Photo: Screenshot from Vladimeir Gonzales’ video. " width="100%" />
It took Marynor Madamesila eight years before she could graduate with a Theater Arts degree from the University of the Philippines-Diliman (UPD), so the actress celebrated the end of her college years by singing on stage, right in front of her schoolmates and teachers. For her nerve and talent, the video showing Madamesila singing has gone viral since it was uploaded by her friend on Facebook on June 28, a day after her graduation.
In it, the Rak of Aegis star is shown slowly walking towards the middle of the stage. A few minutes later, she belts out the jazz song At Last, Etta James’ signature 1960 hit. The audience was pleasantly surprised with her performance and screamed to show their appreciation.
The video has gone viral and has been shared almost 7,600 times as of this article’s posting.
“I’m dismayed with Marynor. She didn’t prepare well for her graduation,” Madamesila’s friend Vladimeir Gonzales wrote sarcastically on his post with the video.
In an interview with Coconuts Manila through Facebook Messenger, Madamesila said she has always planned to sing At Last on stage for her graduation. Such performances are nothing new in UP’s College of Arts and Letters, where some students even dance and model in front of the audience on graduation day.
“I went through so much in my seemingly 50 years of stay in UPD. Ever since the onset of my struggles as a student, I’ve always wondered how my graduation would turn out to be. I would fantasize singing At Last by Etta James with 300 percent awareness cause it felt impossible at the time [when I was struggling with school],” she said.
So when the opportunity finally arrived, Madamesila went all out. She chose the jazz song because it’s always been one of her favorite songs to sing when she’s in the shower. It also served as her anthem when her life seemed to not be going anywhere.
However, she did have second thoughts about performing the song.
“I thought I might appear like an attention-seeker,” she said. But she later realized that she wanted to honor her fellow theater alumni.
“[A]nd what the hell? I was gonna graduate! I practiced it on my mind while the names of other students were being called. I did some cramming then voila! At last!”
Her audience loved the performance.
“They all cheered in glory because I knew they all felt the same! And for that, I am eternally grateful,” Madamesila said.
People online also loved what Madamesila did. MP Rabang tagged a friend and wrote: “You should be this extra!”
“You should have done this in your graduation, haha!” Lulubelle Acero told a friend.
“This is how you slay,” Jerwin Ibañez told his friend.
“This is how fun we should be on graduation day,” Jay Beltran said.
Did you do anything similar to this on your graduation day? Tell us by leaving a comment below or tweeting to @CoconutsManila.
Read more from Coconuts Manila here.
