Jasmine Henry left Sydney in April 2018 in pursuit of her passions - music and fashion. In the short time she has been in the Philippines, the sixteen year old singer, composer, model, show host and church worker has accomplished much which assures her and mother and strong supporter Josephine Montemayor that it had been worth all the sacifices they have made.
Her most recent achievement was a surprise nomination as Best Female Recording Artist in the 33rd Awit Awards. Jasmine shared that she knew about her nomination when her phone continually beeped with notification of several messages of congratulations from a lot of people.
"I was shocked. As a new artist in the Philippines, I did not expect it. I truly felt blessed. To be nominated and recognized for “Best Female Recording Artist” Awit Awards is already an award for me. I am truly honored and blessed. I know that everyone that helped me work on the track deserves that recognition."
The AWIT AWARDS has been described as an expression of the Filipino's undying passion for music - music etched in every Filipino's heart. Awit Awards is a prestigious award-giving body, is spearheaded by PARI (THE PHILIPPINE ASSOCIATION OF THE RECORD INDUSTRY, INC.), to give recognition to Filipino performing artists and people behind the making of Filipino recorded music.
This is a recognition of Jasmine's composition Playing with Fire which was released in September 2019.
"My song Playing with Fire is in some ways a narrative. It tells a story. A story about someone in pain, how she's constantly playing with fire and now she is weak and injured. I wrote the song not intending to emphasise the story line, but the emotion being expressed. In the song, I use the idea of a broken heart, but this was just one approach the feeling to show as even at a young age, people experience pain in different ways. When I wrote the song, my idea was to create the metaphor of "fire" representing your heart/emotions; sensitive or fragile, if you handle irresponsibly, you will get hurt."
Due to COVID-19 pandemic, the announcement of the 33rd Awit Award winners will happen virtually on August 29 at 6 p.m.
The other song she performed and released in July 2019 was a re-make of Mahal Ko Ang Aking Pangarap which was composed by Annabelle Regalado Borja who is a singer/composer, talent manager, concert producer and promoter, DJ/entertainment producer, and music teacher.
At her young age, this child prodigy is now an accomplished artist and a model. A bit after a year of arriving in the Philippines, she came back to Sydney to perform as a singer and to model creations by none other than one of the world's top avant garde designer Rocky Gathercole in the joint event Miss World Australia State Final and the Very Rocky Gathercole Show on 7 July 2019 at the Star Event Centre. This was a great honour for the youngster to wear creations by Rocky who designs outfits for Hollywood celebrities like J Lo, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Nicki Minaj, to name a few..
Jasmine has made several appearances in television, radio and concerts in the Philippines. Two major events in her music journey was her successful sold out first solo concert dubbed as This is My Dream held in Manila's Skydome on Nov 22, 2019 and performing in the 24th Asian TV Awards in January 2020. Sadly with the onset of the pandemic, there were other projects that had been put on hold.
In the fashion world, Jasmine has been blessed to be taken in by Rocky Gathercole to showcase some of his creations. She was in the Philippine Fashion Week and the Panasonic Fashion Week held during 2019. She has graced the cover page of the Canadian Magazine Couture in July 2020 and was also in the July 2020 Intelegance magazine, wearing Rocky Gathercole designs.
When asked what advice she would like to offer to young people especially who have passions but are hesitating to pursue them, Jasmine said:
"Never give up. You have the ability to do anything your heart desires. I am on my journey fulfilling my dreams. Just keep taking those baby steps and one day you’ll look back and see how far you’ve progressed. Remain strong and have faith in yourself that you are capable and worthy of that end goal. Remember you are loved and appreciated. Please stay safe through these difficult times."