Laarni can make things happen

Laarni Lozada is easily your story of a small-town girl who dreamed big and never looked back — a rags-to-riches tale that will never grow old.

“Isa lang akong babaeng nangarap at nabigyan ng chance maging singer,” says Laarni on her good fortune.

Laarni was named the grand winner of Pinoy Dream Academy (Season 2) two years ago. She bested 15 other scholars after 13 weeks of being under grueling public and media scrutiny inside the Dream Academy house. Laarni took home P1-M, a house and lot, a water refilling business, and a slew of other prizes. She is now the newest addition to Backroom’s string of artists.

Her showbiz credentials include the likes of Ryan Cayabyab and Vehnee Saturno composing songs for her: Manalig Ka (Cayabyab) for the Scholar’s Sing Cayabyab album and Kung Iniibig Ka Niya (Saturno) for her self-titled debut recording Laarni Lozada. The Saturno composition became the theme song for the ABS-CBN soap opera Kambal sa Uma. She also revived Roselle Nava’s famous romantic ballad Bakit Nga Ba Mahal Kita as the soundtrack to the Alyna episode of Precious Hearts Romances.

Laarni says it was everything she imagined her showbiz career would be.

Coming from a poor family in Isulan, Sultan Kudarat, Laarni recalls she always dreamed of making it big in showbiz. At age four she was already practicing her vocal prowess in the middle of a ricefield, where the whole Lozada family worked as farmers including young Laarni, and her six other siblings. Growing up, Laarni regularly joined singing contests in her barangay, always placing second or third place. She also used to grab a wooden spatula to serve as her microphone, standing up on a bangketa (a long rectangular, backless wooden chair) to perform for her small audience. At school, she led her classmates in singing the National Anthem — from elementary to high school. Laarni says, someday she’ll be the one singing the National Anthem in one of the fights of boxing champ Manny Pacquiao.

“I remember climbing up a jackfruit, just looking up at the skies and daydreaming. I also used to carve my dreams on a bottle gourd (upo). Every wishing star I spotted, I wished on it. And with every (stem) of rice I planted, I told myself “I am getting my family out of here,” recalls Laarni.

Truly, if you wished hard enough, the universe will conspire for you to get it. With the help of an aunt, Laarni was able to pay for her fare going to Manila and continue university. But still not having enough money to fund her college tuition at the Philippine Women’s University (PWU), Laarni applied for scholarship. At PWU, she worked as a telephone operator and became member of the school choir (she got paid P2,500 every 15 days for singing everyday at the choir). On the side, Laarni took in odd jobs like being a wedding singer or band member.

“I survived by thinking only of achieving my goals even without money and with my family so far away from me,” she shares. Her rocketship came two years ago, when Laarni auditioned for the PDA Season 2.

“I remember having only P380 at that time and I still needed to pay for the requirements like a full body picture during the first audition. Good thing, I had a friend who I remembered had one full body picture of mine. I rushed to her, promising I will return the picture someday. I lined up as early as 7 a.m. (at the ABS-CBN compound) only to face director Laurenti Dyogi at 3:30 p.m. I didn’t have breakfast, lunch, not even merienda. I endured the long wait and hunger thinking of my fellow aspirants who were experiencing the same ordeal,” says Laarni.

Laarni apparently stood out to Dyogi, one of the panelists, when she sung her now famous Lead Me Lord audition entry.

“I was initially thinking of singing Run To You by Whitney Houston. But when I was put in front of direk Dyogi, I froze. The song Run To You escaped my mind completely. I thought, this is the person (Dyogi) who is going to make all my dreams come true. Lead Me Lord came out of my mouth.” Laarni is a devotee of the Virgin Mary and goes to Malate Church every Sunday.

The Sultan Kudarat native adds that Lead Me Lord became her redemption aria of sort that she only realized at the moment her voice was belting out the song of prayer. “I poured everything into that song. I thought of all my struggles, my parents, my dreams...,” she fondly remembers.

Dyogi let Laarni finish the whole song and asked her to sing another one. The rest, as they say, is history.

Laarni admits that the whole experience makes her laugh now. She believes she still has much to offer to her public.

“I am proud of my achievements. But like what I always say, I still have a lot to prove to the people. I still have a lot of things to do. It doesn’t matter if people call me too ambitious because I am. I have a lot of ambitions. I know what I want and I know I can make things happen. I believe I can make things happen,” confesses Laarni.