AI's Jasmine plans first
RP visit to kin, fans
Posted: 5:59 AM (Manila Time) | May 25, 2004
By Janet Susan R. Nepales, LA Correspondent
Inquirer News Service

LOS ANGELES -- Jasmine Trias, Filipino-American idol, is visiting the Philippines before the year ends.

"I'm looking forward to meeting my relatives and fans there," the 17-year-old from Mililani, Hawaii, who kept people in her two homelands glued to "American Idol," said in a telephone interview.



Trias was recently voted out of the wildly popular Fox television singing contest after making it to the Top Three. "It was more than I set out to accomplish. I couldn't ask for more," she said.

"I still feel like the luckiest person alive because my supporters have made my dream come true," the diminutive (5'1") Trias added, careful to qualify that she knew "all the while" how support was pouring in, mostly from Filipinos, not only in Hawaii but also in California and "all over the world."

And so, all the more, she wants to see the Philippines -- especially Cavite province, where her father Rudy Trias Jr. hails from. It will be her first visit.

"I'll go as soon as I'm done with the tour," she said.

The AI's Top 10 finalists will go on a three-month, 52-city tour of the United States starting in July. The 2004 star search's last round will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. Manila time.

Another Filipino-American from Hawaii, Camille Velasco, is joining the tour.

Asked how she felt about landing in the competition's final three, Jasmine said: "I just want to thank everybody. I was nothing, and now I am somebody."

She was sure that Simon Cowell, the most forthright of the three AI judges, didn't know that Filipino-American communities around the world were behind her. Thus, in one of the last shows that she participated in, Cowell had remarked: "You'd better pray every household in Hawaii has five telephones each, because you're gonna need all the help you can get."

Known to AI followers for her sweet and sunny personality, Trias broke down on-cam during that episode. She recalled: "I had handled all the negativity from the judges by channeling it to a positive direction. But I am also human; I was hurt."

Role model

She knows that she has become a role model for other teenagers. "I'm flattered that I'm looked up to at age 17," she said, "but I'm also humbled."

Her own role models are Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole, and former AI finalist Tamyra Gray.

"I love her R&B," she said of Gray. And so, following in the young singer-songwriter's steps, Jazzy, as her fans call her, is planning to put together her own album, "a combination of pop, R&B, and Tamyra Gray kind of thing."

Trias' longtime vocal instructor, William Daquioag, said in an online interview: "If anybody will make money from American Idol, this girl will. She would be a good person to represent the Asian community, especially the kids, who will now see that they can also have a (shot at stardom)."

Friends forever

One of the things that surprised her during the competition's run, Trias said, was the friendship fostered among the contestants. "We have become friends forever," she declared.

Of the two remaining finalists, Fantasia Barrino and Diana DeGarmo, Trias said: "Diana has a powerful voice, while Fantasia's voice is very soulful. I wish both of them the best."

She used to be regularly in touch with Velasco, she added, "but not lately, because both of us have become very busy."

Too young?

Trias said the best advice that she received during the competition was to "follow my dreams and work hard," and to "compete only with myself because America sees me as myself."

Most of this year's AI finalists were quite young, and so age was always an issue with Cowell, she noted. "But it shouldn't be. It is how you handle things at your age that matters."

She could be referring, in part, to the Hollywood lifestyle that the finalists experienced, since they were housed together in a mansion in Los Angeles, California, and treated like celebrities everywhere they went.

Trias admitted: "My life will never be the same. I have always wanted to do this and so I want to go forward with it and continue doing it."

^we are excited for this one

I hope she guess in other shows!

and i hope she won't make it hard for the filipinos to pay for her to perform...
but im looking forward for ABS & GMA's bidding...

I think her talent fees will be much higher than the local ones!

Jasmine Trias was here in Dallas and made a pie while "performing". I hear her Auntie Purifacacion put black public hairs in Hot Dog Soup. No no no!

i dont care, i hate her any way.

Jasmine Trias is not all that............

believe me, she will forever be the bleeding scar of AMERICAN IDOL.

she did not deserve to be at the final three...................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt7zt0yjCPY


I tried serching for idol and all i got was t!t$ lol

don't care.

Show me your tit$.

at 1st i thougt jasmine trias was soooo hot. but then, i suddenly lost interest on her. she kinda got annoying!