Jasmine Alexandria Sagginario

The modern world is so often obsessed with finding the next big thing. But to be in that spotlight, many attention grabbers just follow the crowd or turn heads with cheap shock value. From grownups to the youth culture, higher ideals lose ground to lower standards. 

How refreshing then to meet fourteen-year-old pop singer Jasmine Sagginario. This fun twenty-first century girl is no doubt hip to the times—yeah, she’s on Facebook—but she can also think and act way beyond them as indicated by the title track on her irresistibly danceable debut release, The Next Me. 

Where is everyone’s originality? I’m not ashamed of what I believe ‘cause now is not eternity. I’m not gonna be like everyone else. I don’t want to be the next big thing. I’m gonna be the next me. 

“My music is about being who God made me to be and not falling back into the world’s standards,” says Jasmine. “It’s easy to find negative influences and do things we wouldn’t normally do. Kids struggle with it all the time. But some friends and I have a saying we try to live by: keep it holy. That’s my thing.” 

And that’s certainly no small thing. This eighth grade student who attends a public school near Nashville is ready to share her music and faith with the world. Lately that has meant juggling homework assignments with late night recording sessions to complete Next Me. You won’t hear Jasmine complaining though. She has wanted to do this for as long as she can remember. 

Jasmine was born in 1994 to a close-knit family of strong Hispanic and Italian heritage just outside Los Angeles, California. For years, her father served professionally as a church music minister and brought his daughter onstage to sing when she was only three.  

“I still have the memory of going up there that first time and feeling nervous but excited,” says Jasmine. “I’ve always liked seeing people respond to the powerful message that can be shared through music.” 
 
In fact, a passion for faith and the arts sparked the Sagginario family’s move to Tennessee when Jasmine was nine. Her father is also a producer (he helped write and record Next Me), younger sister Talia studies acting, and mom fills their southern home with spiritual wisdom and constant cultural reminders of their unique international roots. 

This journey into the music industry was started as a father/daughter team and a goal of expressing the true identity found in faith, quintessentially, the goal of her label and tour iShine Live. The family duo wrote the music and developed all of the beats and tracks with Jasmine’s father who is a CEO of his own production company. 

“We’ve made a lot of good friends here,” says Jasmine. “I am blessed to be around a lot of people with good hearts who are talented as well.”
 
Those talented friends include songwriter Kevan Cyka (Hilary Duff, Everlife) who also graces The Next Me as well as industry pioneer Robert Beeson (Third Day & Jars of Clay), founder of iShine Live, a new movement for tweens in the Christian industry. Once matched with Jasmine’s talent, Beeson realized the timeliness of Jasmine’s release and within five weeks the project was finished. The instantly accessible five-song project (plus five sing-along tracks) was recorded in the Sagginario house, where Jasmine sometimes looked to her journal for lyrical ideas to match the beat-driven tunes her father would create. “The Next Me” is about being a leader not a follower. The insanely catchy “Make a Movie of It” is pure teenage, camera phone/YouTube fun. “Nothing Left to Say,” best showcases Jasmine’s agile, R&B-influenced vocals while taking a stand against compromising standards in relationships, co-written by family friend Paul Glover. 

“Yeah” (made popular by Yolanda Adams) and “Time2Shine” speak directly to kids about loving God and doing their best in all things to honor him. Such a message perfectly fits another new opportunity for Jasmine. Beeson invited Jasmine to take part in iShine LIVE, a concert tour for tweens that includes other high energy performers The Rubyz, host Luke Benward (How to Eat Fried Worms, Disney’s Minutemen), and speaker Paige Armstrong. Besides concerts, an iShine DVD and television series are also in the works. 

“iShine helps kids find their identity in Christ,” explains Jasmine, who humorously admits to being excited about missing an occasional school day to participate in the tour. 
 
Indeed, despite the extraordinary circumstances of making an album while still in junior high, Jasmine is at heart an everyday kid, doing well in Math, not particularly loving her honors Spanish class. She enjoys a lazy day at home, staying in her pajamas, watching Disney Channel, eating popcorn, maybe jumping on the backyard trampoline. She texts her friends, but mom and dad limit the cell phone use, and they haven’t allowed her to start dating yet (although the boys began asking in fifth grade). 

“We don’t always do what everyone else does,” says Jasmine’s mother, complimenting her teenager’s respect for the rules while taking us back to the theme of The Next Me.  

And that foundation is what comprises  the organic roots of Jasmine, a father moving his family to Nashville and the alliance of relationships with a goal  of using Jasmine’s vocal talent as a microphone to make a difference in the world for Christ. A young person in an image-driven culture who is confident just being herself and looking to God for her true identity? Now that’s original. That’s Jasmine.