Selena Marie:The girl with a pink ukulele

There’s a girl with the dragon tattoo, the girl in the photographs, the girl in the book and the girl on the train.

Now comes The Girl with a Pink Ukulele, the musical instrument fondly remembered for, among other memories, having been played by Elvis Presley in Blue Hawaii.

Selena Marie (minus her surname Cabusas in her professional name) has become a big hit on YouTube with her song How Far I’ll Go (a Best Song nominee at this year’s Oscars, composed by Lin Manuel Miranda who is the author of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton), garnering more than 2.2 million views, and Grow Old With You (from the Drew Barrymore movie The Wedding Singer) with more than 3M views.

“At first,” recalled Selena, 17, “I was hesitant to post it on YouTube because I coughed halfway through the song. It was embarrassing, nakakahiya, but many people found it cute daw and it was posted anyway. I was surprised when a lot of people liked it.”

Selena with mom Sarita Carreon Cabusas who is also a singer.

Copies of the video were sent to Boy Abunda who was so impressed when he watched it on his way back to Manila from Baguio that he promptly told his staff at AAA (Asian Artists Agency which he put up after closing Backroom) to get in touch with Selena and her mother, Sarita Carreon Cabusas (also known as Cheliza Padilla). Selena is the latest addition to the growing roster of AAA talents.

On YouTube, Selena is shown playing the ukulele given to her as Christmas gift by Sarita.

Boy Abunda

“That was in 2015,” said Sarita, an only child who, like Selena, was also trained by Sarita’s mother. “Selena is the type na madaling magsawa sa gamit, she easily gets tired of things, so I gave her that cheap ukulele which I bought in Cebu. Okay lang kung masira siya.”

But Selena fell in love with what she now calls “my uke.”

“I did a research on the techniques of playing the ukulele,” said Selena. “I learned how to play it by myself. Self-study lang talaga.”

The “cheap” one had been kept as a souvenir and replaced by a personalized pink one specially ordered for her by Boy, with Selena’s name engraved on it.

Selena told Funfare that she started singing when she was eight years old, encouraged by her lola, using a hairbrush as microphone as she mimicked Sarah Geronimo, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. She has added Juris and Morissette to her list of role models.

“At age 8, Selena traveled alone (with an ID hanging around her neck) to Malaysia to join her dad (Marlou Cabusas also known as Marlo Silverio) and me,” recounted Sarita (who also appeared in “singing” commercials, one of them for a brand of pineapple; while Marlou cut short his stint with German Moreno’s That’s Entertainment, in the same batch as Jessa Zaragoza). “We were in a band called URB that has been performing in the lounge of five-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur, 15 years with Shangri-La.”

In KL, Selena competed in the talent search VJ Superstar Malaysia with 32 other Filipino teenagers (she was the youngest contestant) whose parents were also working there.

“We used to call Selena a ‘miracle baby’,” added Sarita, “She was born premature, when I was on my seventh month of pregnancy. The doctors told us, ‘Ipag-novena n’yo siya.’ And we did. Selena was supposed to stay in an incubator for two months but after only 21 days, she was taken out na.”

In school (Global Innovative College in Makati where she’s in Grade 12), Selena hosts programs and sings during the intermission.

“I have many more things to learn,” said Selena who has undergone the Star Magic Acting Workshop and taken lessons at the 9 Works Theatricals. “I am taking things one step at a time.”

Boy told Selena that work in showbiz is hard and Selena said that she’s bearing that in mind.

“Selena was fated to live,” said Sarita. “I believe that it’s also fate that brought her to Boy’s attention.”

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)