Zephanie

**Zephanie Odhene Liwag Dimaranan** (b. Feburary 14, 2003), also known by her stage name "**Zephanie**", is a Filipino singer-songwriter from Biñan, Laguna, and the winner of the first season of *Idol Philippines*.

She is a member of the New Gen DIVAS along with Janine Berdin, Elha Nympha and Sheena Belarmino.

## Early Life

Dimaranan was born and raised in Biñan, Laguna, third of five kids. She described her parents (her father is a pastor) as strict but according to her, she and her siblings learned so much from them. Before joining Idol Philippines, Dimaranan also joined The Voice Kids (season 2) in 2015 where she was eliminated in the Live Rounds and Tawag ng Tanghalan (season 2) in 2017 where she lost against the eventual champion Janine Berdin.

## Before Idol Philippines

In 2015, The Voice Kids Season 2 released their album, composed of twelve songs sung by the Semi-finalists including Zephanie with the songs Flashlight and Saan Darating Ang Umaga.

Few years after, she started to do some cover songs on her YouTube Channel, one of which is 'Till I Met You, which had garnered more than a million hits since it was uploaded.

In 2018, she participated in Tawag ng Tanghalan (season 2) where she lost to Janine Berdin.

## Idol Philippines

In May 2019, her audition for Idol Philippines was aired, where she sang Forever's Not Enough. It immediately hit a million views on YouTube. Since then, her performances in the said TV Show was one of the most viewed performances, until she was hailed as the First Idol Philippines. During the last part of the Final Showdown, the 3 finalists sung their original songs, which were also released on Spotify including her song Pangarap Kong Pangarap Mo composed by record producer Jonathan Manalo.

## Post-Idol Philippines

#### 2019

In August 2019, Zephanie was launched as a new regular performer of ASAP Natin 'To and eventually being part of a new segment named The New Gen Champs "J.E.Z", together with Janine Berdin and Elha Nympha.

On September 3, 2019, Zephanie's rendition of Ebe Dancel’s “Bawat Daan” in the TV series ‘The Killer Bride,’ was heard on the teaser trailer for the September 4 episode. The song was released on September 27 in all digital music platforms together with the duet version with Ebe Dancel.

On November 16 & 17, Zephanie joined former Westlife member Brian McFadden on his First Major Solo Concert in the Philippines called "Romantic Intimate Concert" at Waterfront Cebu and New Frontier Theater.

On November 28, 2019, Zephanie held her first solo concert, titled Zephanie the New Frontier Theater with Sarah Geronimo, Elha Nympha, Idol Philippines Top 4 - Lance, Lucas, Dan and Miguel, Erik Santos and Regine Velasquez (Moira Dela Torre and Janine Berdin were originally supposed to be part of the concert's special guests, but pulled out due to health issues.) as her special guests. and "Pangako Ko", was also released on YouTube as her single and it was digitally released on January 24, 2020.

#### 2020

On February 7, 2020. She released her first movie themesong titled "Simpleng Tao" originally sung by Gloc-9 for the movie "James and Pat and Dave".

Zephanie demonstrates her maturity as a singer through her newest single under Star Music “Sabihin Mo Na Lang Kasi”, released last July 24, 2020.

On July 29, 2020, Zephanie debuted as the host together with Kyle Echarri as they launched their online music variety show entitled "CSTV Presents: Artist Lab", appearing on Cornerstone Entertainment Faceboook Page with simultaneous streaming on their Official Facebook pages. The show was originally set to last for 4 consecutive weeks every Wednesday. However, the online show was suspended from August 4, 2020 after Metro Manila was placed under a modified Enhanced Community Quarantine for 2 weeks. The show returned on October 16, 2020, with a new timeslot every Fridays instead of Wednesdays.

On October 2020, Zephanie temporarily joined the musical variety show produced by Brightlight Productions and Cornerstone Entertainment Studios entitled "Sunday Noontime Live!". She was a part of the segment entitled "Ultimate Vocal Showdown" with Fatima Louise Lagueras a.k.a Fana, Sassa Dagdag, Sam Mangubat and Niel Murillo of BoybandPH. The show however only lasted for three months before being cancelled and replaced by a simulcast of ASAP Natin To on it's timeslot.

She was launched as one of the 12 interpreters of Himig Handog 11th Edition with a song of SJ Gandia from USA entitled "Tinadhana Sa'yo". The album was released in November 2020, while the music videos of the songs were released on January 2, 2021.

Before October ended, she released her single entitled "Pasensya Na". an exclusive released under Cornerstone Music.

On November 6, 2020, Zephanie held her virtual concert titled Zuperstar on Kumu, she was the first streamer that held a concert on the said online platform. She was also awarded as the Kumu Superstar Streamer.

#### 2021

Following the cancellation of Sunday Noontime Live!, Zephanie returned to ASAP after a 1 year absence from said show. Prior to her ASAP comeback, she appeared in It's Showtime's Hide N' Sing segment. However, prior to her return to ASAP, Sheena Belarmino filled her spot temporarily in the group J.E.Z., who later became a permanent member of the said group. The New Gen DIVAS officially debuted on April 25, 2021.

During the Himig 11th Edition Grand Finals, "Tinadhana Sa'Yo" won the MOR's Choice Award and TFC's Global Choice Award.

On August 2021, Dreamscape Entertainment announced the official soundtrack of the series "Marry Me, Marry You" which includes Zephanie's rendition of "One Day" originally sung by Angeline Quinto and it was digitally released on August 27, 2021. The said series will air on September 13th.

In 2021, she was featured in another commercial of Palmolive Naturals Shampoo along with Julia Barretto and Angelina Cruz.

On August 31, 2021, it was confirmed that Zephanie was picked as one of the 12 winners of the Camp Now United competition. She would leave for Abu Dhabi on September 15, 2021 to attend a bootcamp of the global pop group Now United. She, along with the other bootcampers, underwent vocal training with Joseph Clarke and choreography training with Kyle Hanagami.