YouTube teen sensation Francis Ryan Lim is best remembered as the 14-year-old crooner from Caloocan City whose impressive rendition of the Jackson 5 hit “I’ll Be There” earned him a three-chair turn from the coaches of The Voice Kids Philippines Season 2 during the blind auditions two years ago.
At the time, he was one of the standouts of Team Sarah.
In 2013, he emerged as the grand winner of It’s Showtime’s Pinoy Halo-Halo segment, a competition for global talents.
Dubbed “The Chinito Crooner,” Francis soon caught the attention of RnB King Jay-R, who gave him a record and management contract under HomeWorkZ Music, his independent record label whose roster includes Kris Lawrence, Glaiza de Castro, rap duo Q-York, Robin Nievera, Mica Javier and many others.
His debut album, Inspire, was launched in June 2016, and featured the carrier single “Let Me Know.”
Even at his tender age, Francis has already realized the importance of creating original music, and through the guidance of his HomeWorkZ colleagues and mentor Jay-R, hopes to find his own distinct sound as he matures and carve his own path in the local music biz.
He asserts, “It’s really important to create new music because as an artist, we have to make our own and we have to be original.
“It is important because through music we can inspire people and we can express ourselves. And since music has been changing for the past years, we have to save it by creating beautiful, meaningful and inspiring songs.”
Finding strength in numbers, the young social media influencer can’t help but feel extremely fulfilled with their recent HomeWorkZ Original Music Only (OMO) music tour, which brought them all around the metro’s upscale bars, and even some key U.S. cities during the past year.
He exclaims, “It was nothing short of amazing! All HomeWorkZ artists are amazing—-their music, talent, and originality. And the crowd! We started at 9:00 p.m. and ended at 2:00 a.m. and they were still there listening to the beautiful songs.
“It’s nice to see them having fun and appreciating our music, especially when the show had ended and the people were still screaming, “We want more!!!” I’m so thankful and blessed to be part of HomeWorkZ Music and their OMO tour and be able to promote and perform to them my music. I really appreciate all the HomeWorkZ artists before, but during the OMO tour, I appreciated them more.”
With a bright musical career ahead of him, Francis is taking things in stride.
With his debut album already enjoying steady success, he’s more than ready to embark on a massive promo tour (courtesy of his HomeWorkZ gurus), and prays that he’ll reach the platinum mark someday.
He shares, “Thanks to my fans, the carrier single is doing well, and I hope to do more mall tours, TV guestings and shows abroad. Bucket list? I’d love to have an international hit someday!”
