Like a New Year’s celebration, Midland singer Jasmine Jenkinson stayed up late for the launch of her first single at midnight last night.
“This song is about small-town nostalgia and a summery vibe,” she said.
Working from her home studio, Jenkinson, 20, did everything herself.
“I wrote the lyrics, the composition and the instruments being played. My guitar is in there, my keyboard is in there, and then there is violin, which I did on the keyboard,” she added.
She also did the research to teach herself how to do the mixing and the production for the song, called Your Book.
Jenkinson purchased recording equipment with money she won from the Pharrell Williams-supported Your Voice is Power competition in 2021. She has a microphone, a MIDI keyboard, a laptop and a guitar set up in her bedroom.
Income was not her goal.
“It was more of a personal goal to release music,” she said.
Coming up, she has a list of songs she wants to release.
“Something I’m passionate about it is leaning into self-love and body positivity in music,” she said.
Jenkinson is going into her third year at the University of Toronto/Sheridan College’s theatre and drama specialty program. She is fortunate to be on a full scholarship from BMO that covers her tuition, living expenses, and food. More than 1,000 people applied for the University of Toronto’s National Scholarship. Thirteen winners were chosen.
“I’m very, very grateful for it,” Jenkinson said.
While she’s equally passionate about music and theatre, her focus this summer is music. She started writing music in 2019, but it wasn’t until this song that she felt the work was worth recording.
When she returns to school in September, all of the third-year students will be in the production of Julius Caesar at Theatre Erindale in Mississauga.
Last summer, Jenkinson played Danielle in the musical Bring It On with the Georgian Bay Musical Theatre Company at the Midland Cultural Centre.
“We all had to learn how to cheerlead. It was so crazy,” she recalled.
With the Huronia Players, she played March Park in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at the Midland Cultural Centre.
When she was younger, she was in the King’s Wharf Theatre productions Snow White the Panto and Aladdin the Panto with Drayton Entertainment.
Growing up, she competed at the Midland Y’s Men’s Music Festival and, later, in the Barrie Kiwanis Music Festival. She took band and learned how to play numerous instruments in high school. Outside of school, she took both singing and theory lessons.
“That’s really helped in terms of my knowledge of composing,” she said.
Born and raised in Midland, the Georgian Bay District Secondary School graduate has been learning music since she was young.
“I’ve been training in singing my whole life. I’ve been training on guitar for several years and piano my whole life,” she said.
Jenkinson can be found on YouTube and Instagram.
Your Book is available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon and YouTube.
