MANILA -- Determination, courage, and perseverance.

These are the keys to success for 22-year old singer-songwriter Eliza Maturan.

Maturan, a working student from Manila, recently hit the Billboard’s Top 10 of the Top Philippine Songs Chart last August 7. She is known for her hit songs "Paalam" and "Museo" which earned millions of streams on the music platforms nationwide.

Birth of passion

Maturan grew up in a family of musicians who inspired her to do music as well. And because of that, she was enrolled in piano lessons and guitar lessons which later gave her the courage to explore songwriting in 2015.

As an aspiring artist, she started to join songwriting competitions and send song demos to different record labels. For this musician, rejections are one of the few things that kept her going.

“Hanggang 2nd or 3rd cuts lang ako, never umabot sa final 10. Pero nakatulong lahat ng rejections na ‘yun na ma-encourage ako na mas magpursige pa at 'di sumuko," she said.

"Museo," her latest single, gained popularity a month after its release last April. It was inspired by a point-of-view of a person admiring someone from afar. Like an artwork in a museum, whatever we do, we cannot touch it.

Booming career

Maturan said music is her comfort. It became an outlet for her unsaid thoughts, and her way to release her feelings.

Now that her songs are slowly being recognized, she can't help but feel grateful.

“Sobrang nakakataba ng puso, sobrang grateful na rin talaga ako kahit dati pa. Naalala ko I entered this year with 15,000 monthly listeners ata and sobrang saya ko na no’n. Ngayon mag-3 million na ang monthly listeners ko,” Maturan said in an interview.

From ranking 11th, Maturan was so thankful she reached the 8th spot.

But it isn't all gold for this artist, there we also negative comments undermining her or her songs.

“Focus na lang sa kung sino ang sumusuporta. The rest, disregard na lang," she emphasized.

Maturan is a testament that pursuing passion despite rejections can do wonders. As of now, she already wrote over 100 songs and released 25 of them on every music platform with the help of her record label, Unstable Records.

She also has an advice to aspiring artists.

“Lahat tayo may kani-kaniyang timeline, at your own pace lang palagi. Trust the process at trust God's timing. Kung kailan niyo deserve matanggap, tsaka ibibigay ni Lord. Kung kailan tingin Niya na ready na kayo. Be patient lang always and ‘wag sumuko," she added.