CUMMING, Ga. — 18-year-old Jayna Jennings of Cumming has more musical talent in her fingers than many people have in their entire family. She plays guitar, piano, and mandolin, just to name a few, but her main instrument is her voice.
“I started singing in church when I was like three years old, and I would sing with my cousins ‘Jesus Loves Me,’” Jennings said. “When I found out I could actually have a career in singing, I thought that was the coolest thing I had ever heard.”
She’s written dozens of songs, more than 40 of which are copyrighted, and she continues recording on a regular basis.
“I think it's amazing that at her age she's got so many penned songs,” Mark Mundy, owner of Flossy Monk Studio, said. “I think she's kind of a threat in both of those areas, as far as performer and also straight up songwriter.”
Jennings said she sings about her life and she feels about things.
“Everything I sing kind of has the theme of Jesus, because He's been a big part of my life,” Jennings said.
Her goal, she said, is to communicate with others through music, so she spends most of her time writing.
“Sometimes a whole song just forms in my head, and I'm like ‘I gotta write this down really fast,’ so I grab my phone and type it out,” Jennings said. “Other times it's just something somebody says, or a title comes into my head and I write a song based around that.”
When she’s not busy writing or recording music, Jennings hosts “Showcase with Jayna Jennings,” a weekly broadcast on Facebook that highlights other musicians.
“That's been so inspiring, because I get to meet other musicians and talk about music,” she said. “It has given me such a voice to talk to people and to tell them what I'm thinking about a number of different things.”
Jennings is currently a student at Lanier Technical College where she’s getting the core classes out of the way, but she hopes to one day study theology, possibly at Shorter University in Rome, Georgia.
“Reading the Bible by yourself is important, but it's also really excellent to be in a room full of people talking about this incredible Old Testament symbolism,” she said. “It's incredible, and I love it, and it's what I want to be doing right now in college, rather than just core classes.”
In the meantime, Jennings said she will continue pursuing her dreams one song at a time.
“My mission statement has always been I want to spread a message of Hope,” she said. “I feel like this is my calling, this is my ministry.”
Jennings’ music is available on Spotify, iTunes, and Google Play.
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