Meet New York’s Songstress Jasmine Clemente

Jasmine Clemente has been on our radar for a while. This Puerto Rican songstress has been making beautiful noise in the New York nightlife, debuting her first soulful House single, “Free My Spirit” in 2011 on Fusion Records. Her last song with Nervous Records, “Wanting More” ranked high on DJs’ playlists in 2014 and has made her an in demand performer all over New York City. Her talents also carry over with her acting, creative writing (short stories and a fictitious novel loosely based on real events), and she’s even launched her own magazine.

Jasmine’s new song “Remember” produced by Louie Balo Guzman on Battlewax Records (with Jeremias Santiago/FTL REMIX) comes out on July 7, 2015 and will be available on Traxsource, Beatport, iTunes, Amazon and more…

How wonderful is it to be in the mecca of so much artistic inspiration! I take it you’ve been in the club scene growing up in New York? When did you start singing and did you know it was always going to be House?

Growing up in such a melting pot such as NYC, I’ve seen it all from the poorest to the richest, from the broken to the fabulously lucky. With that, it’s easy to get creatively inspired just from the environment alone. However, I started singing as early as about 4 years old. My mother used to blast Donna Summers, Madonna and Janet Jackson on the stereo, so it all grew on me. Even though I always had a thing for slow music too, I grew up favoring the genre of House in the early 90’s and to answer your question, YES! I definitely wanted to make it in the House music industry above all other genres.

I know you’re very active in the spoken word community as well, you’ve really have your hand in so many different projects! I remember you are an outspoken proponent on the subject of violence against women. Can you tell us about that?

Domestic Violence is such a complex issue because it can’t be described as easy as 1,2,3. In fact, it can take an entire lifetime to unravel how women attract abusive partners, why we choose to stay, and how we can end it? This is because women are natural caretakers and nurturers – to different degrees of course. So it’s natural for us to want to love unconditionally, to want to heal, help, and stay loyal to our family and/or our companion. The thing is, I can only speak for myself because everyone’s relationship is different, but what I will say is that no relationship happens by accident, and they are all here to teach us something about ourselves – like a mirror. And what I learned from my experience with domestic violence is that I always have the power to leave or to stay. Remember that if you don’t want to repeat a cycle, then it starts with empowering yourself and taking out the venom from your heart and soul. Forgiveness will heal, but holding a grudge will weigh you down. Lastly, we’re all human. Find a spiritual source of principals to connect with and feed your spirit true, healthy love.

How are the opportunities nowadays for a talented singer such as yourself in the House world? Oftentimes vocalists would lament being put in the background by the producer, but that’s not always the case. Especially with you who has such a strong visual presence.

Most producers are DJs who travel the world and get most of the shine because it’s also a male dominated industry. Therefore, the female singers usually get mentioned as a feature on a record and don’t even get booked to perform live as much as they should.

What I’ve managed to achieve is getting amazing photo shoots and music videos done that builds my online presence. If you check out my website you’ll find my YouTube channel that features all of my music videos and movie trailers. It’s been a great way to attract more opportunities to perform and collaborate because DJs see my videos and based on my visual performances, they can tell if I have the it factor- which I’ve heard! (I’m only repeating what’s been told to me lol.)

I was pleasantly surprised that you have your own online publication Inner Vibrations! Tell us more about that!

One day I had a feeling in my gut to write about all of these new age things that I was learning online and in books. I was a big fan of authors Dr. Wayne Dyer, Miguel Ruiz, and Deepak Chopra. So I started blogging whatever I felt inside of my heart with no real direction or plan. Eventually I wanted it to make sense because I was writing a lot, so I came up with the idea to put together a digital magazine that combines the entertainment industry with spiritual awareness and holistic health. It’s called www.innervibrationsmagazine.wordpress.com. Countless artists have lost their lives to toxic substances and even depression, people whom I’ve grown extremely close to have been addicted to drugs and it’s broken my heart. Because of this, I decided that I’d put together this magazine to promote artists (singers, actors, painters, and poets) while having “Health & Nutrition” and “Spiritual” sections in the same website. So if by chance, someone reads an article that makes them see things differently, then I’ve inspired someone – and so it grows as the word spreads.

Your latest project is with Louie Balo who I’m a big fan of! How did that come about?

A mutual friend of ours named Saliva Commandos would promote his online radio show every week and tag people to listen, and my name was tagged along with Louie Balo’s, and so he checked out my profile and saw that I was a singer too. The rest is history, BUT!!! That’s not all… The first time we spoke on the phone about collaborating, he was in Miami, Florida and mentioned that he had a track that he wanted me to give a try. That was the song we’re now promoting called “Remember”. I wrote the song lyrics to “Remember” and now we even have a music video to follow up with it which was filmed by Victorious De Costa.

Do you have a vision board? And if so what is on it for 2015-2016?

I didn’t make a vision board yet, but now that you mention it, I might just have to do that! It’s funny because I’ve been feeling intuitively like I should move back to the West Coast or even try moving to London. Nowadays with the internet, I can record music from anywhere around the world, plus I can expand my fan base by moving. have a new single called “L.O.V.E.” coming out in South Africa with producer Blaque Essence in September 2015, I also have a single called “Alive” coming out with Vincent Kwok from San Francisco (still deciding on a release date), and I also have 2 follow up songs with Louie Balo. Hopefully by 2016, I’ll be ready to explore a new city with my music, my magazine, and my dreams.