Jasmine Murray

jasmine murray
All Artists
SongsBio

Songs

Fearless

Fearless

2018

Details
For God So Loved

For God So Loved

2017

Details

“I feel like God has just orchestrated all this very beautifully.”

Jasmine Murray

About Jasmine Murray

jasmine murray

Well known for her powerhouse vocals as a finalist in season eight of “American Idol,” Jasmine Murray has worked hard to overcome her fears of not being good enough. “We all have chinks in our armor,” says Jasmine. “Some are clearly seen from the outside. Mine were on the inside; I secretly battled fear and anxiety. I know it looks like I had it all together, but I didn't.

Jasmine's journey began in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), where she fought for life for an entire month after her mother nearly died giving birth. She grew up in a single-parent home, the youngest of five siblings.

Jasmine is passionate about music..

“Music has been a part of my life since I was a little girl,” she says. “My mom would play Gospel, Pop and R&B-she had a good mix as well, playing Yolanda Adams and CeCe Winans to Sade and Toni Braxton.”

And, that passion helped catapult her to the stage...

Jasmine was sixteen when she auditioned for American Idol. The experience gave her a taste of the grueling work ethic that comes with being a pop artist. Instead of buckling under the pressure, she felt like she found what she wanted to do with her life. “I love performing. I love being in the studio, and that was my first time getting to experience it all, and it was so incredible. I felt like, 'Yes, this is the life.'”

She then pursued a publishing deal for songwriting. When it fell through, she took a deep breath and stepped back. Jasmine then decided to return to her roots and commit to school full-time in Starkville, Mississippi, where one of her siblings lived. It was at her sister's church that she fell in love with worship music, and God began to reveal His bigger and better plans. “I got involved with the worship team and started helping on Sundays,” she says. “That was where I felt like God just completely changed up my plans.”

Worship made her feel alive. “That experience was just so incredible. It took the focus off of me. I felt like God was using me to help people to connect with Him, Jasmine reveals. "I felt like God was saying, 'I want you to use whatever I've given you to glorify me.'”

She continued growing in her relationship with the Lord and her desire to help others. That season “was helping me to come into my own.” She founded a nonprofit called 13 Going on 30, a mentoring organization whose message to young girls is: don't desire to act and look like a 30-year-old or make decisions like one. She traveled to schools and churches encouraging girls to learn and embrace their worth at a young age so they'll avoid life-altering consequences.

Soon, more opportunities began to unfold. She met with Michael Blanton, a music manager (Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith), and shared her desire to write and perform music that told the story of Christ. He helped connect her to her record label in Nashville, TN.

She describes the label as “family,” as they've helped her acclimate to a new life in Nashville. “They believed in me from the beginning, and I couldn't ask for a better partner.”

Despite her success and support, fear and anxiety crept in again. One morning, before a writing session, Jasmine suffered a panic attack in the parking lot. Several minutes later, she pulled herself together enough to walk in and meet with the two writers, Jeff Pardo and Tony Wood. Jeff asked her what was on her heart. “I wanted to write about fear, but I didn't let on why,” she says. “Before I knew it, I burst into tears. I said, 'This is what I'm dealing with. I have serious anxiety, and I feel like I've been in this season where I've let fear overtake me.'”

Jasmine draws strength from God...

Tony and Jeff began to minister to her. “It was so amazing, because they immediately said, 'Hey, can we pray for you? Because we know this is real. This is something a lot of people face. It's not from God,'" Jasmine says. "So we prayed and wrote this incredible song."

Called "Fearless," the song is her first radio single. In it, Jasmine declares: “For I wasn't given the spirit of fear, I was given the power of love. And everything I've been fighting against, I'm going to lift it up. I'm going to be fearless."

Jasmine values being involved in the songwriting process, “Artists who have a role in writing have a special connection to the songs, and the audience can feel that. I want to sing about things that I know. I want to sing about things I can connect to and help others connect to as well.”

Her life now is a far cry from the beginning in that neonatal intensive care unit where she first fought for life.