Jelo The Weirdo
Angelo Acosta, known professionally as Jelo The Weirdo, (born February 15, 2002) is a Filipino rapper, singer, songwriter, and occasional actor. Early and personal life. Acosta was born on February 15, 2002 in Quezon City, Philippines. He has a sibling named Lorraine; their father, who was a cop in Manila was murdered on his duty when they were at a young age and their mother Geraldina had to raise them on her own. Shortly after his father died, he began to record in a studio from time to time after being inspired by FlipTop Battle League emcees  at age 11. He transferred schools because they would often move out to another apartment almost every year, and was bullied initially as he struggled with social anxiety throughout childhood brought by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that was left undiagnosed until he turned 18, he cited it as the reason behind his current stage name, "“I decided to go with it because people called me a weirdo when I was in high school". In 2016, a fire broke at their neighbor's house in Navotas, forcing them to move out again, this time back to his mother's relatives  in Quezon City. Career. Career beginnings. Struggling financially, he pursued being a commercial model and worked as an extra being paid "around 10 dollars a day" at age 15 to help his mom with expenses, while also saving money to go to the studio and for his school allowance. He was persuaded to try going to VTR castings, and tested his luck on "every audition opportunity" and was "rejected countless times" prior to landing a role on a Grab commercial, and a few more mostly in cameo, including on a film shown on Netflix. In 2018, Acosta began uploading music  under his birthname beginning with "Swerte" in Filipino language that was deleted and "TNLK" that had ten million views and was used in a meme.He was then discovered by "Curve Ent", a PARI-certified small record label, who manages Ely Buendia and kakie. They signed him to a recording deal but parted ways with him after one year. In 2020, Acosta participated in the blind auditions of the second season of "The Voice Teens" and sang Shanti Dope's hit "Nadarang", he managed to make Bamboo Mañalac and apl.de.ap turn. He picked the latter as his coach. He got  eliminated in the Battles after performing "Imposible" by KZ Tandingan with opponent CZ Baylosis, who emerged as the winner. He became the first hip-hop artist to be a finalist across all eight seasons of the local The Voice Philippines franchise. During his stint, Acosta said that he felt grateful to be mentored by the Black Eyed Peas member, "You're a huge influence to who I am and I really look up to you especially how you raised our flag in the international scene". Influences. On a radio interview, Acosta said that he "grew up listening" to Gloc-9, Bruno  Mars, and the Black Eyed Peas as an eight-year-old before discovering his main musical influences that include Drake, Frank Ocean, Kanye West, Juice WRLD, Lil Nas X, Mac Miller, and Post Malone. Other artists Acosta has said inspired his work include XXXTentacion, Twenty One Pilots, The Weeknd, and Ed Sheeran.