Cebuana singer is WISHcovery Season 2 grand finalist

CEBU, Philippines — It’s an exciting year for Nashrenne “Nashy” Ericka Casas as she becomes the only Cebuana to compete in the WISHcovery Season 2 Grand Finals.

“WISHcovery Season 2: The Singer and The Song,” organized by radio station Wish 107.5, kicked off with auditions in August last year. The contest hit the FM station’s YouTube channel on November. Hosted by RnB Prince Kris Lawrence, the digital singing competition aims to “wishcover” singing gems who just might become the country’s next singing sensation.

Seven veteran Filipino composers – Vehnee Saturno, Noel Cabangon, Top Suzara of The Freestyle, Moy Ortiz of The Company, Rannie Raymundo, Jungee Marcelo and Boy Christopher – have mentored the WISHcovery hopefuls. The composers each have a camp of 12 amateur singers who will then go through a series of sing-offs. The composers’ goal is to find the one singer who will best breathe life to the OPM piece they intend to create for finals night.

From auditions to the pre-qualifying round, weekly eliminations, one-on-one showdowns, the semi-finals, and knock out rounds, Nashy has survived to sing at the Grand Finals Night on Feb. 26 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum as the only Cebuana bet against seven other finalists.

A 21-year-old who hails from Guadalupe, Nashy began singing at five years old. While she initially was interested in dance, Nashy soon found a penchant for singing after hearing Regine Velasquez. Since then, her father decided to have her trained to further develop her singing skills.

A BSBA Marketing Management student at Cebu Institute of Technology-University, Nashy admits that she’s rather shy. She hardly joins singing competitions because of her timidness and fear. But when she found out that Wish 107.5 was looking for new talents through the competition, she decided to give it a shot.

“Ako jud gipugos akong self nga di mauwaw because love man jud nako ang singing. Ako ra gianad akong self hangtod sa kadugayan, di na ko mauwaw. Pagkahibaw nako nga naay Season 2, ni audition dayon ko kay I love Wish jud and dream pud nako nga makakanta sa Wish bus. Nakita pud nako nga daghan kaayo sila’g opportunity nga ikahatag sa mga singers like me,” Nashy shared.

Despite the challenge, Nashy said that her WISHcovery experience has led to new friendships and priceless lessons.

For the finals, she will be performing an original composition by Top Suzara. She promises a “stronger and more confident” Nashy on the finals stage. She shared that becoming a grand finalist was unbelievable, knowing that her competition, some fellow Cebuanos, were actually really good singers too.

While she still gets nervous, Nashy manages by looking at the brighter side of things.

“Our mentor, Sir Top Suzara, pirmi ra niya isulti namo nga be yourself lang jud. Si Sir Top man gud, di mi niya i-pressure, but siya pa mao ang mu-cheer namo. Dapat positive jud always kay I’m a negative person man gud. Positive jud dapat para mas confident ka sa imuhang self.”

Last Wednesday, Nashy staged a mini-concert at The Greenery in Mabolo. She thanked her family, friends and supporters for having her back since day one, saying their love inspires her to keep on singing.

“Grabe akong kulba at first [during the mini-concert],” Nashy said. “But pagkita nako sa mga tao nga ingon ato kadaghan ang ni support nako, which is wala ko ga-expect, kay happy kaayo ko. Grabe.”

As she takes on her biggest stage yet, Nashy, who was able to overcome her own fears and shyness, urges fellow dreamers to take a chance. She said that one should not be afraid to share their talents because it just might encourage others to do the same.

“Keep your wild dream alive and never lose hope. Ayaw mo og kauwaw nga i-share inyong talent kay gihatag na ni God. If someone sees your gift and is inspired to give birth to theirs, then you’ve just helped one person find happiness, maybe even motivate them to live out their dream and purpose. It only ever just takes one person to change someone. And that person could be you. So, kaya niyo yan!”