Jasmine Murray: "I'm just gonna keep on practicing and doing my best"

Jasmine Murray was the first Wild Card winner to meet the media on a conference call Friday, where we learned that she sharpened her “commercial” look on the pageant circuit.
Here’s some of what Jasmine had to say…

On the choice of “Reflection”: “I just like to explore different types of music ‘Reflection’ is a beautiful song. It’s age appropriate, so I thought it would be a good choice to do. I just tried to do the best that I could. I’m glad that it paid off, I guess.”

On the theme nights: “I look forward to doing anything. I’m really looking forward to all of the genres, because I’m so young I really don’t want to limit myself. I like a lot of kinds of music.”

On her pageant experience: “I was really involved in pageants. It kind of got me used to being on stage.” Jasmine also told us that she got to sing for the Miss America pageant two years ago. “I’m glad I have that experience from the past.”

On her strategy: “I’m just gonna keep on practicing and doing my best. If America likes it, I hope they vote for whatever performance they like.”

On balancing schoolwork and “Idol”: “I basically do my schoolwork that is from my school (Mississippi School of the Arts). My teachers send homework and my assignments to me. I do like three hours a day. It’s a little different here. It’s shorter. I’ve got a great teacher. I like school a lot and an education is so important. An education is something that no one can take away from you.”

On her strategy for song choice: “You just have to pick the best song that suits your voice and that will show who you are. You need to try to make sure the song fits you because that’s a problem sometimes.”

On the kind of album she’d like to make: “I would love to try tons of different things—pop, rock, country—because music just in general is beautiful. You need to just experiment and see what you sound like doing them.”

On those who didn’t make it: “All of the Top 36 were amazing and I don’t even know how [the judges] made that decision. It’s so hard. They were all so talented, all of them. I’m happy for the people that made it. I know the people who didn’t make it have big futures and I know they’re all going to keep singing. If you really love doing it, you’re not going to stop.”

Photo Credit: Michael Becker/FOX