I've been in Atlanta for about a year and
a half.
I came out here
to start my music career.
I grew up in Phoenix.
My mom was a single mom, but I would see my
dad, like, Christmas breaks and summer breaks.
And I started playing guitar when I was five.
The first day I met Jasmine, it was like boom,
we started doing music.
I was, like, "Wow."
At first, I used to have people write my songs
for me and I never really thought that I could
do it myself.
And then my friend Bax, he made me start doing
that.
So after I wrote my first song, it clicked,
like, "This is who I want to be and this is,
like, who I am as an artist," and I was like,
"I can do this."
I'm a vibe guy and when I met Jasmine, it
was just like, "Wow, this is something special,"
you know what I'm saying?
Like, she needs to pursue this.
Before I moved out here, I was going to school
in Utah.
I was on a volleyball scholarship.
I didn't want to keep doing volleyball
if I would be, like, wondering if I did the right
thing
or if I would always be thinking about doing music instead.
So I called my parents and I told them that
I was moving to Atlanta
and I wasn't going back to school.
I don't think that my dad really followed
his dreams all the way.
So I don't think he would understand.
He just said that that's not how life works,
that, like, the idea of me doing this was crazy.
He kind of tried to make it seem like it would
never work out.
Me and my dad still don't really talk.
It's made my relationship with my mom stronger
because I kind of, you know, realize that
she's the only person who's always going to
be there for me, no matter what.
Hi, mom.
Hi, Jasmine.
They're flying me out on the 25th to L.A.
for a showcase –
Of this month?
Yeah, next week.
I forgot to tell you.
It's in L.A.?
Yeah, It's a bunch of music industry people.
Okay, well, I want to go.
So –
Okay.
I'll send you all of it.
So in season one,
we asked artists to submit
and out of thousands
of submissions,
we found Jasmine
If I ever asked her to sing for me, she would
never sing for me.
She would perform or sing
if we wouldn't look at her.
So sometimes we'd
have to turn our backs
or put something over our face.
I haven't done any, like, real live shows
unless talent shows count.
This is my first time doing my own songs.
Half of me is like, "Ahhh!
These people are going to be watching me
and they're pretty important,"
but the other half of me is, "Good.
They're going to love you."
I get really nervous performing and my voice
gets really shaky so it messes me up.
I try and meditate a little bit before I go
out and say, like,
"Everything's going to work out.
Everything's going to be okay.
It's going to go great."
I am nervous, but I'm more, like, excited
and nervous,
like, want to get it over...want to get it over with.
I'm mostly nervous because I haven't really
performed that much,
any of my own songs.
So I'm really excited to see how that goes.
When she dropped out of college, I was bummed,
and now I can tell that she's really focused
and driven.
She's been spending the last couple of years
really applying herself.
So I'm excited for her.
I think what keeps me going is there's no
plan-B. So this has to work.
I'm going to go up and give everybody an idea
why we're all here
and talk about the series for a minute.
Then I'm going to get into the fact that you've
been singing your whole life in private,
you refused to sing in front of your family,
only a couple of your dearest friends have seen you sing.
And this is your first time coming and singing
for a room full of strangers.
So everybody be kind –
That makes me nervous –
It made you nervous?
The way you said it, I was like, "Oh, s**t."
Oh, s**t.
See, that's what I want, everybody else to
be nervous too.
The talent is undeniable. She comes by it so naturally.
Welcome to the stage Jasmine Janai.
When you're little...when you're a little
girl and you dance in front of the mirror
or you, you know, sing songs in front of the
mirror,
that's how, like, you want to feel
and when you're on stage, that's how you feel.
The feeling that I felt, I want to do all
the time.
Yeah, it woke me up.
Like, I kind of knew this is what I'm supposed
to do.
