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. 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 changi