Lloyd Cadena’s Journey to Stardom

Lloyd Cadena’s Journey to Stardom

Catherine Guevarra

                       Photo: uploaded by Lloyd Cadena (http://lloydcafecadena.tumblr.com/)

It has never been a smooth ride for youtuber Lloyd Cafe Cadena as he admits the difficulty of diving into the video making industry and making a statement for yourself to get known.

It was half past six on rainy Sunday evening when I arrived at the SMX Convention Center in Pasig City. I hurriedly got out of the car and rushed past a crowd of people, as I tried to enter the jam-packed hall thinking that I was late for my interview with Lloyd Cadena.

            Inside, I was shocked to see these weird creatures scattered around the halls. “Cosplayers?” I asked myself. After thinking that I might be at the wrong venue, a guard standing behind two tall grey doors assured me that Lloyd Cadena would be attending a book-signing event inside.

      Photo: uploaded by Lloyd Cadena (http://lloydcafecadena.tumblr.com/page/3)

           Lloyd Cafe Cadena is an online superstar known for his YouTube videos and his laughable but quite relatable memes on Facebook. He is also a published book author and hosts an online blog. Although his name is not quite recognizable, once you see one of his memes, you will surely be able to recognize his face.

                                                    Photo: lloydcafecadena.tumblr.com

           

As I stood in line waiting for my turn at the booth, where he would be signing the books, a lady approached me and said that Lloyd still has not arrived yet and that he must have been stuck in traffic.

Nearing for my turn at the booth, I could already see him. He was wearing a casual black and white patterned shirt, with his hair slicked back; he was signing a fan’s book, a Cadenator, as he would call them. He was casually chatting with the overwhelmed fan in front of me, as if they have been friends before they have even met. When the fan asked for a picture, they were interrupted by one of the coordinators, who asked if they could video him endorsing his books. After taking the video, he then gladly went back to the fan, and gladly took a selfie with her.

When it was my turn, my hands started to turn clammy and I started to feel nervous. Although my uneasiness was quickly expelled when I started to introduce myself, he immediately recognized my name. He knew that I was the person sending him e-mails asking about an interview. Luckily, I was the last person in line, and so I immediately went in and asked if we could start the interview.

Half way through the interview, I was interrupted as he overheard his friends talking at the side, about eating out after the event. He apologized for rudely intervening and I quickly dismissed it, knowing that it was already late and that he must have been really tired.

Starting in the Social Media Industry

Photo: uploaded by Lloyd Cadena (http://lloydcafecadena.tumblr.com/page/2)

           

Having the lack of anything to do during his free time, he decided to make videos and posted them on YouTube. He thought that filming himself was a way where he could amuse himself and that it would be a way of forgetting about his lack of having a partner.

He admitted that starting up in the said industry was very hard. His main dilemma was that he had a very limited amount of viewers. “Hindi ko hinayaan ung factor na iyon para magstop ako (I did not let that factor stop me from creating videos),” he said.

The 22 year old had created a first YouTube channel, however it did not receive much attention. But after a while, he then created a new channel named Lloyd Cafe Cadena (formerly known as LloydCafeCadena2) where he posted comical skits. Through his perseverance, he managed to spread his channel.

Rise to Fame

            With a whopping 30,000,000 views and more than 270,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, you definitely cannot deny his fame. He is also dubbed as “The face that launched a thousand memes.” He has also received awards such as the YouTube Silver Play Button and the 2013 Globe Tatt Awards Best Comedy on YouTube.

He had his first breakthrough through a video called “Crush mo ako, crush kita… Ano na?” It was in his most popular segment called “LC- Learns” in 2011, which reached 700,000 views. Now, his most watched video is called “Anong mas gusto mo, Showtime or Eat Bulaga?” where he interviews locals to see if which network do they like the most. The video has now reached 1.2 million hits. “I like watching his videos because he's really funny and he always has a point on what he says,” said Ck, a Cadenator. 

  

                                                

                                                                     
    






















                                                                   Photos: goodreads.com

Aside from making videos and memes, he is also a published book author. He has written two books called “Eng Serep Megwele ‘Yung Tataa” and “Hopia” both of which are published under VIVA Psicom Publishing Corporation. Recently, he has been attending book-signing events throughout the country.

Just this June, he attended the very first YouTube Fan Fest, which was held here in the Philippines. He shared the stage with other youtubers both local and international such as Bethany Mota, Kurt Hugo Schneider, Joe Sugg, Caspar Lee, Donnalyn Bartolome and many more.

“He is not like the other public figures, which forgot how they started,” said Shinlie, one of his Facebook Admins and close friend. “He always looks back and he always keeps himself grounded.”

Future Aspiration 

           

                                        Photo: www.lloydcafecadena.com

One thing that Lloyd really wants to aspire is his singing career. He says that it has always been his true passion.

 In 2012, he created a YouTube channel called PawsUpChannel, where he posts song covers from Beyoncé to Mariah Carey; however, this channel is no longer active. Lately, he has been posting song covers in another YouTube channel named LloydCafeCadenaTV.

He says that he gets his music inspiration from Lady Gaga and Mariah Carey. “We loved Gaga,” said Riel, a friend of Lloyd. “He has a pretty nice voice in my opinion. Let him follow his dream. There should be no one stopping him from it.”

Lloyd is currently attending workshops for voice lessons under ABS-CBN’s Star Magic to further enhance his abilities.

Through all of what Lloyd has achieved, I am pretty sure that he will find success in whatever he decides to do. I have observed that he is a fighter and he does not easily quit. He is a very optimistic person. “Gamitin mo ung negativity para maging positive ka (Use the negativity to become positive),” he once said during the interview. He is much like the person you see on your computer screen, “What you see is what you get,” if I may say so. He is very down to earth and appears to be laughing and making jokes most of the time.

           

           

References:

·         https://www.youtube.com/user/LloydCafeCadena2/about?spfreload=10. YouTube. 4 Oct. 2015.

·         Montenegro, Bea. “YouTube FanFest to arrive in the Philippines on June 26.” 24 June. 2015.http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/509770/scitech/youtube-fanfest-to-arrive-in-the-philippines-on-june-26. 4 Oct. 2015.