Zendee Rose Japitana Tenerefe, known mononymously as Zendee, is a Filipina singer & also a host. She rose to prominence after a video of her singing a karaoke version of Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was put on YouTube by Yuan Juan a.k.a. youngjay0918.[1] Known on YouTube as the "Random girl of SM Megamall" she gained a following and went on to sign with the record label Warner Music Philippines. Prior to her discovery, she had already participated in numerous singing competitions in the Philippines.
Personal life
Tenerefe was born in General Santos in South Cotabato province until she moved to Manila to audition for the ABS-CBN talent search X Factor Philippines. She failed to go far in the local version of X Factor but still made efforts to continue singing.[2] Tenerefe also won as the Gensan Pop Idol in 2007, an annual competition every Tuna Festival.[3]
Tenerefe is in relationship with Archer Perez, a shoutcaster, esports event host and content creator, since February 2024.[4]
Discovery and viral video
On July 28, 2012, a video called "Random Girl" was uploaded to the video site YouTube by youngjay0918 a.k.a. Yuan Juan.[5][6] The video showed Tenerefe performing karaoke at the SM Megamall, Philippines. Her singing brought attention from viewers around the world and immediately became a viral video. The original video got over 2 million views in three months.[7] The video prompted the GMA Network magazine show, Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho to look for her and when she was found they featured her in one of their episodes.[3] She admitted later that she sang in public to try and gain people's attention.[1]
After Tenerefe was identified she began to be invited to TV shows. Her most "global" exposure was her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show after being invited by Ellen DeGeneres herself.[9] Tenerefe is the fifth Philippine-raised singer to be invited after global superstar Charice, Ramiele Malubay, Rhap Salazar and Journey frontman Arnel Pineda.[10] She also met singer Jason Mraz and was the opening act in one of his concerts.[11] Zendee released her debut album, I Believe, in 2013. It has 10 songs and an acoustic version of her song "Runaway".[12] Her second album, Z, was released in 2015.
