A glimpse of Kiyana Bongat’s life after joining The Voice Kids PH Season 2

Kiyana Bongat joined The Voice Kids Philippines in 2015 during its second season when she was 12 years old. Using Bruno Mars’s song "Grenade" as an audition piece, two coaches turned their chairs. Kiyana chose Coach Lea’s team and managed to reach the battle performance only.

 

The Blind Auditions

 

During auditions, the contestants were asked to list at least 10 songs in either English or Tagalog of their choice that they want to perform. Among the 10 songs Kiyana had listed, the program had chosen “Grenade” for her to sing.

 

She revealed that she used to be a Bruno Mars fan at that time. 

 

In the course of the blind auditions, Coach Bamboo turned his chair first then Coach Lea came next. Although most of the audience anticipated that she would be choosing Coach Bamboo because her singing style is much synonymous with the former Rivermaya vocalist, Kiyana picked the multiple award-winning actress and singer, Lea Salonga.

 

In an interview with Kiyana, she mentioned that she wasn’t too familiar with Coach Bamboo at that time and she is still exploring her music style. She also said that she admires Coach Lea’s Broadway shows, musicals, and films.

 

The Battle Rounds

 

Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Kiyana didn’t know how to speak Tagalog fluently, but she could understand a little. 

In the battle rounds, she was assigned to sing a Filipino song, which was Kapag Tumibok ang Puso by Donna Cruz. Even though it frustrated her, she dealt with it and gave her best performance. 

"It’s still like a Filipino singing competition, so it’s very inevitable for them to give me a Tagalog piece to sing." Kiyana said.

In spite of the fact that she did not advance to the next round, she saw it as a success because not everyone got the opportunity to go on the show and gain publicity. She would still consider it one of the biggest achievements of her career.

 

Before joining the competition

 

While still in Texas, Kiyana has participated in school competitions and small gigs occasionally.

A year before joining The Voice Kids, Kiyana revealed that she used to sing her audition piece for a fundraiser held in her hometown to help the victims of typhoon Yolanda, which affected thousands of people in the Philippines.

 

7 Years Later

 

She is now a freshman communication student at De La Salle University-Manila. 

Despite not reaching the final round, Kiyana continues making songs. On April 10, 2021, she released her first original song called "October Blues," which was written, recorded, and mixed by herself and produced by wetgropes. The music has garnered 1,706 views and 176 likes as of March 2022.

 

 

It only took her an hour or two to write the song, stemming from her past experiences. 

 

Career vs Academics

 

After joining the competition, there have been numerous management offers, but Kiyana’s parents turned all of them down for the reason that they wanted her to focus on her studies first before entering the music industry. 

For her, it was a wise decision because she was able to pursue her career on her own schedule while being capable of focusing on her academics pretty well. 

Various artists in showbiz chose to focus on their career at a very young age and ditched school. Although, It would be nice to graduate and have a diploma for a back-up in case things won’t work out in the entertainment industry.

Kiyana said, "I believe that everybody will shine when it’s the right time for them, so I guess we'll just wait until things happen." 

She's right, time will come for us. We just need to be patient and continue doing what we are passionate about. There is no such thing as “people getting ahead of you”. What’s important is that we work at our own pace and stay focused on one task at a time for a better outcome.