Nine-year-old scavenger is The Voice Kids champion

MANILA, Philippines - Above and right: Lyca Gairanod, 9, of Tanza, Cavite, emerged as champion in the The Voice Kids finals held Sunday night on ABS-CBN. Lyca’s father is a fisherman and her mother is a scavenger of junk which she sells. Lyca, who sometimes helps her mother, performs for their neighbors in exchange for cash or food.

For the “blind auditions,” Lyca sang Halik (by Aegis) which was used as teaser for the program and has now earned 2.3 million views on YouTube. The complete “blind auditions” video has 1.45 million views, bringing the total views to 3.75 million.

Lyca won the Battle Rounds against two Team Sarah members with the song Isang Lahi and advanced to the Sing-Offs where she sang Dance With My Father (Filipino version).

Lyca was chosen by coach Sarah Geronimo as one of the two artists from her team who advanced to the semi-finals where Lyca sang Pangarap na Bituin (by Angeline Quinto), ranking first in the semi-finals voting.

Lyca’s grand-finals songs were Narito Ako (by Regine Velasquez), Call Me Maybe (by Carly Rae Jepsen) and Basang Basa sa Ulan (Aegis). Again, she ranked first in the grand-finals voting.