Spoor 7 Interview (1996)
JACI VELASQUEZ
TYPICAL TEEN?
Raised in a family where music and ministry are top priorities, Jaci Velasquez certainly can't be called inexperienced. And looking at her age (this lady is, in fact, sixteen years old), that's quite an accomplishment. With a debut album out that is already receiving very positive feedback and a number 1 single ("If This World"), Velasquez has got a dream start in the world of CCM. And it started kind of funny, too....
"I wasn't looking for a record deal. As a ten-year old I was singing with my parents in church. At the start I would sing a song and leave stage...later I would sing two songs and leave stage...and then I got to the point where I helped my dad with a concert. All the time I wasn't looking for a record deal. I was thinking: I love doing what I'm doing. I'm with my family, I couldn't be happier.... And then the Lord just had other plans."
Those plans began to materialize when the manager of popular girls-group Point of Grace happened to see Jaci perform. "He asked me: 'Hey, do you wanna come and sing for the girls (Point Of Grace)?' And I said: 'Sure! I'd love to. I'll come and do it.' And when I got there he goes: 'Why aren't you ready?' and I go: 'Whaddayamean?' And he goes: 'Aren't you gonna open the concert?' And I said: 'No, you said I was singing for the girls!' He said: 'No, you're opening the concert!' I'm like going; 'No, you're kidding me!' So I opened the concert...." The concert was videotaped and sent to Myrrh. We know the rest.
Heavenly Place, the album, sees top-songwriters and musicians united to play summer-style music. One track in particular unites Jaci with Chris Rodriguez to sing "Shelter". "People always told my parents; 'You shelter Jaci too much. You need to let her see the real world. She needs to know exactly what's out there.' Mom said: 'You know, we wanna shelter our daughter and we want her', like the song says, 'to have the ways of the world at her feet.' Not have to worry with it, deal with it. And I feel the same way. Sure sometimes I get bummed and I go like...I wish I could be normal and go out...but I realize the calling God's had in my life. I respect my parents and the things they tell me."
Probably the message most close to Jaci's heart on this record is "I Promise, a song about abstinence. "I wrote 'I Promise,' a song about sexual purity...keeping yourself pure until marriage and that's something that's in my heart, that I want to relate to people of my age. You need to wait until you're married for any sexual contact. The song itself goes: 'Lord, You know my heart and all my desires and the secret things I'll never tell...Lord You know them well.' And then the chorus goes: 'So I promise to be true to You...to live my life in purity as unto You...waiting for the day when I hear You say: here is the one I have created just for you.' And that's something I have burned in my heart now. I feel so strong about it. In concerts that's the message I love to relate to people. Besides the fact of people getting saved...this is just another part of the ministry...."
"There are so many things going on right now. We have this aids-virus going on right now... In fact I have a friend who is fourteen years old. She got pregnant and has a baby right now. She and her baby have full-blown aids. When you see things like that, it makes you go... 'You know what? Abstinence. That's the answer.' And it's in God's commandments first of all. I think the reason why everybody's looking at that right now is because there are so many things going on. And if we would all refrain from sex first of all and wait until marriage we wouldn't have these problems. Aids wouldn't be going around. We wouldn't have the virus. We would not have any STD...Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The world wouldn't be overly populated and there wouldn't be teen pregnancies." Call it naive...call it just plain honest...it is clear that Velasquez is a 'typical teen' with an important message. "On stage, you have to be a little more professional than you have to be off-stage. Off-stage I'm a goofball. I goof off all the time but on stage...you only have an hour (and a half if you're lucky) and in that time you have to get your message across. Those are the most important things...God the Lord and those people out there. That's all that matters at that point. Therefore you can't goof off like you would. You have to make everything you say count."
Discography:
1996 HEAVENLY PLACE
Interview conducted by Mark Dik
Copyright © 1996. For independent scholarship and/or purposes of review only.
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