Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Watch Jasmine Murray on stage for a while and you won’t be surprised she comes from a scholarship pageant background.

The smile is perfect. So is her posture. And none of the judges ever question her fashion sense.

And in her pre-Idol days, the 16-year-old from Starkville, Mississippi, was pretty darn succesful on the pageant circuit.

She was fourth runner-up in Mississippi’s Outstanding Teen competition in 2006. The next year, she took the crown.

Then she went on to place in the top 10 at Miss America’s Outstanding Teen competition and earned the honor of singing the national anthem at the Miss America pageant.

And, yes, all that pageant experience has come in handy on Idol, Jasmine told the media Friday, the day after smiling and singing her way into the Idol finals.

“Getting used to being on stage and singing … I’m glad I had that experience in the past or else I might be a little more nervous or not as comfortable,” Jasmine said. “It’s definitely helped a lot.”

That said, Jasmine conceded the pageants were a little different from singing in front of four judges, including the cranky Simon Cowell (my words, not Jasmine’s), and getting an immediate critique after you perform.

Her pageant days have served Jasmine well in another way.

She has obviously mastered the skill of answering the dreaded on-stage question. The skill of diplomatically dancing around potentially troublesome queries.

Does she feel at a disadvantage because she’s still in high school, and has to spend part of each day keeping up with her classwork?

Nope, says Jasmine. “Education is so important. … Some kids don’t get the opportunity to go to school in other countries, so I’m blessed to be able to go to school.”

Is there anyone she thought should have made it through the wild card competition who didn’t?

“I honestly can’t say because all of the top 36 were amazing. I don’t even know how they (the judges) made that decision … I probably couldn’t be up there judging. I’d want them all to be in the top 12.”

Now, folks, don’t those sound like scholarship pageant answers.

Jasmine also declined to specify the genre of music she prefers. That, she said, is because she’s so young. She doesn’t want to pigeonhole herself before learning what type of music best suits her voice.

“I like so many different types of music. I would like to try tons of different things — pop, rock, country, all of it.”

Besides, why offend a genre?