of 17. She scored viral with her first composition and release “An Art Gallery Could Never Be As Unique As You” in 2021, during the height of the pandemic.
![](https://sugbo.ph/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/mrld-3-1024x1535.jpg)
Ultimately, mrld became one of the featured artists on Spotify in May 2021 and was shown in the New York Times Square Billboard. She even finds it surreal that she was able to reach this milestone since she only started writing songs as a passion only when she was 14.
“Those numbers, they never went inside my head. All I really wanted was to release a song, kahit 10 people lang ang makikinig, it’s all good.”
mrld will have her first-ever live show at Social House in Makati City on October 28.
Showcasing your talents knows no limits, may it age and boundaries. This young Cebuana is living proof. However, you can only reach a breakthrough or milestone with hard work, not only sheer luck.