Not many teenagers can claim writing their own songs and amassing over 80 million streams on Spotify, making it to a massive Times Square billboard in New York, while also juggling studies — but mrld can.

At just 17, the Cebu singer-songwriter, whose real name is Meriel de Jesus, has done all those — and is set to achieve more, with her first-ever live show at Social House in Makati City on October 28.

The “Ligaya” hitmaker considers the one-night event as an introduction to the “real wrld” (her fans have dubbed themselves “world” minus the vowel, like their idol’s screen name), after a music breakthrough that happened at the height of the pandemic.

Scoring a viral hit with “An Art Gallery Could Never Be As Unique As You,” mrld signed with O/C Records in 2021, and has since released four singles, including the latest “Ikaw Pa Rin.”

That her cumulative streams on Spotify is approaching 90 million is nothing short of mind-blowing for mrld, who noted that most of her career has unfolded through a computer screen.

“If I think about it, I’m still not out in the world so people don’t even know what I look like. Gathering that much number for two songs is insane for me. Hindi pa siya nag-si-sink in, but maybe one day,” she told ABS-CBN News.

Referring to “An Art Gallery,” her first composition and release, mrld said, “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.”

“I’m very, very, very happy, because it got to reach a lot of people,” shed added.

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Equally unexpected for mrld was reaching New Yorks’ Times Square, where she was seen on a massive digital billboard as one of Spotify’s featured artists in May this year. “mrld,” was the name shown in large type for millions to see.

The story of arriving at that moniker drew amusement from the singer, who admitted she didn’t give much thought in subtracting the vowels from her real name. But she has no plans of changing it.

“I started releasing songs when I was 14. I was a kid. I never knew na mag-bo-blow up ako, so I just made fun of my artist name. And I carry it until now,” she explained, laughing.

“Now, I sometimes think sana hindi na lang because mrld, because a lot of people make fun of the artist name! But it’s still something that I’ll carry around, because it’s a milestone for the little me,” she said.

Approaching another milestone with her first live gig, mrld is intent on making the most out of her real-wrld debut — and striking while the proverbial iron is hot.

“It’s going to be a very great night. I’ll try my best to show them what I have. It’s my first-ever live show, and I don’t want to leave them hanging. Wrld, I promise to do and give my very, very best,” she said.

In her interview with ABS-CBN News, mrld also spoke at length about juggling being 12th grader and a breakout artist, her songwriting process, whether her love songs are necessarily drawn from romance, and her career goals both here and for the wrld.

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